Boxing Blue To Science Chief
Newcastle Herald
Saturday April 26, 2008
THE head of the CSIRO, Dr Geoff Garrett, will speak at the Hunter Business Chamber lunch as part of the 2008 Hunter Means Innovation Festival on May 9.
Dr Garrett, the organisation's CEO, was educated in the UK and graduated from Cambridge University, where he completed a doctorate in metallurgy.He was also a university boxing blue.Moving to South Africa in the early '70s, he lectured at the University of Cape Town and subsequently at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, as professor of physical and fabrication metallurgy.He has worked at universities in Canada and the US and held visiting positions at the universities of Oxford and Sheffield in the UK. His research interests centred around the fracture and fatigue behaviour of engineering materials.Dr Garrett was named South Africa's Boss of the Year in 1998 and Engineer of the Year in 1999.Since joining the CSIRO, Dr Garrett and his team have been seeking to achieve greater focus on the major scientific challenges and opportunities for Australia, developing stronger partnerships across the innovation system, and increasing the organisation's impact through a more unified one-CSIRO approach.Dr Garrett serves on the prime minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and received the Centenary Medal for service to Australian society through science.
© 2008 Newcastle Herald