A Brief History of
the Department of Electrical and Computer
Systems Engineering
at Monash University
1962 to 2012
By Bill Brown
Preface
The Department of Electrical Engineering at Monash University started in 1962 with the appointment of Doug
Lampard to the Foundation Chair. Before his arrival Jack Phillips had pioneered electrical activities in the
Faculty since his appointment in 1961. The first batch of students commenced their first year in 1961 but no
electrical subjects were taught at that stage. These were commenced in 1962 when the first batch moved
through to second year. With the arrival of Doug Lampard and other staff members a full range of third year
subjects was presented in 1963 and a full range of fourth year subjects in 1964. There was only one student in
fourth year in 1964, Peter Annal, so classes were conducted in staff offices!
The evolution of the Department over the next fifty years is a story worth telling. Enormous changes have
taken place in the discipline during this time and the Department has adapted to these changes with skill and
enterprise (for the most part). Its popularity amongst students seeking a career in engineering has waxed and
waned, according to the perceived employment prospects of its graduates and the degree of difficulty of the
course. Again the Department has adapted to the needs of its student body and to the industry and research
communities it serves. There have been many outstanding undergraduate and postgraduate students who
have studied within it and the Department is intensely proud of the part it has played in their lives.
The success of the Department has been due in large part to the quality of its staff, both academic and
general. It has been a harmonious department for the most part with its staff being hard-working, dedicated,
loyal and friendly. The Department has also taken an active part in Faculty and University affairs as needed
over the years.
In this account I have emphasized the first forty years of departmental history because that is the period in
which I have been most closely involved. I have concentrated on the development at Clayton where I have
been based for most of my career and not attempted to incorporate the history of the Caulfield part. I will
leave that for others to pursue.
In 2010 the Dean of Engineering, Tam Sridhar, commissioned the group known as ‘Way Back When’ to write a
history of the Faculty to commemorate the fifty years since its first students were enrolled. In 2011 a number
of celebrations took place, a website was launched (http://www.50years.eng.monash.edu) and a book entitled
‘Gathering Strength’ published. The present work seeks to build on that work to provide a more detailed
history of the Department of Electrical Engineering.
Much of what is written here has come from the pens (or keyboards?) of others – from Faculty Handbooks,
annual reports, newsletters and other published sources as well as from individual reminiscences. I am
grateful for the many contributions made by others and I particularly wish to thank Greg Cambrell for his
valuable input.
Bill Brown, January 2012
1
Table of Contents
1. Early Years
3
2. Academic Staff
6
3. Laboratories, Workshops and Technical Staff
24
4. Administrative Staff
27
5. Buildings
28
6. The Bachelor’s Programs
30
7. Higher Degrees
33
8. Research Activities
42
9. The Centres
49
10. Computers
52
11. The Merger with Chisholm
54
12. Malaysia
55
13. Alumni and SMEEA
56
2
1. Early Years
The Department of Electrical Engineering (as it was known until 1989) was formed in late 1962 when Doug
Lampard was appointed as the Foundation Professor. Doug came with an outstanding reputation in the fields
of potential theory and systems theory (amongst many others), but said he would only join Monash if he could
have a separate department. He had had a bruising experience at the University of New South Wales which he
had left after a brief period of appointment to return to the CSIRO before joining Monash. Thus the Faculty
became departmentalized. Jack Phillips (control systems), who had been appointed as a Senior Lecturer in
Electrical Engineering in 1961 by the Dean, Ken Hunt, then transferred to the Department. Doug brought with
him his masters student from the University of New South Wales, Steve Redman (electronics and
telecommunications), who joined as a Lecturer but also enrolled for a PhD.
Karol Morsztyn (electrical power) joined as a Senior Lecturer and Ken Keenan (telecommunications) as a
Lecturer and Lucian Gruner (wave propagation) as a Senior Teaching Fellow all in 1963. Both Ken and Lucian
enrolled for PhDs. Thus when Bill Brown (control systems) joined the Department at the end of 1964 he was
the seventh member of the academic staff and only the second with a PhD. At that time there were seven
postgraduate students in addition to the three staff members enrolled for PhDs, all supervised by Doug, and
one student, Peter Annal, had just completed fourth year and was awarded first class honours. The
Department was housed entirely in the new Building 35 (then known as Engineering Building 4) which
contained laboratories, teaching rooms, workshops and offices. The building also housed the Department of
Applied Mechanics (later to be absorbed into the Department of Mechanical Engineering) and the main
University computers (later to be transferred to a new mathematics building). Doug insisted on having his
Department all under one roof with its own Common Room. This had its advantages in terms of being close
knit (and easier to manage) but it did set the Department a little apart from other Departments.
The undergraduate program evolved very quickly and by the second half of the sixties was well established. It
was perhaps a more physics and maths based program than comparable programs in other Australian
universities at the time and reflected the leanings of the academic staff who formed it. Undergraduate
numbers built up quickly, with six final year students in 1965, seven in 1966 and twelve in 1967. These
numbers were a result of the growing intake into the Faculty and the preference of about a quarter of the
intake to take electrical engineering. The Department only had teaching commitments in the second, third
and fourth years. There was a fair amount of cross disciplinary teaching with electrical students taking
significant amounts of applied mechanics, thermodynamics, stress analysis, fluid mechanics and materials
engineering and, in turn, the Department teaching to students in the other departments. The failure rates in
second and third years were high but were no doubt influenced by the requirement of the Monash University
Act that the standards be at least as high as those of Melbourne University.
Staff numbers built up fairly rapidly so that by the end of the sixties there were 11 members of the academic
staff of the rank of Lecturer and above. Andrew Turski (wave propagation) joined the Department in 1965 as a
Senior Lecturer but only stayed for four years. Two notable appointments to Senior Lectureships were Ed
Cherry (electronics) in 1966 and Bill Bonwick (power) in 1967. These two were to have a strong influence in
the Department over the next thirty years. Senior Teaching Fellows (later known as Senior Tutors) also played
an important role in the teaching laboratories, often undertaking PhDs during their time of appointment.
The Electronics Workshop, the Mechanical Workshop and the Power Workshop were established in Building
35 from the outset. The Mechanical Workshop was perhaps badly situated on the first floor in a space never
meant to carry the heavy load of lathes and milling machines but Doug Lampard was determined not be
beholden to the Faculty Workshop and perhaps he liked the idea of being able to do foreigners at any time
that suited him. Successive Deans made various attempts to have the departmental Mechanical Workshop
3
closed down and for the work to be transferred to the Faculty Workshop but they all failed and the facility still
exists within the Department at the time of writing.
Academic staff, postgraduates and visitors 1964
Back row: Steve Redman, Nhan Levan, Doug Moore, Sonny Loo, Aun Lee, Khee Pang, Lutz Elber, Stefan Lowe,
Roger Morton, Karol Morsztyn
Front row: Ken Keenan, Visitor, Visitor, Doug Lampard, Visitor, Don Pederson, Lucian Gruner
Final year students 1967
Back row: Michael Wingate, Ian Brown, Nick Szilas, Tony Marxsen, Berndt Gillhoff, Tit Man Fu, Manh Quach
Duc, Tharam Dillon
Front row: Barry Klein, Tan Khor Keng, Thuan Nguyen Khac, Peter Seligman, Professor Lampard, Njoman
Soelaksmi, Val Rech, Nguyen Minh, Lam Do Duy
4
In the sixties the number of technicians was about the same as the number of academic staff but this ratio
eroded substantially over the years. The technicians carried out most of their tasks in the workshops and
laboratories of the Department, except for the photographer who spent a lot of time in the departmental
darkroom. All technicians supported both undergraduate teaching and research activities. In 1967 the first
Laboratory Manager, Gordon King, was appointed and he set a high standard in the supervision of technical
staff, the ordering of maintenance and equipment items and the oversight of accounts. A components store
was established in 1969 and, a few years later, a full time storeman, John Youren, appointed to its operation.
The administrative staff consisted of the Secretary to the Department (the first being Daphne Sharp), a
secretary to the Laboratory Manager and two typists in a General Office. Daphne was effectively Doug
Lampard’s personal assistant and she achieved remarkable feats in the role, not the least being that she
conveyed to newcomers a sense of welcome and support. Actually everyone in the Department was
welcoming and there was a great team spirit but Daphne was especially skilled in the art.
When Doug Lampard arrived he established research activities in the areas of biophysics, telecommunications,
wave propagation, circuit theory, electronics and control systems. Before coming to Monash he had taken an
interest in biological problems and had friends who worked in medical research and practice. One of his goals
in coming to Monash was to pursue the application of telecommunications ideas to an understanding of parts
of the nervous system. He established the Biophysics Laboratory and ensured that it was well equipped for
the dissection and testing of the spinal cord in cats. He and Steve Redman, with assistance from a number of
visiting experts, then made major contributions in the neurosciences and in muscle physiology over several
decades. For vivisection purposes they worked under the supervision of the Professor of Physiology.
Karol Morsztyn established research in the power systems area soon after his arrival. The most notable
contribution of his group was the development of a transient network analyser, built by a number of PhD
students and assisted by workshop staff over a period of years. Bill Bonwick and Peter Parr carried out
research in the electrical machines area.
By the end of the sixties the Department was very much a going concern, with enthusiastic staff, lots of bright
young undergraduates eager to learn and a growing body of postgraduate students. Apart from the academic
staff already mentioned, others appointed by the end of the decade, of the rank of Lecturer or above, were
John Badcock (telecommunications) and Alex Gardiner (control).
5
2. Academic Staff
The table shows the academic staff of the Department of the rank of Lecturer and above from 1961 to 2010.
The staff are listed in the order in which they joined the Department, except that those who joined from
Chisholm with the merger in 1990 are only shown from 1991.
From the 11 academic staff members of the rank of Lecturer and above at the end of the 60s the numbers
grew to 18 by the mid 70s and stayed at this number through the 80s. However by 1995 the number had
grown to 48 through the staff supported from outside funds and through the merger with Chisholm. By 2005
the number had fallen to 32 and by 2010 it had fallen again to 20. The falls came about as outside funding was
withdrawn and as the number of undergraduates electing to take the Department’s offerings declined.
Another factor was the declining level of funding per student from the Commonwealth. The largest shakeout
occurred at the end of 2007 when ten members left either through retirement or through redundancy.
The academic staff of the Department have set high standards for themselves and for their students. In
particular Doug Lampard, Bill Bonwick, Ed Cherry and David Morgan can be singled out as making outstanding
contributions in their fields, although many others could also be named.
The following are the brief biographies of a number of academic staff members, generally those that have
served for more than twenty year or have had a formative influence on the department (or both). They are
listed in the order in which they joined the department.
Jack Phillips 1961 to 1970
Jack held bachelors and masters degrees in science from Melbourne University and a
Diploma of Imperial College. He worked for many years at the Aeronautical Research
Laboratories in Melbourne in the control systems area and taught control at Melbourne
University on a part time basis before joining Monash as a Senior Lecturer. He did
much of the early teaching in the department and was highly respected by the
students. In 1971 he left to take up a Head of Department position at the Preston
Institute of Technology until that merged with Swinburne University where he stayed
until retirement. He died in 2001.
Doug Lampard 1962 to 1990 (Head 1962 to 1986 except for 72, 74, 76 and 78)
Doug was born in Sydney in 1927 and took BSc and MSc degrees at Sydney University. During his
undergraduate days he joined the CSIRO National Standards Laboratory (NSL) and completed his MSc under
their auspices. He was awarded a CSIRO studentship for studies in random electrical fluctuations in
Engineering at Cambridge University. He completed his PhD in 1954 then spent three months at Columbia
University in New York before returning to the NSL. There he made a number of contributions, the most
notable being the development of a capacitance standard which was to become the basic transfer standard for
electrical quantities in all major standards laboratories around the world. During his time at the NSL he
interacted with a number of biological scientists and medical people. This would form the background to one
of his major research interests at Monash.
Doug took up a Chair at the University of New South Wales in 1960 but only stayed for a year before returning
to the NSL. His experience at UNSW was not a happy one. In 1962 he was appointed the Foundation
Professor of Electrical Engineering at Monash. He remained there until his retirement in 1990. In the
pioneering years of the 60s he brought enormous talent, enthusiasm and energy to Monash. He established a
great department.
