Gareth Moorhead speaker at Rosanna Rotary Club-The Victorian Synchrotron
Gareth is from the CSIRO and is talking to us about The Victorian Synchrotron. Gareth is a physicist with a background in radiation detection technologies in particle physics, synchrotron x-ray science and medical and industrial applications. Gareth participated actively for many years in the development and testing of silicon tracking detectors and electronics for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. More recently Gareth’s team has worked with the Brookhaven National Lab and the Australian Synchrotron to develop the world-leading Maia x-ray fluorescence microscopy detector system, a winner of an international R&D100 award in 2011 and the CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement in 2012. At CSIRO Gareth is Research Program Leader for Devices, Systems and Engineering in the division of Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE.). Devices is a large program of around 120 staff located in Clayton and in Lindfield, NSW. The program includes groups working in nano-physics, plasmonics, opto-electronics, traditional and modern optics, fluid dynamics, fluid engineering, micro-fluidics, superconducting devices, quantum information physics, industrial magnetics and synchrotron x-ray science. With this capability the program is contributing to Australian industry and society through projects in non-destructive testing, intelligent processing and advanced high-efficiency electric motors for manufacturing; advanced instrumentation for minerals exploration and discovery; biofuels and biofactories for sustainable industries of the future; advanced ultra-low cost solar cells and high efficiency lighting; lab-on-a-chip sensing and advanced imaging for health benefits and the Australian biomedical industry; advanced optics for gravity wave observatories and for space missions such as NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Explorer (GRACE); and a host of other areas. Many of these research capabilities are strongly linked to the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication where Gareth holds a part time appointment as Science Director. Reporter – Ros Smith 21st May 2014