National Science Week Recap

Last week was National Science Week and we celebrated with our local community through many different events during the week.

ACES was involved in a number of events throughout Science Week, including an Open Day at IPRI, hosting of the Annual the Bill Wheeler Public talk, Executive Director Gordon Wallace partaking in the Science of Portraiture art exhibition and speaking at both the Sydney Science Festival and Keira High School. We also had Lord Mayor of Wollongong, Gordon Bradbury visit.

Here’s a recap of Science Week and a number of events that ACES was involved in throughout.

• Portraits of Gordons2

Portraits of Gordons2 was the theme for this year’s artist-led Science of Portraiture, which involved 10 local artists creating the likeness of both our very own ACES Director, Prof Gordon Wallace, and Lord Mayor of Wollongong, Gordon Bradbery. The exhibition was held at Red Point Artists Association (RPAA) in Port Kembla, with the public being invited to vote on the accuracy of the portraits.

• Prof Gordon Wallace speaks at the Sydney Science Festival

Joining a number of speakers at the Powerhouse Museum for the Sydney Science Festival, Prof Gordon Wallace participated in Invisible Forces: Changing the World. The talk saw various speakers, including Prof Gordon, share their expertise on how physics has been applied to create new technologies that solve diverse problems.

• Lord Mayor of Wollongong Gordon Bradbury visits ACES

To kick of Science Week at ACES headquarters here at UOW, Lord Mayor of Wollongong, Gordon Bradbury visited last Monday to tour the facilities and was presented with 3D-printed keys to the labs.

• Gordon Wallace speaks at Keira High School

Prof Gordon Wallace enthused Keira High School students on Wednesday morning, inspiring them with the various research activities undertaken at ACES. Those students then visited ACES the following day to tour the labs and to observe those activities first hand.

• The 2018 IPRI Open Day: Tour of the Labs

The community availed themselves of the opportunity to tour the labs for last Thursday, with almost 90 people listening and observing the ground-breaking ACES research activities. Researchers showcased their work on the iFix Pen, the Biopen, 3D printing capabilities, Soft Robotics, the prosthetic hand, printing with living cells using Bioinks and stem cell research.

• The 2018 Bill Wheeler Award and Symposium

At the 2018 Bill Wheeler Award and Symposium, biofabrication PhD student, Luciana Yumiko Daikuara, was named this year’s winner on the night after a stimulating public talk by A/Prof Payal Mukherjee on reconstructive ear surgery.