6
Name
Phillips, Jack
Lampard, Doug
Redman, Steve
Morsztyn, Karol
Keenan, Ken
Gruner, Lucian
Brown, Bill
Turski, Andrew
Cherry, Ed
Bonwick, Bill
Badcock, John
Parr, Peter
Gardiner, Alex
Cambrell, Greg
Forward, Kevin
Dabke, Kishor
Pang, Khee
Berger, Clive
Carson, Cyril
Dillon, Tharam
Giesner, David
Keogh, Don
Greenwood, Bob
Ng, Kim
Bennett, John
Morgan, David
Wilcox, David
Binh
Holmes, Grahame
Jarvis, Ray
Kleeman, Lindsay
Conlon, Michael
Byrne, Julian
Symons, Fred
Russell, Andy
Krishnan
Zhang, Liren
Tonkin, Bruce
Hanson, Jeff
Harding, Barrie
Jenvey, Stewart
Lisner, Robin
Ormond, Alex
Telfer, Max
Voumard, Paul
Atme, Edward
Kobylinski, Les
Lithgow, Brian
St
61
62
63
63
63
63
64
65
66
67
67
68
69
70
70
70
70
71
71
71
73
73
74
75
76
77
82
76
81
84
85
86
87
88
89
89
90
90
90
91
91
91
91
91
91
91
91
91
91
End
70
90
81
79
67
94
99
68
99
97
76
75
72
_05
85
97
_05
97
73
85
93
_03
74
_06
_07
77
_07
79
10
_09
_09
_
99
89
96
_
95
95
98
92
_04
_07
_07
96
97
97
93
91
_
Rank
SL
P
R
P
L
SL
AP
SL
AP
P
SL
SL
L
SL
SL
SL
R
R
AP
SL
SL
SL
L
AP
R
Area
Control
Biophysics
Biophysics
Power
Communications
Microwaves
Control
Fields
Electronics
Power
Communications
Power
Control
Fields
Electronics
Control
Circuits
Control
Propagation
Power
Power
Communications
Electronics
Control
Propagation
Biophysics
Name
Reid, Malcolm
Zahedi, Ahmad
Zakis, John
Abachi, Hamid
Czaszejko, Tadeusz
Kothapalli, Ganesh
Ngan, King
Wong, Ken
Su, Qi
Mielczarski, Wlad
Armstrong, Jean
St
91
91
91
91
91
91
91
91
91
92
92
_04
Suter, David
92
Boztas, Sirdar
92
Materka, Andrzej
92
Ming Liu
92
Mani, Nallasamy
92
Rimington, Ros
92
Kaminskyj, Ian
93
Brown, Ian
93
Freere, Peter
93
Khan, Easin
93
Cosic, Irena
93
Ninio, Fred
94
Atiquuzzaman
94
Wilkins, Linda
94
P
Egan, Greg
95
L Power
Murphy, Charawun
95
R Optical comms
Chetty, Madhu
95
AP Power electronics Crusca, Francesco
95
P Robotics
Palit, Sajal
96
AP Robotics
Morrison, Bob
97
SL Power
Wallace, Peter
99
L Computer systems Sekercioglu, Ahmet _00
P Communications Price, Andrew
_00
AP Robotics
Premaratne, Malin _03
SL Communications Zhang, Jingxin
_03
L Communications Lowery, Arthur
_04
SL Communications Karmakar, Nemai
_04
PL Power
McGrath, Brendan
_07
SL Power
Ho, Tsin
_07
SL Communications Wai Ho Li
_09
SL Power electronics Drummond, Tom
10
SL Power
Yi Hong
10
SL Control
Li, Jonathan
10
AP Power
Redoute, Jean-Michel 10
L
Viterbo, Emanuele
10
L
Evans, Jamie
12
SL Bioengineering
Academic staff 1961 to 2012
7
End
99
_07
_04
_07
_
96
94
93
_03
_00
93
_
_08
95
95
_07
_07
_
_07
10
_00
98
_02
98
97
98
_07
97
_00
_03
98
_02
_09
_
_
_
_
_
_
_09
_07
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
Rank
L
L
L
AP
SL
L
SL
SL
SL
AP
P
P
L
SL
SL
SL
L
L
AP
L
L
AP
SL
SL
L
P
L
L
SL
L
P
P
SL
L
R
SL
P
SL
L
L
L
P
L
L
L
P
P
Area
Power
Electronics
Control
Power
Communications
Communications
Power
Power
Communications
Computer vision
Communications
Bioengineering
Control
Electronics
Management
Electronics
Bioengineering
Power electronics
Power
Bioengineering
Physics
Communications
Management
Computer systems
Bioengineering
Power
Control
Power
Power
Communications
Robotics
Optical comms
Optical comms
Propagation
Power electronics
Communications
Computer vision
Robotics
Communications
Optical comms
Electronics
Communications
Following Doug’s death in 1994 Steve Redman had this to say at his memorial service: ‘When Doug took
me under his supervisory wing in 1960 I found him to be inspirational. I was in awe of his mathematical
prowess. He gave me such an exciting vision of research that I was hooked, and have remained hooked
ever since. Doug instilled the very essence of scholarship into his students. The problem was not solved
until every nook and cranny had been explored and until every aspect of the problem had been crossreferenced for internal consistency. Doug’s enthusiasm and energy were contagious.’
Steve also said: ‘I don’t think the cares and responsibilities of chairing a university department meshed at
all well with Doug’s personality. The frustrations of having to deal with others who did not share the same
ideals and commitment to scholarship, at least as he saw it, seemed to change his personality and his
enjoyment of academic work. This made Doug a difficult person at times...... He was a perfectionist.....
When he became annoyed, many of his staff and students were terrified of him.’
Portrait of Doug Lampard painted by Jane Majkut
Doug received many honours and awards throughout his academic career. The most important was his
election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1977. He also was elected as a Fellow of the
IEE, the IEEE, the IREE, IEAust and the AIP. To mark his retirement from the University in 1990 his old
8
students and colleagues, a number from overseas, held a symposium in which they described their
professional work and how it had stemmed from their association with Doug. The Douglas Lampard
Electrical Engineering Research Prize and Medal for the Best PhD thesis in any year was instituted in his
honour and continues to the time of writing. Doug died in 1994.
Steve Redman 1963 to 1981
Steve completed a BE at the University of New South Wales before undertaking a
masters with Doug Lampard at the same institution. He joined Doug at Monash in
1963 as a Lecturer and at the same time enrolled for a PhD in the area of
stochastically excited mammalian spinal motoneurones. He was promoted to Senior
Lecturer in 1972 and to Reader in 1973. He left Monash in 1981 to become a Senior
Fellow at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National
University and became a Professor there in 1988.
His research interests over the years have included synaptic transmission and plasticity and learning and
memory.
During his time at Monash he held a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship from 1969 to 1971 and he also travelled
to Chicago to be a Visiting Investigator, Institute for Biomedical Research, American Medical Association
and to Oxford where he held a Nuffield Dominion Travelling Fellowship in the Natural Sciences.
Karol Morsztyn 1963 to 1979 (Head 1972, 74, 76 and 78)
Karol was born in 1914 in Vienna. In 1948 he became a Senior Lecturer and in 1954 a
Professor in the Department of Electrical Machines, Technical University of Silesia,
Poland. Later he joined the Department of Electrical Machines of the Warsaw
Technical University. For several years he worked as Director of the Central Design
Institute of Electrical Machines, Katowice, Poland, Director of the Institute of
Electrical Engineering Sciences, Warsaw, and as Head of the Research and
Development Section, Associated Electrical Industries, Australia.
Karol joined the Department in 1963 as a Senior Lecturer, was promoted to Associate Professor in 1969 and
appointed Professor in 1971. He retired in 1979 and died in 1993.
Lucian Gruner 1963 to 1994
Lucian completed a BE with honours at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch New Zealand. He then
held positions with Standard Telephones and Cables in Sydney and London, with Marconi in Montreal and
with the CSIRO (Radiophysics) in Sydney. He gained an ME from the University of NSW during his time at
CSIRO. He joined Monash as a Senior Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate in 1963 with Doug Lampard as his
supervisor. He completed his PhD in 1967, by which time he had become a Lecturer in the Department.
In addition to supervising the work of several higher degree candidates, Lucian has been the author of
about fifty publications. In 1988 his paper facilitating the generation of standard electromagnetic fields in
TEM cells used for the study of electromagnetic compatibility and for calibration purposes was re-published
and extensively referred to by the National Bureau of Standards of the USA in their NBS Technical Note
1319.
Lucian has held several visiting appointments presenting courses of lectures and participating in research
activities at a number of universities in England , Canada, Switzerland and Denmark. While in London at the
9
Imperial College of Science and Technology in 1969, he also spent a few months undertaking microwave
research at the Post Office Research Station in Dollis Hill. In Melbourne Lucian has collaborated closely on
several occasions with staff of the Telecom Research Laboratories. He has also presented lectures at
numerous conferences and in June 1988 was by invitation chairman of a session at the URSI conference in
Syracuse, NY, in the USA.
In 1988 Lucian was one of six researchers led by John Pilbrow from the Department of Physics who were
awarded a United States patent for an Electron Spin Resonance Spectrometer. To conform with standard
practice, the rights to the patent were vested with the employer, Monash University.
He was several years a committee member of the Electrical and Communications Branch of the Victoria
Division of the Institution of Engineers, Australia and its Chairman in 1985.
He retired in 1994.
Bill Brown 1964 to 1999 (Head 1989 to 1995)
Bill joined the Department as a Lecturer at the end of 1964 at the age of 25. He had
just completed a PhD in the control systems area at Queens University Belfast. A
Melbourne lad, he took a Diploma in Electrical Engineering at the then Caulfield
Technical College (now a part of Monash University) before becoming a block
exemption student at Melbourne University where he completed a BE in Electrical
Engineering in 1960. He worked towards his MEngSc, also at Melbourne University, in
61/62 before being awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship for PhD studies at Queens
University Belfast. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1967 and to Associate
Professor in 1974.
He started his teaching career at Monash in the electrical power area, although his main expertise was in
control systems. He taught extensively in the area of computer engineering and towards the end of his
career in telecommunications. Over the years he was also heavily involved in first and second year
teaching. He supervised many final year projects.
His main research activity was in the control systems area, initially in the theory of computer control and
then much more in a practical sense in the application of computer control in the bioengineering area,
where he worked principally with Doug Lampard and Kim Ng. He and Kim also became involved in
computer vision, which Kim continued for many years thereafter. Bill supervised five PhD candidates, ten
MEngSc (research) candidates and five MEngSc (coursework) candidates. He was author or joint author of
about 50 papers and took part in a number of conferences, in an organizational capacity in some instances.
He had three major sabbatical periods, the first in 1971 at the University of Waterloo in Canada and the
second in 1975, also at Waterloo. His third was at the University of Warwick in the UK in 1985.
He took on many administrative tasks within the Department culminating in his appointment as Head of
Department early in 1989. He stepped down from that role at the end of 1995, having been very much
involved in the establishment of a number of major Centres in the Department and in the difficult
negotiations related to the merger with the Chisholm Institute of Technology, especially as it related to the
Faculty of Engineering and to the Department. For some years during his period as Head he was the
Associate Dean of the Faculty and acted as Dean on the occasions when the Dean was absent.
10
He retired at the end of 1999 after 35 years of service but continued to teach part time in 2000. In 2001 he
joined Monash University Malaysia and headed, over two years, the setting up of the program in Electrical
and Computer Systems Engineering there in Kuala Lumpur. On his return to Melbourne he again taught
part time on the Clayton Campus. He is currently an Adjunct Research Associate of the Department.
Ed Cherry 1966 to 1999
Ed completed BSc and MSc (physics and electronics) at the University of Melbourne in
1956 and 1958 respectively, and PhD (electrical engineering) in 1962. For 1963-65 he
worked at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, for 1965-66 he
was with the UK Atomic Energy Authority, Harwell, and in 1966 he was appointed
to Monash University. As a Fulbright Senior Scholar he returned to Bell Laboratories
in 1973, and for a 1994 sabbatical he worked at Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Oregon. In
1997 he was the first Monash academic to exchange with Luleå Technical University,
Sweden. Ed retired from Monash in 1999, although he remains an Adjunct
Research Associate. In retirement he accepted a 5-year part-time appointment 1999-2003 with Maxim
Integrated Products, Hillsboro, Oregon.
Ed's fascination with electronic circuits is life-long. He has published two books, more than 50 papers in
refereed journals, and a quantity of letters and other articles. One paper (1963) is still cited as a basis for
wideband amplifiers, and another (1978) proposes a nested compensation structure for feedback system.
Ed has twice (1961 and 1978) been awarded the annual medal for the "most meritorious paper in
Proceedings of the IREE". His most-recent publication (40 pages!) was in November 2011 and, as at
February 2012, another book and two more papers are in the pipeline.
Ed's approach to electronics has always had a 'practical' bent, and the electronics lab reflected this:
students were confronted with the imperfections of real components. One of the frustrations of Ed's latter
days at Monash was that students began to pass circuits from one year to the next, instead of entering into
the design experience. As an engineering educator Ed believed he should be capable of holding down a job
as a 'working' engineer. All his sabbaticals were as salaried positions in industry; he never sought financial
support from the university. At one time his Monash patents simultaneously held first and second places in
the university’s list of earnings.
Outside the university Ed has served on the publication board and/or local committee of the IREE, IEEE, IET
(former IEE) and the AES, as well as on the organizing committees for various engineering conventions. He
still reviews manuscripts for the IEEE and IET. Ed is a former President of the Victorian Association for
Gifted and Talented Children, and is a Fellow of both the IREE and IET.
Bill Bonwick 1967 to 1997
Bill grew up in Surrey Hills and went to Box Hill and Melbourne Highs. He
completed his degree in electrical engineering at Melbourne University in 1953 and
stayed on for a year as a Senior Demonstrator in the Department before heading off
for England and BTH in Rugby for four years, mostly to work on large alternating
current machines. Bill’s interest in things electrical was influenced by his father
who ran an electrical contracting business in William St Melbourne.
Bill returned to Australia in 1959 to join his old department at Melbourne as a
Lecturer. He started off by teaching electrical design but over the years taught a wide range of subjects in
the electrical power area. He moved to Monash in 1967 as a Senior Lecturer and set about establishing
11
teaching and research in the electrical machines area. His ideas about laboratory work were especially
impressive and many graduates maintain that electrical machine experiments were memorable.
Bill was promoted to Associate Professor in 1975 and took over leadership in the electrical power area
when Karol Morsztyn retired at the end of 1979. He was a key person in the Department. He did much
more than manage the electrical power area. He also took on many administrative tasks in the Department
and in the Faculty and in the wider University. He was a great organiser. He always had his own paperwork
in order and could organise events and systems with great efficiency. But he also had a way of relating to
people that was warm and friendly. He worked well with others. Students and staff always thought about
him with great affection.
He was appointed to the Sir John Monash Chair of Electrical Power Engineering and Head of the Centre for
Electrical Power Engineering at Monash University in 1991. The SECV supported the Chair with generous
funding in order to attract more students into electrical power engineering and to provide a University
point of reference for the power industry. Bill took on the role wholeheartedly. He achieved what few
others could have hoped to achieve. With his balance of the scholarly and the applied, his network of
industry and academic contacts, his drive and vision, his ability to get people to work in teams and to bring
in grant money he was able to build a group that stood high amongst Australian Universities and indeed
internationally. The team that Bill brought together and the achievements they made were most
impressive. He retired in 1997 at age 64.
On the research front his first love was electrical machines but he also got involved with power electronics,
solar power, superconductor magnetic energy storage and breakdown protection in oil-filled transformers.
Bill had strong links with the power industry. He had taught about half of the electrical power engineers in
practice in Victoria through to the present day. He was frequently contacted by industry for advice and
consulting. He ran a number of successful power summer schools and other in-service training courses and
symposia for industry.
Bill did a great deal for the profession outside the University. He had a lifelong affair with the British
Institution of Electrical Engineers. He was very much involved with the Victorian Branch and chaired its
committee for a number of years. He became a Fellow of that society. He was also made a Fellow of
Engineers Australia and was active in CIGRE (the international organization concerned with electricity
supply) and received an Award of Merit from it for Outstanding Service.
He died in 2011.
John Badcock 1967 to 1976
John joined Doug Lampard as a PhD student after completing BE and MEngSc
degrees at Melbourne University. His PhD thesis was entitled ‘Thresholds in
communication systems’. During his PhD candidature he was appointed as a
Lecturer in the Department and quickly set up an excellent telecommunications
undergraduate program with first rate laboratory modules. These became the
basic experimental test benches for generations of students as they learnt about
modulation and signals in noise.
John left Monash to join Daryl Hooper (of Cherry and Hooper fame) at Latrobe in an effort to establish
electronic and communications engineering at that University. Their efforts faltered (temporarily) and
Daryl returned to the UK. John then joined Melbourne University at a time when the Department there
was going through a bad patch. John then ceased to follow teaching pursuits and became a full time
12
researcher. He had various stints back at Monash, back at Melbourne and also at the ANU. Finally he set
up his own consulting business and operated successfully from home, even actually building equipment for
dedicated purposes for his clients.
John was a truly remarkable person. His knowledge and understanding of electronics and communications
was comprehensive. He had a great ability to impart his knowledge. He was ready to adapt to a changing
world, taking studies outside his own area when the need arose. John was unassuming and gentle. It was
always a great pleasure to chat with him.
He died in 2008.
Greg Cambrell 1970 to 2005
Greg completed BSc and BE degrees at the University of Adelaide before enrolling in
the Department as a PhD student under Doug Lampard in 1965. In 1970 he was
appointed as a Lecturer in the Department. For the next 35 years he played a major
role in the development of the electromagnetic fields area in the Department. His
research interests have been in two broad areas. The first includes electromagnetic
theory, applied functional analysis and the finite element analysis of field problems.
The second covers electroacoustics and wide-band amplifiers where he has
collaborated with Ed Cherry in various projects.
He retired in 2005.
Kishor Dabke 1969 to 1996
Kishor arrived as a PhD student in 1966 with a Diploma EE, BE(E) and ME(E) from the Maharaja Sayajirao
University of Baroda, Baroda (now Vadodara) in India and worked under the supervision of Bill Brown,
completing his PhD in 1972 in the area of multivariable sub-optimal control systems. He was appointed a
Senior Teaching Fellow in March 1969 and Lecturer in 1973. He taught electrical measurements, control
systems (undergraduate and postgraduate) and an Honours Elective on the application of control theory to
economics.
Kishor spent six months sabbatical at the University of Stuttgart in 1976 working on the application of
control to an in-house power plant and collaborated with Manfred Alt. He spent a further six months
sabbatical in the Robotics Institute, Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA in 1986. The interests
developed there in expert systems and artificial intelligence (AI) were turned into undergraduate and
postgraduate courses and some applied research on these subjects. He also spent six months of sabbatical
with the Telstra Research Laboratories in Melbourne in 1990 in the AI section.
He was awarded the best teacher in the Faculty of Engineering in 1993. From 1972 to 1996 he supervised
six master’s and six PhD students individually or jointly. He continued his PhD supervision work after
retirement in Dec 1996 until 2009. He is still actively involved in research with a former PhD student. The
total number of his publications to date is about 50 journal and conference papers, book chapters and a
book (sponsored by IEAust) jointly authored with Professor Mike Brisk on the History of Control Education
in Australia.
13
Khee Pang 1970 to 2005
Khee was born in Malaysia in 1941, grew up in a large family in Klang and went to
school there before travelling to Melbourne to gain his matriculation at Box Hill
High. He took the BE course in electrical engineering at Melbourne University
where he gained honours. He then embarked on a PhD in electrical engineering in
the new and vibrant Monash University under the supervision of Doug Lampard.
He worked on optimal RC networks using some advanced mathematical techniques
and including some computing (a rare thing in those days).
Following his PhD studies he worked at Telecom Research before travelling to the
US for work at Bell Labs and then at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked with Ernest
Kuh, a legend in the circuit theory field. Whilst at Berkeley he met and married Mae Anna from Canada,
then a doctoral student in oriental art at Berkeley. Whilst still at Berkeley Doug Lampard offered Khee a
lectureship in electrical engineering back at Monash. He took up this appointment in 1971 and retired from
the department in 2005 as a Reader.
Khee thought deeply about every subject or topic that he encountered, getting to the nub of the matter but
not forgetting the threads that bind things together. This was evident in Khee’s approach to his
enormously successful design and teaching of the fundamental circuit and systems subjects in the BE
course at Monash. For decades he taught many students these basic fundamentals of electrical
engineering science and our graduates have every reason to be grateful to Khee for the solid grounding
they received at his hands. He also taught a number of other subjects over the years, including, in later
years, some studies in the area of digital signal processing. In circuit theory and in other areas he prepared
sets of notes that became crucial possessions of his students and colleagues!
Khee was an outstanding researcher and made valuable contributions in the circuit theory and related
areas over the years. He was widely sought as a journal paper referee and PhD thesis examiner. He himself
supervised quite a number of outstanding PhD and masters students. These graduates are working in
different parts of the world but all are thankful for the years they spent with Khee and they have great
affection and respect for him. No less than three have won the prestigious Douglas Lampard award for the
best PhD thesis in their years.
During his career at Monash Khee took sabbatical periods at the Stanford Research Institute, Tohoku
University in Japan and at the University of Notre Dame.
At the beginning of the nineties Khee moved into more commercially oriented research and set up a group
to work in the area of video coding. Initially with a GIRD grant he collaborated with Siemens to find better
ways to compress video images. With the arrival of Fred Symons from the Telecom Research Labs and the
expansion of activities in the communications area this work attracted further funding and further staff.
The Centre for Telecommunications and Information Engineering was established and Khee was its leader
or deputy leader for many years. At its peak it became part of the Australian Telecommunications
Cooperative Research Centre. Towards the end of his full-time work at Monash he listed his interests as
video communications, video coding, communication networks, wireless communications, digital signal
processing, adaptive filters, circuit theory and systems and microwave circuits.
Khee did not always enjoy good health and in 1992 very nearly passed away with a dissecting aortic
aneurism. Luckily a cardiac team was on hand at the Alfred hospital when this happened and he was saved
with heroic surgery. He gradually recovered from this episode and was able to resume his full workload in
the Department. It is interesting that Khee and Mae Anna’s only child Benjamin is on his way to becoming
a specialist cardiologist.
14
Khee always enjoyed the friendship, respect and affection of his colleagues. His knowledge, skills and
experience meant that colleagues often referred to him for assistance. He took on administrative roles
willingly and contributed greatly to the effective running of the Department over the years.
But he was not just an engineering ‘egghead’. He was always interested in and proud of his Chinese
heritage and his enjoyment of Chinese art and culture was enhanced by the expertise of Mae Anna, who
since arrival in Melbourne in 1971 has been at the National Gallery of Victoria where she is now the Senior
Curator of Oriental Art. Khee read widely about Chinese history, art and culture and travelled to China on a
number of occasions. He was always willing to invite colleagues and friends to learn more about these
areas. He also read widely in other areas of human endeavour, including politics, local and international.
He died in 2010.
Clive Berger 1971 to 1998
Clive graduated in 1957 with a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of the
Witwatersrand. His first job was with the South African Council for Scientific Research
where he tracked the first American satellite with equipment provided by NASA and
worked for his MSc in control theory.
In 1962 he immigrated to England where he did research with the Central Electricity
Research Laboratories (CERL) on the optimization of combustion in coal fired power
stations. In 1969 CERL provided a scholarship to Cambridge University where he
obtained his doctorate on the computer design of control systems.
He obtained a position as Senior Lecturer with Monash University in 1971. He was mainly responsible for
control courses but also lectured in first and second year and was involved with the introduction of
management subjects. He retired as Reader in 1998.
He has over seventy research publications in sub-optimal control, identification of dynamic systems,
adaptive control, parameter space theory, neural networks and modeling of physiological systems.
His connection with Monash University, as a Research Associate, ended in 2004 when he left for Townsville
to take up Grandfather duties.
David Giesner 1973 to 1993
David was born in Egypt but grew up in Manchester and studied electrical engineering there. After a time
in industry in the UK he worked in Universities in Nigeria and Ghana in a very formative period in the
history of those former British Colonies. On returning to the UK he taught at Nottingham University before
enrolling for a PhD at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in the high voltage
area. He joined Monash on completion of his PhD.
David had much to do with the development of the High Voltage Laboratory in the Department. He took
on a number of high voltage testing tasks for industry and also travelled to Malaysia on a number of
occasions to assist with the setting up of a high voltage testing facility at the University of Technology in
Johore.
He retired in 1992 and died in 1996.
15
Don Keogh 1973 to 2003
Don was appointed to a lectureship in the Department in the same year that he completed his PhD under
Ed Cherry, with help from John Badcock, Greg Cambrell and Doug Lampard. He had commenced his PhD
studies in 1968 following the completion of an MSc at Melbourne University. He had spent six months at
the PMG Research Laboratories prior to his appointment at Monash. In the first few years he worked
closely with John Badcock but John left in 1976 to move to Latrobe University. Don then became the
anchor man in communications systems for more than a decade up to the appointment of Fred Symons in
1988.
Don’s principal interests are in the areas of signals: modulation, data transmission, detection in the
presence of noise etc. He has taught extensively in these areas at both the undergraduate and
postgraduate levels. The coursework masters subjects were a particular challenge as many of the students
were from Telecom Australia and were quite knowledgeable in their own areas. He chose to develop the
digital transmission material in the late 70s and early 80s and was a key contributor to the Digital
Transmission Systems course offered jointly with Telecom for practising engineers from 1981 to 1987. Don
knew the whole network would be soon be entirely digital. Telecom had just introduced its first PCM/TDM
multiplexing systems over suburban junction cables. Using the voiceband network for data transmission
was in its infancy and the higher data rate transmission systems needed in commerce were provided by
annexing bandwidth from FDM systems. Optical fibre systems were still in the laboratory.
Don collaborated with Khee Pang and Barry Treloar (Computer Centre) to introduce digital signal processing
subjects at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In the early 80s Don’s research was devoted
mostly to developing finite-state machine descriptions of line codes such as HDB3 which could be used in
studying crosstalk interference in PCM/TDM systems on junction cables.
In 1990 Don took sabbatical leave at the University of Essex where he spent his time developing statistical
models for the bit production rate of variable bit rate (VBR) video coders. In 1997 Don returned to the
University of Essex to develop statistical models for the MPEG2 video coder.
He retired in 2003.
Kim Ng 1975 to 2007
Kim’s first association with Monash was in 1969 when he spent his sabbatical year from
University of Warwick in the Department of Electrical Engineering, continuing his
research into adaptive control systems and publishing a joint paper with Bill Brown.
Kim was born in Malaysia. After high school he went in 1957 to Queen’s University,
Belfast where he graduated with BSc Honours in Electrical Engineering in 1961 and a
PhD in 1964. After a year as National Physical Laboratory (UK) Research Fellow, in
1965 he joined the newly founded University of Warwick as Lecturer, where he was
charged with setting up the teaching laboratories in electrical engineering. He taught circuit theory and
control engineering and continued his research in adaptive control. In 1972 Kim joined the National
University of Singapore as Senior Lecturer and in 1975 came to Monash. He was promoted to Associate
Professor in 1995.
He enjoyed teaching in circuit theory, control and electronics. He took great interest in improving the
quality of teaching by encouraging feedback from students in the lectures and laboratories, and formal
feedback by instituting the Staff-Student Liaison Committee and the use of teaching evaluation
16
questionnaires. In 1999 he initiated the training of postgraduates in laboratory class supervision. He was
the departmental Examinations Officer from 1988 to 1995, Director of Undergraduates Affairs from 1995 to
1998 and Associate Dean Teaching from 1998 to 2001. He initiated in 1990 the development of the
Departmental Undergraduate Database to replace the archaic student paper records system. He was
enthusiastic in supervising final year honours project students, two of whom won the IEEE Region 10
student paper competition.
In his early years at Monash he worked closely with Doug Lampard and Bill Brown in bioengineering and in
the development of new techniques of measurement and electronic instrumentation. In later years until
his retirement the focus of research shifted to computer vision with particular emphasis on optical ranging
techniques and applications in diverse fields, attracting several research grants and leading to the
development of the Monash 3D Shape Measurement system (which won a Highly Commended Award in
1996 from the IEAust) and two patents. He supervised PhD and Master students and has authored/coauthored around sixty refereed papers (two of which won Best Journal Paper prizes), published a book and
contributed chapters in two other books.
He served on many departmental, faculty and university committees, including the University Education
Committee. He was Director, Clayton Campus Open-Day Committee (2003-2005) and Deputy Director,
Monash Transition Committee (1998-2002). He served as Secretary and Chairman of the Victorian chapter
of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, of which he is a Fellow.
Kim retired in December 2006 after 31 years of service but continues as Monash Co-ordinator of the
Monash-Lulea Collaboration Program in research, staff and student exchange which he and Sven Molin of
Lulea Tekniska Universitet, Sweden initiated in 1997.
John Bennett 1976 to 2007
John joined the Department as a Senior Lecturer in 1976 from the Telecom Research
Laboratories. He was promoted to Reader in 1985. He had completed the degrees of
BE, BSc and PhD at Melbourne University. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the
University of Alberta then an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the University of
Dusseldorf and at Cambridge before becoming a Radio Research Board Fellow at the
Telecom Research Laboratories. His interests are in the areas of radar, remote
sensing, satellite communications, space physics, ionospheric radio propagation, ray
tracing, waves in space plasmas, microwave propagation through rain and the
mathematical formulation of electromagnetic problems. He has had a long involvement with the Jindalee
operational radar network and a long association with Peter Dyson of Latrobe University.
He retired in 2007.
David Morgan 1981 to 2007 (Head 2005 and 2006)
David joined the Department in January 1971 as a post-graduate student in
biophysics, having completed his BE at Adelaide. He was supervised by Doug
Lampard, with assistance in later years from Ian Brown, as work moved from
instrumentation to experiments using a split ventral root preparation. A brief period
as a Senior Tutor followed submission. In 1977 he went to Boston as a post-doctoral
student with Fred Julian at Boston Biomedical Research Institute working on frog
single fibre mechanics. In 1981 he returned as a Lecturer in the Department, taking
over the Biophysics Laboratory when Steve Redman departed, and spending a
number of years setting up a frog single fibre laboratory, ultimately frustrated by the
difficulty of getting frogs.
17
Teaching centred on first year, electronics, and in later years, many of the biomedical engineering units for
the Masters and combined BE/BSc (Physiology) undergraduate degree programs.
A sabbatical leave in 1987-8 with Tom McMahon at Harvard University led to the “Popping sarcomere
hypothesis” and his most cited paper. Testing predictions of this hypothesis on toads, rats and humans
formed the basis of his research for the next 20 years. Mostly done in collaboration with Uwe Proske in
Physiology, this led to work on the prevention and rehabilitation of hamstring injuries, working with the AFL
and other sporting groups. The work on single fibres continued with trips to Boston and another sabbatical
in 1995.
Promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1986, awarded a DSc in 1992 and made a Reader in 1993, he was awarded
in 2003 the only Personal Chair in the Department’s history, as these were subsequently abolished when
Professor by promotion was introduced.
He took over as Head in 2005 after Greg Egan resigned. He worked to further the integration of staff from
the various campuses and to prepare the Department for the decline in student numbers following the
collapse of the “dot.com” bubble. This was a period of increasing emphasis on quality of teaching and
research with the development of metrics. It was also a time when many of the original staff retired and
recruitment finally became possible after many years of constraint. In 2006 the course was restructured
with electives offered to both level 3 and 4 in alternating years, as a way of maintaining elective availability
while reducing teaching loads.
He stepped down from the headshipwhen Arthur Lowery was deemed ready to take over at the beginning
of 2007 and officially retired in mid 2007, though teaching to the end of that year.
Le Nguyen Binh 1981 to 2010
Binh was educated in Vietnam then travelled to Perth to undertake a PhD at the University of Western
Australia as a Colombo Plan scholar with support from the Australian Government. He completed his PhD
in 1978 then worked with the CSIRO in Canberra before joining Monash in 1981. He has established a
strong reputation for himself in the area of high-speed optical communications. During his time at Monash
he has also worked with Siemens in Germany and Nortel Networks in London. He has been an adviser to
the Vietnamese Government since 1980 on the development of the backbone fibre communication system
in that country.
Binh has recently received donations from Telstra and Siemens. He has a 10x16Gb/s optically amplified
long-haul transmission system in the Optical Communications and Applied Photonics Laboratory. He has
been researching 40Gb/s and beyond WDM systems as well as simulating optical components and quantum
communications.
He retired in 2010.
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Grahame Holmes 1984 to 2009
Grahame was with the SECV as a Power Systems Control Engineer from 1975 to 1980
before joining Melbourne University. In 1984 he transferred to Monash and worked in
the power electronics area before transferring to RMIT in 2010, where he holds the
position of Innovation Professor, Smart Energy Systems.
His research interests are in smart grid technologies and applications, power electronic
converter modulation and control, converter current regulation, active power
electronic filters, resonant converters, current source converters, multilevel converters
and digital control of power electronic converters.
He established and managed the power electronics group in the Department to provide industry
development and consulting services for power electronic converters in traction, power quality
measurements and PV inverters.
Ray Jarvis 1985 to 2009 (Head 1987 and 1988)
Ray took up a Chair in the Department in 1985, mainly to lead the growing interest in
computer systems. He established the Intelligent Robotics Research Centre and
introduced eight new electives in 1987. He was instrumental in having the
Department renamed ‘Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering’ also about that
time.
He was Head of Department during 1987 and 1988 but preferred to spend more time
on his research and was happy to hand this role over to Bill Brown, who was both
willing and able. The Dean of Engineering was sympathetic to this arrangement.
Ray completed a BE (Electrical) and a PhD at the University of Western Australia in 1962 and 1968,
respectively. He then spent two years at Purdue University before returning to Australia to take up a Senior
Lectureship at the Australian National University, where he established the Computer Science Department.
He served on the Australian Research Council’s Research Grant Committee (Engineering, Earth and Applied
Sciences Large Grant Committee) between 1964 and 1967, as Panel Chair for three of these four years and
also as Deputy Chairman of the Research Grants Committee in the last year. He was elected Fellow of the
IEEE in 1992 and became a Life Fellow in 2011.
His research interests cover intelligent robotics, computer vision, computational geometry, automata
theory and advanced computer architectures, amongst others. He has published over 300 research papers
and was the primary supervisor for over twenty PhD candidates.
He was Director, Australian Research Committee’s Centre for Intelligent and Perceptive Machines in
Complex Environments for its lifetime (2003 to 2007).
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Lindsay Kleeman 1986 to present
Lindsay received a BE in Electrical Engineering in 1982 and BMath in 1983 both with
first class honours and university medals, from the University of Newcastle, Australia.
In 1984 he was the IEEE Centennial student, representing region 10. He received the
PhD degree in Computer Engineering in 1987 under the supervision of Tony Cantoni,
also at the University of Newcastle.
In 1986 Lindsay was appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and
Computer Systems Engineering at Monash, was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1992
and Associate Professor in 1999. He was President of the Computer Chapter of the IEEE Victorian Section
from 1990 to 1991. In 1993 and 2001 he took study leave at Yale University and Lulea University. He has
served as Deputy Head of Department since 2007 and been Director of Teaching within the Department
with the onerous job of allocating teaching and administration duties. In 2003 he instigated and helped
develop the academic workload model used in the Faculty of Engineering today. His research interests
include navigation and sonar sensing for robotics, computer engineering, real time computer vision and
digital logic design and he established undergraduate units in these areas. In particular he established new
core and electives units in real time embedded systems, large scale digital design and Hardware Description
Languages.
Lindsay was the first single author winner of the ¥200,000 Nakamura prize for the best paper at the
Intelligent Robots and Systems Conference in 1999 (IROS’99) for a paper entitled ‘Fast and accurate sonar
trackers using double pulse coding’. He also won the Dean of Engineering Excellence Award for Research
in 2005. He has supervised award winning PhDs, such as Albert Diosi whose thesis ‘Laser rangefinder and
advanced sonar based simultaneous localisation and mapping for mobile robots’ won the Douglas Lampard
Medal in 2006, and Alan Zhang who won the best student paper prize at ACRA 2007 for a paper entitled
‘Robust Appearance Based Visual Route Following in Large Scale Outdoor Environments’. In 2006 Springer
published a book authored with another PhD student, Geoffrey Taylor, entitled ‘Visual Perception and
Robotic Manipulation: 3D Object Recognition, Tracking and Hand-eye Coordination’. He has supervised to
completion 11 PhDs and published over 100 refereed journal and conference papers. More recently he
leads a group within the $8M ARC funded Bionic Eye project at Monash University developing real time
image processing algorithms.
More recently Lindsay’s PhD student Horace Josh has won a Best Student Paper Award at the International
Conference on Biomedical Electronics and Devices held in Portugal in February 2012 for a paper entitled
‘Mobile real-time simulator for a cortical visual prosthesis’. The papers three authors are Horace, Benedict
Yong and Lindsay.
Andy Russell 1987 to present
Andy joined the department in 1987 after 6 years as Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering at the University of Wollongong. He received his B Eng and PhD degrees in 1972 and 1976,
respectively, from the University of Liverpool. He has worked as a design engineer with International
Computers Ltd at Kidsgrove in England and as an engineer on robot design and applications in the
Department of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh.
As a member of the Intelligent Robotics Research Centre in the Department he pursues his research
interests in mechatronics, robot sensing and biomimetic robots. Current projects include studies of swarm
robots, control of legged walking robots, chemical sensing by robots and the applications of robot
pheromones. He has published over 130 peer reviewed papers and two commercial books covering robotic
20
aspects of tactile and chemical sensing. He is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal
of Humanoid Robotics and the Journal of Bionic Engineering. He has served as a member of the program
committee for the International Conference on Field and Service Robotics and the IEEE International
Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics as well as acting as a reviewer for many conference submissions
and journal papers.
Greg Egan 1995 to 2007 (Head 1996 to 2005)
Greg was born in Mildura in 1948. After a short sojourn as a civil engineering
draftsman and professional musician he resumed his studies and completed his BEng
(Telecommunications) at RMIT in 1975 under a Commonwealth Scholarship, an MSc
(Numerical Methods) in 1976 and PhD (Computer Science) in 1979 both at the
University of Manchester under a departmental scholarship. While completing his
PhD he was invited to an academic position at Manchester, which he held until
returning to Australia in 1980 to an invited position at RMIT. In 1990 he was the first
Professor to be appointed at the then Swinburne Institute of Technology and served
for a year as Acting Dean before commencing at Monash in 1994.
He took up the position of Head of Department in 1996 amidst the consequences of the Dawkin’s tertiary
mergers. These mergers absorbed much of his energies during the following ten years. Although there
were some successes, the effort, and more importantly, the time, was largely wasted as the bulk of the
academic staff from the former Chisholm, despite having joined the university post-merger, ultimately left
Monash in 2007.
The mergers also saw the acquisition of the new engineering building with the Department occupying
almost two-thirds of the space and all staff being re-located to Clayton. The Dean, Mike Brisk, recognised
Greg’s background in architecture and allowed the Department almost free rein in adapting the space to its
needs. The style of open glass-walled laboratories was subsequently used in the refurbishment of the
dated laboratories in Building 35.
Despite the unpopular merger, the academic and highly capable support staff worked as a team and the
Department became very strong, running against the tide of contracting demand for electrical engineering
places. Overall the Department’s courses were modernised and extended to the Masters level, and postgraduate student numbers grew. The number of units was contained, however, allowing teaching
efficiencies to be maintained, a strategy not fully grasped by some.
The Department’s research performance was very high for the early part of the period, but declined rapidly
as the funding formulae moved away from publications and the large research Centres, unlike ARC grants,
were treated as Faculty Centres and thus extra-departmental. Unfortunately the wiser view that research in
universities was intended to inform teaching was also being eroded. It has now become commonplace for
academics to aspire to research and to seek not to be burdened by teaching.
Unfortunately the Faculty’s well-intentioned “Cherry Fee Equalisation Formula” led to the Department
being called upon to financially support other departments who had falling numbers. This in turn led to a
dramatic increase in student-staff ratios within the Department and an accelerating decline in research
performance. It did not in fact allow the smaller Departments to grow their numbers, but provided the
incentive to enjoy the subsidised lower student numbers to concentrate on research. The outcome for the
Department was inevitable.
Greg had a broad range of activities and interests and other responsibilities during his time, including his
role as Special Advisor to Professor Logan, then Vice-Chancellor, with the Computer Centre reporting to
21
him. He was also Director of the Centre for Telecommunications and Information Engineering (CTIE) and
responsible, with others, for three successful Cooperative Research Centre bids, one Cooperative
Multimedia Centre and a large fraction of the associated $60M of funding. The Port Welshpool UAV test
area approval from the RAAF and CASA, obtained in 2002 as part of the VRRF proposal, was relinquished in
2010. The connection between the now ubiquitous UAVs and telecommunications would have been
obvious to most.
He was also responsible for a number of equipment donations that included two Cray Research
Supercomputers recognising his computer architecture contributions and a TransExpress Optical Exchange
from Siemens to a declared value of $7M.
He spent a number of years defending the power electrical engineering teaching activities against broad
disinterest from senior levels of the power industry and pressure by others to close them. The global
shortfall in trained electrical power engineers is now well recognised and the Department fortunately
retains the Centre for Power Transformer Monitoring and associated high voltage facilities.
During Greg’s tenure the Department was certainly the largest and most complex in Engineering. It was
also described by Mike Brisk, the then Dean, to be ‘clearly the shining jewel of the Faculty’.
Greg stood down as Head on Father’s Day 2005 and left Monash in 2007 shortly after completing his final
year of sabbatical leave at MIT, Imperial College, London, Barcelona and Manchester Computer Science.
His greatest love in academic life was teaching, with several thousand undergraduates including those at
Monash attending his classes and dozens of postgraduates completing their research degrees under his
supervision, the last one being in 2009.
In retirement he travels extensively and enjoys a number of outdoor activities. He is the President of the
Australian Clan Egan Association. As an invited Fellow of the IEAust and the IET he routinely serves on
university accreditation panels and continues to pursue his own research interests with others
internationally.
Arthur Lowery 2004 to 2012 (Head 2007 to 2012)
Arthur was appointed Professor in late 2004 and became Head in January 2007.
Arthur’s background was a mixture of large and small industry and academia. As a
student he worked for Racal Research, Reading, UK, on frequency-hopping radios.
After graduating in Applied Physics with Electronics from Durham University in 1983
he joined Marconi Radar Systems Ltd in Chelmsford, UK, where he became interested
in video and data optical communications systems. He joined Nottingham University
as a Lecturer in 1984 and started a PhD on transmission-line modelling of
semiconductor lasers while lecturing in microwaves. He also bought an early Hitachi
40-MHz real-time digital oscilloscope with the idea of compensating (multimode) fibre dispersion
electronically.
While visiting Bell Laboratories, Redbank, NJ, in 1989, he was offered a position at Melbourne University by
Rod Tucker who was setting up the Photonics Research Laboratory. At that time the ‘Graphical User
Interface’ (GUI) to his models was strips of perspex on an overhead projector. With funding from the
Australian Photonics Cooperative Research Centre he appointed Phil Gurney, who developed a proper GUI
based on LabVIEW. Together they founded Virtual Photonics in 1996 to market their Optoelectronic,
Photonic and Advanced Laser Simulator (OPALS) and Arthur left Melbourne University to become CTO of
VPIsystems, as it was later known. It grew to 250 people and currently supplies the ‘telecommunications
22
bandwidth chain’ with design tools and consultancy services, including designing IP-based networks for
British, American and Australian companies and supplying design tools to over 100 companies and 100
universities.
On joining the Department in September 2004 Arthur proposed a Centre of Excellence in modelling the RF
environment with a view that design tools incorporating multiple numerical methods would be required as
more and more wireless devices were being used. Unfortunately the reviewers thought differently, with
prosaic comments along the lines of ‘RF design is based on good soldering and gaskets’ and ‘collaborative
design environments don’t work because of differences in notation’. He also worked with Malin
Premaratne on photonic phase detectors. Malin and Arthur had worked together at Melbourne University
and later at VPIsystems. Jean Armstrong then suggested using OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing) in optical systems and they worked together on developing power-efficient methods of
implementing OFDM for optical wireless, multimode fibre, then long-haul (1000 km) fibre systems. Jean
and Arthur together with Leonore Ryan won the Peter Doherty Prize for Innovation (named after the Nobel
Laureate, not the pop star) in 2006 which supported their path to commercialisation with $100,000. This
helped them buy an Agilent 4-channel 20 GSample/s real-time (consecutive samples) oscilloscope to
implement their ideas. At last digital oscilloscopes were going at a decent speed, allowing signal processing
to compensate optical fibre’s quirks! Arthur founded (and named) Ofidium Pty Ltd in 2008, raising
$6,250,000 in venture capital funding to develop the long-haul communications applications of OFDM.
In late 2006 he accepted a 1am drink from the Dean and found himself as Head of Department in January
2007. There were a number of challenges at hand. Firstly the student numbers, which had greatly
expanded during the dot-com boom were declining, particularly in the BTech course, where students
entered Monash from the TAFE system. Secondly, there were many research-inactive staff with no
prospect of receiving funding through competitive grants and were not prepared to work with those who
could. Thirdly, the department had hardly any modern equipment (the fastest oscilloscopes were in the
power laboratories!). Fourthly, the department had spread into many buildings and much space was being
used to store ‘precious’ junk; this became a huge issue with the introduction of space-charges. There was
also a disconnect with University accounting, with staff having accounts with money saved for a rainy day.
Thus Arthur set about restructuring the Department. A number of staff retired and others took separation
packages. The amount of space occupied by the Department was greatly reduced.
Jamie Evans 2012 to present (Head 2012 to present)
Jamie received the degrees of BSc in Physics and BE in Computer Engineering at the
University of Newcastle and received the University Medal in Computer Engineering
upon graduation. He completed his MEngSc and PhD at the University of Melbourne
and was awarded the Chancellor's Prize for Excellence in the PhD. From March 1998 to
June 1999 he was a Postoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. Upon
returning to Australia he took up a position as Lecturer at the University of Sydney
where he stayed for two years. Since July 2001 he has been with the Department of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne. He was Head of
Department there from 2007 to 2009 and Associate Dean (Academic) in the Melbourne School of
Engineering from 2010 to 2012. He was promoted to Professor in 2010. His research interests are in
communications theory and statistical signal processing with current focus on wireless communications
networks.
He was appointed Professor and Head of Department at Monash in April 2012.
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3. Laboratories, Workshops and Technical Staff
The following table shows an interesting comparison between the laboratories established by 1970 and
those in use in 1995. The newer names reflect the changes in the discipline over the years.
1970
Second year
Power
Control systems
Electronics
Electromagnetic and Microwave
Biophysics
1995
Circuits
Power,
Power Systems,
High Voltage
Control Systems,
3D Measurement
Computer Engineering,
Computer Vision,
Robotics
Electronics
Telecommunications,
Optical Fibre,
Video Communications,
ISDN and Networking
Biophysics
Part of the Electrical Machines Laboratory
On the Caulfield campus in 1998 the laboratories were Machines, Power Electronics, Control.
Microprocessors, Electronics, Radio Communications, Digital Signal Processing and Biomedical.
The undergraduate teaching laboratories at both Clayton and Caulfield have been reasonably well
equipped by Australian standards, although each year there was difficulty in deciding what purchases to
make with a limited budget. The bread and butter items of any electrical laboratory, such as measuring
instruments, oscilloscopes, signal generators and computers, were purchased off the shelf, whereas
24
experimental breadboards and even some specialized equipment was made in the departmental
workshops.
Bill Brown and the ESI Analog Computer
1.6 MV Impulse Testing Machine
During 2009 and 2010 the undergraduate laboratories
received significant funding for re-equipping and decoration.
The Department now has 144 benches, each with a PC,
commercial power supply, 2 or 4-channel digital oscilloscope
and 1 or 2 channel arbitrary function generators (i.e. you can
play a text file at 25 MS/s). Sixteen benches also have 3 GHz
signal generators and 3 GHz spectrum analysers and we have
several 1 GHz oscilloscopes available for top-end student
projects. Most benches have FPGA evaluation kits with touchscreens and cameras, allowing for many exciting projects from
first to fourth year. Andrew Price continues to devise exciting
challenges such as robot mazes (difficult) hovercraft (very
difficult) and stair-climbing robots (almost impossible, but our
students succeed) for the third year design project. All these
robots rely on students being able to program FPGAs to
include a processor and glue logic and construct motor and
sensor interfaces. The HV Laboratory continues to train over
80 students a year at ‘real’ voltages up to 300 kV AC and 1.6
MV impulse.
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The postgraduate laboratories now boast the best test equipment in the world, with two 80GS/s 28 GHz
Agilent real-time scopes, two Tektronix 20 GS/s arbitrary waveform generators, 1400-km of fibre, various
optical instrumentation (with 20 MHz spectral resolution), Anritsu auto-calibrating 2-power network
analysers, Rohde and Schwartz 43 GHz antenna test set (signal generator, power meter and spectrum
analyser) and signal generators to 50 GHz. The HV Laboratory has an interesting audio amplifier with +/- 30
kV output for partial discharge testing – all that is needed is a step-down transformer (though Arthur did
make an electrostatic speaker/fly incinerator for Open Day).
At Clayton Doug Lampard established three workshops, namely Electronics, Mechanical and Power. The
Power and Mechanical workshops were amalgamated in 1991 so that only two (Electronics and
Mechanical) exist at the time of writing. These workshops have been staffed by good quality technicians of
inadequate numbers and yet have provided an excellent service over the decades. The ratio of technicians
to academic staff has declined over the years, reflecting the changing nature of undergraduate and
research needs and a broadening of the range of items available for purchase off the shelf, but also
reflecting squeezed budgets.
In addition to technicians the Department has employed professional officers (usually graduate engineers)
for mostly design tasks needed to support laboratory activities. The longer serving professional officers
have been Andrew Hanby (electronics), Ramsay McDonald (power), Joe Cappadona (power), Mal Haysom
(electronics), Surapol Pungsornruk (computers), Phil Hession (power), Danny Dospisil (computers) and Dan
Grimm (computers).
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4. Administrative Staff
A key administrative staff person over the years has been the Laboratory Manager. The first to be
appointed at Clayton was Gordon King in 1967. He supervised the technical staff, managed the purchasing
of both equipment and consumables and provided an oversight of the finances. Gordon set a high standard
as a Laboratory Manager. His successors were Eric Lock, Bruce Beilby, John van der Hilst (whose title
changed from Laboratory Manager to Resources Manager) and Geoff Binns (whose current title is Facilities
Manager
At the time of the merger there was also a Laboratory Manager at Caulfield.
With regard to secretarial staff the most important position has been that of Secretary to the Head of
Department (otherwise known as the Departmental Secretary). This work has been mostly of the personal
assistant kind. Other secretarial staff have been secretaries to Professors or have provided a general
secretarial service to the Department. This has applied at both Clayton and Caulfield since the merger. By
1990 most academics had a PC on their desks and the need for secretarial support declined. The advent of
powerful photocopiers hastened the decline. (In the 60s the accepted way of making multiple copies of
anything was to cut a wax stencil and use a Gestetner or Roneo machine.) The Departmental Secretaries
have been Daphne Sharp, Judy Matthews, Carole Marich, Martha Murdoch, Rosemary Bowen, Helen Clark,
Barbara Roberts, Lesley Collins and Maria Scalzo.
One very important appointment at Clayton was that of a professional database person to be involved in
the establishment and maintenance of student information, course information etc at a time when
computers began to be widely used for these purposes. Sue Morgan fulfilled this role admirably for more
than a decade.
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5. Buildings
Building 35 (originally Engineering Building 4) in the early years
Building 35 was the first to house the Department. In 1970 Building 36 became available and the
Department gained space on part of its ground floor together with an attached three story High Voltage
Laboratory. This Laboratory was named in honour of Jack Wilson whose company (the Wilson Transformer
Company) donated the major equipment housed therein. It has been used in undergraduate teaching and
in research and commercial testing for many years.
Thus Building 35 and part of 36 housed the Department for some decades. With the completion of Building
60 in 1990 some space became available in Building 31 and most of the telecommunications activities were
transferred to those offices and laboratories.
Building 69 was completed in 1995 and some power engineering, robotics and bioengineering activities
moved there.
In 1999 Building 72 was completed and the Department took up much of the space made available thereby.
All of the Caulfield staff and activities were transferred to Clayton and the Department relinquished the
space it had occupied at Caulfield.
In 2008 the amount of space occupied by the Department was greatly reduced by moving power
electronics and robotics from Building 69 and telecommunications plus many staff offices from Building 31.
The Department was then divided into “Corridors of Excellence” with communications and RFID in Level 2
of Building 35, robotics on the ground floor of Building 36, biomedical engineering on the top floor of
Building 72, and power electronics on the ground floor of Building 35 (with the Jack Wilson High Voltage
Laboratory at the end of Building 36 and the new transformer test facility, housing a 450 kW transformer
donated by Wilson Transformer Company next to the HV Laboratory). The Centre for Power Transformer
Monitoring, under the direction of Valery Davydov at the time, obtained significant funding from the State
28
Government between 2005 and 2008. From 2009 on the Centre has strengthened its contacts with the
national power industry.
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6. The Bachelor’s Programs
In the early years the four year BE in Electrical Engineering was made up of three years of mathematics,
two years of physics, one year of chemistry and the non-electrical subjects of applied mechanics, fluid
mechanics, thermodynamics, materials science and stress analysis plus all of the electrical subjects. These
started in second year with the basics of electromagnetic theory and circuit theory and with a little of
electrical machines and electronics thrown in to tantalize the students. The main electrical subjects in third
year were circuit theory, electrical power, electronics, control systems and potential theory with the
requirement of an extra-faculty subject. The final year or professional year was made up of electrical
power, electronics, control systems, electromagnetic wave propagation, communications, design and a
substantial individual project.
A number of course reviews and subsequent modifications have taken place over the decades so that the
current four year BE in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering differs widely from the original course.
The first major change came about in 1972 when electrical studies were introduced into first year as one
component of an engineering subject that had to be taken by all BE students. This participation of the
Department in first year has continued to this day.
The growth in importance of computers has, of course, had a dramatic impact on the structure of the BE.
In the early years students picked up a little of Fortran here and there and many used the University’s
mainframes in their project work. Fortran was taught as part of second year mathematics through the 70s.
Computer engineering as a formal subject was not introduced until 1979. In the period 1980 to 1982 a
major change took place when the University’s Computer Centre, under the driving influence of its
Director, Cliff Bellamy, took a major role in the BE course and the name of the BE degree changed from
Electrical Engineering to Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering. (This change did not flow through
to the name of the Department until 1989.) The effect of these changes was to reduce the amount of nonelectrical engineering material taken by students and to increase the amount of computer-related material.
In 1989 a unitized system was introduced across the University. At the same time all courses were
semesterized so that students took major examinations at the middle of the year as well as at the end. The
course in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering still had much the same content as in 1988 but the
subjects were taught, for the most part, as semester long units. Students took subjects totalling 24 credit
points per semester, which could be made up of six 4cp units but there were many variations on this. The
course was still based around major studies in circuit theory, field theory, electrical power, electronics,
control, computer engineering and communications but by this stage over twenty electives were available
for students to take in their fourth year.
With the availability of outside funding in the 90s and the appointment of academic staff, especially in the
areas of telecommunications (under Fred Symons) and electrical power (under Bill Bonwick) it was decided
to establish streams in the course so that students could specialize in their third and fourth years. The
streams were: Computer Systems, Control Systems, Electronics, Electrical Power, Telecommunications and
General. By 1994 this had narrowed down to three streams, namely Computer Systems, Electrical &
Electronic and Telecommunications.
At the time of the merger in 1990 the Department at Chisholm offered a BE course entitled Electrical and
Computing. Traditionally this had been a more practically oriented course with less emphasis on the
fundamentals of the discipline. In 1991 within Monash University the degree was named Bachelor of
Engineering (Applied) (Electrical and Computing). Not, perhaps, a very happy choice of title, but applicants
could enter the program up to 1997. From 1998 the two courses were merged, largely on the Clayton
30
model. By 1999 all staff from the Caulfield campus had moved to Clayton. Chisholm had also offered a
Bachelor of Technology (Computer Studies) degree in conjunction with designated TAFE colleges. The final
two years were taken at Chisholm and this component was transferred across to Monash.
In 1984 combined degrees were introduced into the Faculty formally for the first time with the
establishment of the five year BSc/BE. Later on combinations of engineering with arts, commerce, and law
were also introduced. The most popular of the BSc/BE combinations was Electrical and Computer Systems
Engineering/Computer Science, at least in the early years. There was a higher cut off score for combined
degree students and many performed extremely well. In the departmental fourth year class list each year
there were always quite a few BSc/BE students gaining first class honours.
Given the popularity of the electrical engineering/computer science combination it was decided to
introduce a four year program combining these elements. It was entitled the Bachelor of Computer Science
and Engineering and has recently been renamed the Bachelor of Computer Systems Engineering. In
collaboration with the Department of Computer Science the program commenced in 1991. It has been
reasonably popular but has not perhaps fulfilled the hopes of its designers. In a four year program based
on a five year combined degree there have, of course, been omissions of both engineering and science
material. BCSE students often found it difficult to do well in mainstream subjects given that they had not
taken some subjects taken by their BE or BSc/BE classmates.
The number of undergraduates choosing ECSE in recent years has unfortunately declined, though the
quality of the students coming in is exceptionally high. ECSE’s future depends on these students as it is
critical that they become leaders in research and industry, perhaps creating their own companies as many
of our alumni have done so successfully. Monash ECSE continues to offer quality education. The
Department receives evaluation scores >4 (on a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 scale) without dumbing down, thanks to the
dedication and skills of its staff.
Peter Gregory receiving the first Beard Prize from Bill and Marion Beard in 1975
A number of prizes, mostly funded from industry, have been awarded to outstanding students over the
years. The most significant of these has been the Beard Prize, awarded to the top student in any year in the
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BE (E&CSE) course. The Prize was endowed by the Beard family after the death of their son Graham, on
campus in a road accident, in 1972. The following have been the recipients of the Prize over the years:
1974 Peter Gregory, 1975 Peter Hart, 1976 Joseph Ting, 1977 Colin McAndrew, 1978 Stephen Cocks &
Francis Pham, 1979 Mark Stevens, 1980 Yak Yew Wee, 1981 Wong Chek Yoon, 1982 Chong Keng Cheen,
1983 Ralph Youie, 1984 Albert Fu, 1985 Soo Jia Sien, 1986 Lee Lou Fei, 1987 Chew Chiat Earl, 1988
Katharine Fisher, 1989 Adam Dickson, 1990 Ellis Brover, 1991 Jamie Chard, 1992 Victor Koss, 1993 Wong
Yang Kong, 1994 Milosh Ivanovich, 1995 Jeffrey Harrison, 1996 Timothy Lee, 1997 Pee-Chin Tan, 1998
Martin Elliot, 1999 Geoffrey Taylor, 2000 Michael Hall , 2001 Paul Cunanan, 2002 Nguyen La, 2003 Gareth
Thompson, 2004 Bryce Thompson, 2005 Steven Lade, 2006 Robert Jarvis, 2007 Olivia Chan, 2008 Karl
Urdevics.
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7. Higher Degrees
Research in the Department got off to a flying start with ten postgraduate candidates (three of them
academic staff members) enrolled by the mid 60s. The first candidate to complete his PhD was Nhan Levan
in 1966. In 1967 there were eight completions and two more in 1968. In the same years five candidates
completed Master of Engineering Science degrees. Through the 70s the average number of PhD
completions each year was 3.6 but in the 80s this dropped to 2.4. The number of MEngSc completions in
the 70s averaged 3.9 each year. In 1979 a coursework masters program was introduced and in the 80s the
average number of MEngSc completions by research each year was 2.3 and by coursework and minor thesis
1.9. By the end of the 80s the demand for the initial coursework masters program had diminished and the
program was discontinued. The 90s saw the revival of coursework masters programs, supported largely
through the outside funding initiatives.
The mid 80s proved to be the low point in research student enrolments, but by the 90s numbers had
improved and the number of PhD completions in the first half of the 90s had risen to an average of 3.8 each
year. With substantial outside funding in the 90s and the establishment of major research programs in the
Department the numbers of research students grew significantly so that the number of PhD completions in
the fifteen years since 1995 has averaged 9. In 1992 the Douglas Lampard Electrical Engineering Research
Prize and Medal was instituted for the best PhD thesis in a year. This has become a prestigious award and
has been awarded in most years since its inception. The following is a list of the Lampard prizewinners
from its inception until recent years, together with the citation recorded for each winner:
1990 Rick Alexander Supervisor Kim Ng
Doug Lampard presenting the first Lampard Prize to Rick Alexander
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘High accuracy non-contact three-dimensional shape measurement’.
33
The thesis describes a non-contact method for accurate simultaneous measurement of the threedimensional coordinates of a large number of points on a surface. The measurement principle is active
triangulation using a projector to cast multiple light stripes onto the surface and a charge coupled camera
to acquire images for calculation of the surface points by triangulation.
Innovative use of a liquid crystal light valve to control the projection of light stripes and sophisticated image
analysis software combine to produce an elegant system with wide-ranging application potential. The
thesis combines an understanding of the underlying physics and optics with an eye toward practical
methods of minimizing potential problems. Thorough analysis of the performance of all components of the
system, electronics, optics, computer hardware, algorithms and computer software are tied together to
produce a complete system analysis.
In the words of one of the examiners, Oliver Faugeras, a world authority on the subject, ‘This is really a
great piece of engineering..... He is capable of producing a new system at the forefront of technology, that
works significantly better than any other similar system today, as well as understanding and making other
understand why’.
1992 Wang Xinhua Supervisor Greg Cambrell
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘Finite element methods for nonlinear optical waveguides’.
The thesis makes a significant contribution to the rapidly developing study of all optical devices to be used
in photonic telecommunications networks. In contrast with the conventional scalar approximations for
weakly-guided structures, the full vectorial time-harmonic electromagnetic equations for saturable
nonlinear optical waveguides are solved numerically in the transverse cross section by the finite-element
method using automatic mesh generation and robust nonlinear iterative procedures. The longitudinal
propagation stability of nonlinear modes and bistability behaviour are explored for particular examples of
nonlinear planar and channel structures. The completed software package is a powerful tool for further
research.
1994 Tan Thiow Keng Supervisor Khee Pang
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘Efficient frequency scalable coders’.
These coders are suitable for many digital video applications, ranging from HDTV to video conferencing.
The thesis describes the sources of inefficiency and the means of improving the coders.
The thesis contains a complete treatise on layered coders in general. One of the many important objectives
of the new video coding standard is that it should be scalable in order to facilitate the interworking of
different codecs designed for various applications. Layered codecs can be used to achieve this goal.
T K was an indispensible member of the video coding group of the Department. Through the group he was
active in international standards forums, and in providing technical input to the Moving Picture Experts
Group (MPEG2). The MPEG2 program was to provide a generic set of audiovisual coding tools for a range
of applications. Some of the material contained in the thesis was first presented as contributions to the
MPEG group.
One of the examiners, M L Liou, a world authority on image and video compression, has stated that ‘The
candidate has made significant contributions in the field of video coding....’
34
1995 John Millott Supervisor Don Keogh
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘Mobile radio channel modelling’.
The thesis addresses the important problem of radio channel behaviour in the presence of moving
scatterers, a situation which exists whenever a mobile telephone is used in the presence of moving traffic.
Moving scatterers can cause large Doppler shifts in frequency and thereby bring about degraded channel
performance. John’s work has established a sound scientific basis for modelling such situations.
The work is of great breadth, starting with a highly theoretical analysis of the problem and making use of
the theory of special relativity; using the theoretical basis for the computation of electromagnetic field
behaviour in particular cases; moving on to experimental verification in strictly controlled conditions,
namely an anechoic chamber; and finally verification with moving vehicles in the open.
One of the examiners, Dr Davis of the University of Adelaide has stated: ‘The thesis is a very thorough
investigation of the modelling of mobile channels from a non-stochastic point of view. The thesis clearly
develops the theory of such channels and meticulously investigates all assumptions made in establishing
them. The author clearly demonstrates the shortcomings of existing models, and precisely defines the
conditions under which the models developed in the thesis are valid.’
A second examiner, Professor Williamson of the University of Auckland, makes the following comment: ‘By
any measure..... Millott’s thesis is a fine piece of work which far exceeds the requirements for a PhD.’
1996 Justin Lipton Supervisor Kishor Dabke
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘Frequency spectra of chaotic systems – theory and applications’.
The thesis investigates the spectral properties of time series which arise in a number of physical and
biological systems to determine if they are chaotic. The usual power spectrum as well as the higher order
spectrum called bispectrum and its normalised version called the bicoherence spectrum are used for this
purpose.
It is important to determine if a time series is chaotic because in physical and engineering systems it may
represent an undesirable and unpredictable mode of operation whereas in biomedical signals such as ECG
it may represent a ‘normal’ or healthy state. The spectral methods were used to 1. reconstruct state
spaces for the purpose of short term forecasting and to identify nonlinear responses, 2. analyse
deliberately chaotic digital signals as carriers for secure communications and 3. Distinguish between various
ECG responses which appear similar in the time domain but which can lead to wrong and possibly fatal
treatment if misdiagnosed.
The work resulted in several publications in international journals and conference proceedings before it
was submitted for final examination.
1997 John Nam Ngo Supervisor Le Binh
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘New optical signal processors: design and applications to optical computing
and optical communication systems’.
35
The thesis makes a significant contribution to the field of signal processing employing lightwaves. It
describes new incoherent fibre optic signal processors and new coherent integrated optic signal processors.
It is important to be able to represent complex optical circuits in graphical and systematic forms so that
they can be analysed and synthesised for signal processing purposes in the optical domain. John has
developed new optical network theory and applied it to: 1. the design of new fibre optic systolic array
processors for intensive matrix computing; 2. the implementation of optical integration and differentiation
devices; 3. the design and implementation of all-optical generators and detectors for ultra-long ultra-highspeed telecommunications systems employing optical solitons; 4. the design of optical dispersion
compensation for extending fibre capabilities beyond current dispersion limits; and 5. the design of novel
tunable optical filters.
In his examiner’s report Robert Minasian of Sydney University makes the following comments: ‘The thesis
makes a significant contribution to the field of optical signal processors..... it is extremely well written and
is of high quality. There is a logical progression of thought and discussion and the clarity is exceptional.
The significance of the achievements in the thesis is indicated by the fact that the material has been
published extensively in leading journals.’
1999 Fiona Fang Chen Supervisor David Suter
Awarded for her thesis entitled ‘PDE splines and fast approximation of PDE splines’.
Fiona undertook a theoretical investigation of partial differential equation (PDE) splines based on the
reproducing-kernel Hilbert space approach to establish a fundamental framework for spline methods. She
then developed a fast method for spline evaluation suitable for computer implementation for both two and
three dimensional problems. Finally she applied spline methods to problems in the simulation of heart
motion and in the image processing and computer vision fields.
One of her examiners, Professor Greengard of New York University writes that Fiona ‘.....has written a very
thorough thesis on an important topic in approximation theory.... Chapters 5, 6 and 7 are mathematically
complex, carefully written and new.’ Another examiner, Professor Metaxas of the University of
Pennsylvania writes that in her thesis Fiona ‘..... addresses fundamental problems in the areas of Medical
Image Analysis (the recovery of left ventricular motion from observed data).... in Computer Vision (filtering
methods for edge detection)... and in Image Processing (image warping algorithms).... This is among the
very few theses I have seen whose contents are presented in such a thorough, well written and systematic
way.’
A number of papers have arisen from Fiona’s work, including four published in journals and five presented
at international conferences.
2000 Trevor Allen Supervisors David Morgan and Uwe Proske (Physiology)
Awarded for a thesis entitled ‘Effect of eccentric contractions on the mechanical properties of skeletal
muscle’.
Trevor’s project covered a wide range of experiments, testing various predictions of a new theory to
explain the consequences of using muscles as brakes rather than motors. Such use leads to the soreness
next day that we have all experienced after unaccustomed exercise, such as walking or running downhill, or
horse riding or skiing. Using human ankle extensors he showed that the muscle damage was much less
36
after a second bout of exercise than after the first. In the same muscles he showed that exercise where the
muscle is used exclusively as a motor increased susceptibility to damage.
He developed and used a novel machine for exercising elbow flexors. In experiments on rat muscles he
showed the effects of treadmill running on muscle properties and the effect of the length range over which
muscle is used. This work was published in two journal articles and six conference papers. One of these, at
the International Olympic Sports Medicine Conference, held in Sydney in conjunction with the Olympic
Games, was judged best student paper and Trevor was awarded a trip to the annual meeting of the
American College of Sports Medicine to present the paper there.
Trevor came to the Department as a physiology graduate who had shown considerable practical aptitude
during his honours year. Throughout his candidature he combined design and construction of equipment
with muscle physiology and extensive data analysis. Trevor, in the best Lampard tradition, was always
prepared to go beyond the boundaries of his present knowledge, by exploring the area systematically and
scientifically and then learning to do it right.
One examiner, not then a supporter of the hypothesis (developed over the last decade by David Morgan)
being tested wrote: ‘The thesis is exceptionally clearly written and the rationale and design of the
experiments are presented logically and succinctly. The results are presented in a standard format which
helps the reader to understand the key points. The discussion is brief but generally appropriate and many
parts of the thesis are of publication quality. The diagrams and figures are well chosen and help the rapid
understanding of the concepts and experimental approaches. It is clear that the candidate is a skilled
designer of equipment and has successfully completed a complex series of esperiments.’
2001 Prithiviraj (‘Raj’) Tissainayagam Supervisor David Suter
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘Visual tracking: development, performance evaluation and motion model
switching.’
Raj gained his PhD after researching for a little under five years part time. This in itself is a remarkable
achievement. In his chosen area of computer vision he studied methods for automatically tracking objects
and human figures in video sequences. He did this by developing and evaluating algorithms to track ‘point
features’ and contours of objects in video images.
In the words of one examiner, Raj’s thesis ‘Presents an impressively comprehensive study of visual
tracking.... Particularly noteworthy is the sophistication of the experimental methodology – an aspect of
computer vision that is often neglected’. The second examiner concurred with ‘It proposes a number of
significant original methods building on the state-of-the-art within the field of computer vision. One of the
principal contributions is a tracking algorithm for deformable objects that is shown to be superior to two of
the leading existing algorithms – this is a substantial contribution in itself.... It is rare to see this degree of
comparative examination in a PhD thesis.’
2002 Nidhal Abdulaziz Supervisor Khee Pang
Awarded for her thesis entitled ‘Digital watermarking and data hiding in multimedia.’
Traditionally, watermarking is used in official stationery to provide proof of origin. For the same reason
data embedding is now being used to hide signatures and similar identifying information in large data files.
It may be considered as ‘communication through a watermarking channel’ or ‘secret communication’. It
37
can be used to control access to data, to provide customized delivery or solutions for pay-per-view
implementations.
In her thesis Nidhal has explored the application of channel coding techniques for the improvement of the
performance of data hiding systems. She has developed several new techniques for robust data hiding
within image and video data. These compress the signature data before embedding using vector
quantization and then apply channel coding to the data to improve the reliability of watermark detection.
One of the examiners, K R Rao of the University of Texas, has made the following comments: ‘This thesis
has developed novel approaches for robust embedding of large amounts of data such as text, images, video
and audio.... A unique feature is recovery of lossless text data from lossy compressed images. Another
contribution is the ability to hide large quantities of data (up to 25% versus 1% reported so far) and to
recover high quality data even under JPEG/MPEG algorithms.... The thesis has extended/improved the
state-of-the-art in digital watermarking technology for embedding signature data in multimedia terms of
both quantity and quality.’
2003 Brendan McGrath Supervisor Grahame Holmes
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘Topologically independent modulation of multilevel inverters’. The work
was in the area of multilevel power electronic inverters. These operate from a number of DC sources
instead of a single source so that the waveforms produced can more accurately replicate a sinusoidal
waveform. They are of increasing interest because they are capable of operating at high overall voltage
levels while producing switched waveforms with low levels of spectral distortion. Brendan has shown how
to calculate the spectral components of multilevel inverters of different topologies. His technique maps
the rules of a modulation process to a series of Fourier double integrals, the solutions of which represent
the spectral components of the switched waveform.
Using his technique he was able to analyze and compare a range of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
methods used with different topologies. He constructed a number of inverters and took measurements to
confirm the validity of his method. His work will enable the designers of multilevel inverters to readily
calculate the spectral components for a given modulation method and topology
One of Brendan’s PhD examiners, Heinz van der Broeck of the Cologne University of Applied Sciences,
states that ‘...Brendan McGrath’s approach of finding equivalences and common features between the
different topologies and control schemes meets exactly an important question of science and development
in power electronics today.’ Another, Thierry Meynard of the Laboratoire d’Electrotechnique et
d’Electronique Industrielle in Toulouse, states that “The mathematical approach is not the easiest...., but it
is clearly the only one providing a demonstration to solve problems discussed over many years. This work
brings final answers to problems which have been the subject of many passionate discussions and this
makes it a very significant contribution.’
2004 Hanzi Wang Supervisor David Suter
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘Robust statistics for computer vision: model fitting, image segmentation
and visual motion analysis’.
Hanzi’s work was concerned with feature extraction algorithms. Here, an essential problem is to fit a
model to data in a way that is not affected by outliers: the presence of other structures in the data, or of
data with large errors. Although a number of reasonably robust algorithms have been used over the years,
robust to 50% outliers, he wanted to see if more robust techniques could be found – ones that are resistant
to up to 85% or more of outliers. He developed improved methods by innovations in three areas: using
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information about the structures (such as symmetry), using information about the distribution of the errors
(modelling the probability density function of those errors using ‘mean shift’ methods) and in more
accurately and robustly characterising the scale of the noise.
One examiner, Dr Comaniciu of Siemens Corporate Research, states ‘This thesis represents a solid
contribution that advances the state-of-the-art in at least two directions: Exploitation of the ‘Symmetry
Distance’ and Exploitation of the pdf of the residuals. Furthermore the thesis material is supported by the
candidate’s publications in top peer reviewed journals and conferences, such as the International Journal of
Computer Vision and the IEEE International conference on Computer Vision. The other examiner, Dr Van
Den Hengel of the University of Adelaide states that ‘.... the techniques presented are novel, well justified
and effective.’
2006 Albert Diosi Supervisor Lindsay Kleeman
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘Laser range finder and advanced sonar based simultaneous localization and
mapping for mobile robots’. Albert made significant contributions in three areas of the important mobile
robot task called simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM). Firstly, he developed new systematic and
random error covariance models for laser range measurements and extensively tested these
experimentally. The models were used in estimating error covariances of line and corner features that are
commonly extracted from the laser data and used in robotic mapping.
Albert's second major contribution was in fusing sonar data from a new advanced sonar system with laser
range data to solve the SLAM problem in environments where using either sensor alone fails. Albert was
the first researcher to exploit synergies between laser and advanced sonar sensors to generate maps that
enable a robot to navigate autonomously.
The third area of research contribution was in laser scan matching whereby the relative position and
orientation of robot positions can be estimated from laser scans from those positions. Albert developed a
new, faster, more accurate approach to laser scan matching called Polar Scan Matching (PSM). By working
in the native polar coordinates of the sensor, searching for correspondence between laser measurements
can be simplified compared to other matching approaches. PSM was applied to solve SLAM where the
landmarks are full laser scans, allowing for robust landmark association. The PSM work has been accepted
for publication in the prestigious International Journal of Robotics Research.
His examiners, Professor Ohya from the University of Tsukuba and Professor Wernersson from Luleå
University of Technology, were impressed by Albert's excellent level of theoretical and experimental
investigations and the balance between scientific and engineering points of view.
2007 Zhaolin Chen Supervisor Jingxin Zhang
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘Image reconstruction in accelerated magnetic resonance imaging – a
systems approach’.
Zhaolin has investigated the shortcomings of the current techniques used in
accelerated image reconstruction from magnetic resonance scans. Using techniques from system
identification, multirate filtering, system inversion and system optimization he has developed new
reconstruction methods. Experimental results on real MRI data sets demonstrate that these new methods
are superior to those currently in use.
Zhaolin’s work has been published in the international journal Computerized Medical Imaging and at eight
international conferences. The work is also the subject of a patent application.
One of Zhaolin’s examiners, Professor Wu of RMIT University, states that ‘The candidate and his supervisor
should be congratulated for producing such a high quality work on an extremely challenging topic in a very
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competitive field’. The other, Associate Professor Zhang of the Nanyang Technological University, states
that ‘The thesis shows that the candidate has built up solid background knowledge in the theory and
technology of medical imaging and signal processing and a strong capability in conducting analytical and
experimental research’.
2008 David Rawlinson Supervisor Ray Jarvis
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘Autonomous topological navigation using egocentric, visuo-spatial
perceptions’. The thesis explores the notion of guiding a mobile robot on the basis of its topological
understanding (machine intelligence) of its working environment, thus permitting a human familiar with
that environment to instruct the robot to carry out navigation tasks based solely on topologically structured
terminology. This approach is in distinct variance with the more conventional robot navigation
methodologies which are based on metrically specified geometric mappings of the environment. The work
developed in this thesis represents, not only a novel and effective robot navigation strategy, but also a
means of natural human-machine communication in the context of mobility actions.
One examiner, S Yuta of the University of Tsukuba, states ‘The proposed method is efficient and effective in
real indoor and outdoor environments, to navigate, explore and make maps autonomously. It is also
effective as a good human operator interface.’ Another, R Dillman of the Universität Karlsruhe, states ‘This
thesis contributes successfully to the field of autonomous mobile robot navigation at large. More
specifically it contributes to the field of autonomous mapping and topological navigation as well as to the
field of topological localization and topological situation discovery based on egocentric perceptions and the
classification of the observed topological areas.’
2009 Sushim Mukal Roy Supervisor Nemai Karmakar
Awarded to Sushim Mukul Roy for his thesis entitled ‘Development of a frequency encoded chipless RFID
tag’. In the field of remote automatic identification (for logistics, tracking, toll collection etc) Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID) systems offer the advantages over optical barcodes of added security, less
human intervention and non line-of-sight operation. However the data-carrying (IC) chipset in a
conventional RFID tag is comparatively expensive and hence the attractions of the technology are limited.
Sushim has designed a novel chipless RFID tag based on robust RF/microwave and antenna engineering
fundamentals. It is a planar multi-resonant passive circuit in series with circularly-polarized receiving and
transmitting antennas. An antenna in the reader transmits a frequency sweep which is received by the tag.
In the tag the sweep undergoes predetermined processing in the frequency domain, which is the tag’s
signature, and this is interpreted in the reader. A fully-functional 5-bit chipless RFID tag has been
fabricated and tested and field trials support the robustness of the concept. With further development it is
expected that it will be possible to manufacture the tags inexpensively and that they will be widely used.
The two examiners, Ananda Sanagavarapu of the University of Technology Sydney and Jeffrey Fu of the
Chang Gung University Taiwan, noted that ‘the thesis constitutes a significant contribution to
knowledge...contains material worthy of publication...and that the format and literary presentation of the
thesis are satisfactory’. One further comment was ‘The original idea of using frequency-coded structures is
interesting and the literature survey of RFID is well written and thorough’.
Sushim and his co-workers have taken out a provisional patent on the tag. He has also jointly authored
seven papers in refereed journals and 11 conference papers.
2010 Vajira Amaratunga Supervisor Malin Premaratne
Awarded for his thesis entitled ‘Modelling and numerical simulation of mesoscopic semiconductor
optoelectronic devices’. The research work reported in the thesis is directed towards the integration of
photonic crystal structures into existing devices and the development of novel photonic devices that are
power efficient, compact and fast. New devices were developed by integrating 1D photonic crystal
40
structures into existing devices and a new device using a 2D photonic crystal structure was designed. The
scope of the thesis is limited to numerical design and optimization of the devices. A Finite Difference Time
Domain (FDTD) numerical method (2D and 3D) was used for the numerical analysis presented in the thesis.
One of the examiners, Dr Gunapala of Caltech, comments: ‘This thesis constitutes an excellent contribution
to the knowledge and understanding of the numerical simulation of optoelectronic devices vital to the
optical communication and other relevant fields.’ The other, Dr Boriskina of Boston University, comments:
‘The candidate demonstrates broad knowledge of the state-of-the-art in the field and the fundamentals of
optoelectronics, laser theory and computational electromagnetics. The choice and implementation of the
numerical techniques are adequate for the problems comsidered.’
Vajira and his co-workers have applied for a patent entitled ‘Method and device for phase measurement in
electromagnetic signals’. He has also jointly authored three papers in refereed high impact journals and a
number of conference papers.
Vajira received his Lampard Prize from Rick Alexander
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8. Research Activities
Doug Lampard set off the research activities of the Department with great ability and enthusiasm. His own
PhD at Cambridge a decade earlier had been concerned with random processes and not surprisingly five of
his early PhD candidates also worked on various aspects of random processes. But his interests were broad
and he supervised candidates in a wide range of fields.
At this point it should be mentioned that research was often aided by research-only staff. Even from the
early days visitors were brought in or experts were employed to assist in particular areas. Research grants
were often used to fund research-only staff and the establishment of the Centres has aided this process.
The following is a summary of the Department’s research activities over the past fifty years, grouped under
some fairly general and not necessarily mutually exclusive headings. Nor are the headings exhaustive –
some of the research projects in the Department could not be classified under any of these headings. It is
noteworthy that Doug supervised candidates in five of the following groupings.
Electromagnetic fields and wave propagation
Lucian Gruner, who had been working at STC in collaboration with CSIRO in Sydney, followed Doug
Lampard in late 1963 and joined the Department first as a Senior Teaching Fellow and then as a Lecturer
while undertaking study for his Ph.D. in the area of transmission-line equations and microwaves. Andrew
Turski from Warsaw commenced as a Senior Lecturer in 1965 and carried out research on the fundamental
equations of plasma physics. Andrew returned to Poland in 1969. Greg Cambrell from Adelaide had been
attracted to commence study for his Ph.D. in the Department in 1967 because of the reputation of Doug
Lampard and his academic staff for research on the scientific fundamentals of electrical engineering. Greg
joined the staff as a Lecturer in July 1969 while continuing his Ph.D. work until its completion in 1972.
Lucian was therefore able to take sabbatical leave in 1970 while Greg took over the teaching of the large
‘Electromagnetic Wave Propagation (EWP)’ subject normally taught by Lucian in fourth year. The emphasis
on ‘Potential Theory and Fields’ in third year (taught mainly by Doug Lampard) followed by ‘EWP’ in fourth
year in the undergraduate course was probably responsible for a surge of postgraduate interest in those
areas in the years to follow.
It is appropriate here to mention the strong influence of Cyril Carson on electromagnetic research interests
in the Department in the 70s. Greg Cambrell had worked with Cyril at Weapons Research Establishment
(later DSTO) at Salisbury, SA, in 1962/63 till 1966/67 as a summer vacation student. The main project was
developing a universal computer program for solving Laplace's equation with applications to transmission
lines, antennas and microwaves. With strong encouragement and intense interest from Cyril, Greg
developed his research interest in electromagnetic fundamentals. The two kept up a deep technical
correspondence from 1967 until Cyril's death in 1998.
In 1971 Cyril wanted to experience academic life and joined the Department as an Associate Professor.
While Cyril had always been Greg's mentor, he now became his Ph.D. supervisor. When Greg took
sabbatical leave in 1973, Cyril took over Greg's teaching. Cyril also became the supervisor of most of the
postgraduate students in the EWP area and encouraged them with his characteristic enthusiasm.
Unfortunately Cyril's personality clashed with some of his colleagues and he decided to return in early 1974
to his previous position at DSTO.
In 1976 John Bennett joined the Department as a Lecturer having completed a post-doctoral appointment
in Germany. He brought a strong interest in ray propagation, the ionosphere and microwave attenuation
due to rain together with an ongoing collaboration with Peter Dyson at La Trobe University. In 1978 and
1979 John was heavily involved in a joint study with INTELSAT on microwave propagation through rain and
42
raindrop size. John continued to publish many research papers in the years to follow and was promoted to
Reader in 1992.
Research interests do not always respect boundaries just as the fundamentals of electrical engineering can
be applied in other disciplines. Greg Cambrell's interests spread to electroacoustics, loudspeakers and
audio amplifiers. He supervised many final-year projects in those areas, some in conjunction with Ed
Cherry, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate projects in computational electromagnetics using finite
elements. One final-year project in particular, by Jeffrey Harrison, is noteworthy for its publication as an
important loudspeaker paper in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (December 1996). Many
students may also remember a particular practice class problem in the second-year electromagnetic field
theory subject, namely, the calculation of the sound level produced by a large electrostatic loudspeaker,
the same one constructed by Greg in 1970 for his home audio system (refer to an article in The Monash
Reporter, 05 August 1971, page 4).
Apart from the arrival in 1981 of Le Nguyen Binh as a Lecturer in optical communications, later promoted to
Reader, there was no change in the academic staff in the electromagnetics area until the Chisholm merger
when Stewart Jenvey brought his interests in indoor radio propagation, antennas and avionics. Stewart
was responsible for setting up an electromagnetically-shielded room and an anechoic chamber at Clayton
in which sensitive measurements could be made.
Lucian Gruner retired in 1994, Greg Cambrell in 2006, and John Bennett and Stewart Jenvey in 2007.
Meanwhile Nemai Karmakar joined the Department in 2005 and is currently a Senior Lecturer with a special
interest in RFID devices.
Photonics
Le Nguyen Binh joined the Department in 1982 and carried out a substantial amount of research in the
optical fibres area until his retirement in 2010. He was concerned with optical devices as well as with their
use for communications purposes.
Circuit theory
Doug Lampard brought with him a strong interest in circuit theory. Four of his early students made
significant contributions in the field. One of these, Khee Pang, returned to the Department in 1971 and
established a strong reputation in the circuits area. He supervised a number of outstanding PhD students.
However his interests turned to video coding in the 90s. He retired in 2005 and died in 2009.
Electronics
Ed Cherry joined the Department in 1966 with a strong background in electronic circuit design. One of his
outstanding successes was the development (in ....) of a high fidelity audio amplifier using multiple
feedback loops. The technique was patented and the patent sold, bringing significant funding to the
Department. The funding was used largely to provide postgraduate scholarships over a number of years.
Ed is respected internationally for his contributions in electronic circuits. He co-authored a classical text on
amplifier design before he joined Monash. He retired in 1998. He worked in major American laboratories,
prior to, during and after his time at Monash.
Kevin Forward joined in 1970 and made a number of contributions over the years in the electronic devices
area. He resigned in 1985. As mentioned elsewhere Kim Ng also made contributions in the electronic
circuit design area.
In 2010 Jean-Michel Ridoute joined the Department. He has interests in analog circuit design in the Cherry
tradition!
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Biophysics and bioengineering
Doug Lampard and Steve Redman established the Biophysics Laboratory in the early 60s to investigate
random processes in spinal motoneurones. This work continued until Steve’s departure to a chair at the
John Curtin School of Medical Research at the ANU in 1982. Soon after the work on spinal motoneurons
had started Doug also took an interest in muscle physiology. His first two PhD candidates in this area were
Ian Brown and David Morgan. Both returned to the Department later, David to a lectureship in 1982 and
Ian as Head of the Centre for Biomedical Engineering in 1994. David became well-known as a muscle
physiologist. In the 80s he established a firm partnership with Uwe Proske of the Department of
Physiology. David retired in 2007 and Ian in 2010.
In 1971 Doug took an interest in the computer control of respiration and anaesthesia. This was
bioengineering rather than biophysics. He was joined by Bill Brown and, later, Kim Ng and by a number of
visiting clinical anaesthetists with a research interest. The most notable of these were Kester Brown and
Noel Cass, the Director and Assistant Director respectively of the Department of Anaesthesia at the Royal
Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. The group made long term investigations of the computer control of
muscle relaxation and cerebral perfusion during cardio-pulmonary bypass and deep hypothermia. Kim
developed an EMG monitoring instrument that was used clinically at the Children’s for some years.
With the establishment of the Centre for Biomedical Engineering a range of research projects have been
undertaken under the supervision of Ian Brown. Brian Lithgow and Irena Cosic from the Chisholm end have
had their main research interests in the bioengineering area, Brian in the auditory field and Irena in the
biochemistry field.
Communications systems
Four students had completed PhDs in the communications systems area under Doug Lampard’s supervision
by 1971. Of these John Badcock stayed on as a member of staff until 1976 and had much to do with the
development of work in the area, both theoretical and laboratory based. Don Keogh was nearing the end
of his PhD candidature in 1972 when he took on some work at Telecom Research before returning to the
Department as a Lecturer in 1973. He retired in 2003.
Don was the mainstay of the communications systems work in the Department through the 70s and 80s.
His interests were in the areas of signals: modulation, data transmission, detection in the presence of noise
etc. In the early 80s his interests moved on to developing finite-state machine descriptions of line codes
such as HDB3 which could be used in studying crosstalk interference in PCM/TDM systems on junction
cables.
With the appointment of Fred Symons to a chair in the Department in 1988, the funding, by Telecom
Australia, of a much wider range of communications activities and the establishment of the Centre for
Telecommunications and Information Engineering, research in the area expanded dramatically. Early in the
90s work was under way in the areas of video communications, ATM networks, telecommunications
software, broadband ISDN, radio networks and protocol engineering.
The academic staff list for Clayton in 1993 included the following in the telecommunications area (apart
from those working in the electromagnetic fields and photonics areas): one Professor (Fred Symons), one
Reader (Khee Pang), five Senior Lecturers (Jean Armstrong, Don Keogh, Bhaskaran Krishnan, King Ngan and
Ken Wong) and two Lecturers (Serdar Boztas and Liren Zhang). In addition there were a number of
professional staff (non teaching) working in the areas of video communications (six), PC video (two), fastpac
switching (two) and optical fibres (four).
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The video communications activity was led by Khee Pang who had obtained a GIRD grant in 1989 with
assistance from the Telecom Research Laboratories and Siemens
Fred retired in 1996 and the outside funding for CTIE fell significantly. Greg Egan took over the Directorship
of the Centre and the direction of research changed to a degree.
The recruitment of a number of staff in the period 2003 to 2004 led to a resurgence in activity in
communications. In quick succession, Malin Premaratne, Jingxin Zhang, Nemai Karmakar, Jean Armstrong,
Tsun Ho, and Arthur Lowery joined the Department. Both Jingxin and Jean brought with them ARC Large
Grants which they had already been awarded in their previous positions. Jean was also a member of the
successful bid of the ARC funded Australian Communications Research Network (ACoRN), so Monash
became part of this network which over the next six years help fund workshop attendance, conference
travel and visits from overseas researchers and visits by Monash staff and students to overseas
collaborators. Altogether 19 postgraduate students and five academic staff received ACoRN support for
their telecommunications research.
Nemai established a research group on RFID and developed many industry contacts. Over the next few
years he received a number of ARC grants including Linkage grants for applications as diverse as RFID chips
in banknotes to monitoring electrical discharges in power switch yards. Malin .......... where he has so far led
two ARC Discovery grants.
During this period Monash became world renowned for its expertise in orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing (OFDM) OFDM is the modulation technique which underlies most modern broadband
communications including digital television, wireless LANs and ADSL. When she returned to Monash Jean
Armstrong brought with her a well-established OFDM research group supported by an ARC Large grant. In
2005 she identified the potential of applying OFDM to optical communications and after encouraging a
sceptical Arthur Lowery to collaborate, became one of the first groups to apply OFDM to optical fiber and
optical wireless communications. ‘Optical wireless’ is wireless communications using optical frequencies.
This led to numerous papers, invited presentations and prizes including the prestigious Peter Doherty prize
to Jean Armstrong, Arthur Lowery and Leonore Ryan (business development manager). The work has
received continuing ARC support with three subsequent ARC Discovery grants, the first to Armstrong and
Lowery (2007-2009) and then separate grants for 2010- 2012
Computer systems engineering
Bill Brown supervised the development of a control-oriented computer in the late 60s and had much to do
with the purchase and use of minicomputers and microprocessors in the 70s and 80s. Kevin Forward and
Tharam Dillon supervised a number of research projects in the area of fault-tolerant computing in the 80s.
Greg Egan was appointed to a chair in the Department in 1995 and brought with him a strong background
in the computer systems area. He supervised a number of research students in the computer systems area
and organized for the donation of two CRAY research supercomputers to the Department.
Computer vision and robotics
Although Kim Ng had commenced work in the computer vision field in the early 80s Ray Jarvis greatly
expanded the work and added robotics to it with his arrival in 1985. Soon after this he appointed Lindsay
Kleeman in 1986 and Andy Russell in 1987 to the staff in the area and a few years later David Suter. Ray
established the Intelligent Robotics Research Centre (IRRC) in 1989 with the purpose of exploiting
applications of computer vision and other sensing technologies to robotics in areas such as hand/eye
coordination, surveillance/security, assistive technology, human movement analysis, urban modelling and
face and object recognition. For the next twenty odd years the IRRC was led by Ray and has been
successful in attracting a large number of valuable research grants, most of which were nationally
45
competitive grants from the Australian Research Council. The IRRC gained international recognition in the
robotics community and many PhDs and Masters were supervised within it. The IRRC maintained strong
links with leading Japanese robotics laboratories, such as at the Universities of Tokyo and Tsukuba. In
particular Lindsay Kleeman was recognized in Japan for his work in real time high accuracy ultrasonic
sensing by winning the prestigious Nakamura best paper award in 2000 for the International Conference on
Robots and Systems. Lindsay also established research and undergraduate units in real time embedded
systems and large scale digital system design with VLSI and FPGAs.
Andy Russell established an international reputation in the areas of odour and tactile sensing, writing well
respected books on both topics. Andy’s robotics research experience aided in his innovative undergraduate
curriculum development that included a new third year design unit based around robot design and
competitions and a fourth year elective in intelligent robotics. He was instrumental in establishing an
updated Mechatronics undergraduate degree at Monash in 2004.
David Suter established a high reputation for his work on robust statistics for computer vision applications
and established the Institute for Vision Systems Engineering in 2004. He left to take up a chair in Computer
Science at the University of Adelaide in 2008. Wai Ho Li was appointed as a lecturer in 2009 after
completing a PhD in robot manipulation using computer vision supervised by Lindsay Kleeman. In 2010
Tom Drummond came from Cambridge University to be appointed as a Professor in the Department with
interests in augmented reality and computer vision.
Control and instrumentation
One of Doug Lampard’s early students was Sonny Loo who was the first to complete a PhD in the control
area in the Department. Bill Brown joined the Department at the end of 1964 and worked in the computer
control area. One of his early PhD students, John Coles, built a control-oriented computer using small scale
integrated circuits and core memory and applied it to the control of respiration and anaesthesia in the
biophysics laboratory. The computer remained in use for an extended period. Another PhD student was
Kishor Dabke whose thesis was about suboptimal control. Kishor spent most of his career in the
Department, making a number of significant contributions in the control area (and in other areas) and
retiring in 1997. Alex Gardiner joined in 1969 and worked in the nonlinear identification area but only
stayed four years. He was succeeded by Clive Berger who joined in 1972 and retired in 1997. Clive
supervised a number of research students in the identification and adaptive control areas. At the Caulfield
end Francesco Crusca and Ming Liu were specialists in control and took over the work at Clayton when they
moved there in 1999.
Kim Ng joined the Department in 1975 (although he had been a visitor in 1969) and brought with him a
strong background in control, instrumentation and electronics. In particular he developed instrumentation
equipment for use in the biophysics laboratory. In the 80s his interests turned to computer vision.
By the 90s interest in the analytical side of control had diminished. There was much more interest in the
applications of control, particularly in robotics.
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Steve Blanche working on the Transient Network Analyser and using the original NOVA minicomputer
Electrical power engineering
Research in this area got off to a flying start with the development of a transient network analyser by two
PhD candidates (James Brown and Ian Wright) under the supervision of Karol Morsztyn. The candidates
were SECV cadets and the TNA was of immediate interest because the SECV was developing its 500kV
system at the time. Bill Bonwick and Peter Parr developed work in the electrical machines, power
electronics and renewable energy areas whilst Tharam Dillon worked in power systems analysis and David
Giesner in the high voltage area. With the appointment of Grahame Holmes in 1985 activity in the power
electronics area strengthened and with the appointment of Michael Conlon in 1988 work in the power
systems area was also strengthened. Towards the end of the 80s Bill Bonwick developed a superconducting
magnetic energy storage system to investigate the use of such systems in power network control. Thus in
the first three decades the emphasis was on power systems analysis, electrical machines and power
electronics.
With the establishment of the Centre for Electrical Power Engineering and the increased staffing and
resources that this brought in the 90s research activities also increased and broadened. New work
developed in power systems analysis (Wlad Mielczarski), high voltage engineering (Qi Su), renewable
energy sources (Peter Freere) and reliability engineering (Easin Khan). In addition funds from the Electric
Power Research Institute of the USA were provided for research in the transformer insulation area. This
has built into a substantial activity within the Department and continues to the time of writing.
Bill Bonwick retired in 1997 and his place was taken by Bob Morrison in 1998. In 1999 with the transfer
from Caulfield of three further staff in the power area, namely Tadeusz Cszaszejko (high voltage), Ahmad
Zahedi (renewable energy) and Robin Lisner (power electronics) CEPE was further strengthened. However
Bob Morrison resigned in 2002 and funding for the Centre virtually disappeared. The strong activities
remaining were those of power electronics, high voltage and transformer insulation. Brendan McGrath was
appointed in 2006 to further strengthen work in the power electronics area. With resignations and
redundancies the number of staff left in the power area beyond 2007 was only four, including Peter
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Wallace, an Honorary Research Associate. In 2009 Grahame Holmes and Brendan McGrath resigned,
leaving only Tadeusz and Peter as academic staff in the power area but with support from the Centre for
Power Transformer Monitoring. Thus research in the power area, once a thriving activity, has declined.
In recent years
In 2009 and 2010 Wai-Ho Li, who had just finished his PhD with Lindsay Kleeman, put considerable effort
into a grant application for the ARC’s Strategic Research Initiative into Bionic Vision, led by Elaine Saunders
of the Faculty’s Business Development team and academics and clinicians from Monash and the Alfred. The
body of the proposal was put together and edited by Arthur, thanks to much practice in industry (in not
sleeping, mainly). With thorough preparation, the grant team proposed a cortical implant to the ARC’s
panel in October 2009 and successfully won $8M funding for the period 2010-2013. The Department set up
the main laboratory for electronics design and appointed Jeannette Pritchard to manage the project, with
Arthur being the Project Leader and Cochlear veteran Mike Hirshorn in the chair.
The Department became successful in a number of competitive grants from the Australian Research Council
and together with money from industry a number of high-end pieces of equipment were purchased. Nemai
Karmakar was particularly successful in obtaining ARC Discovery Project and Linkage Project grants for work
with RFID devices, particularly his chip-less RFID which is based on passive resonators rather than active
chips. In 2010 Nemai had four Linkage Grants, showing a fantastic connection with industry. From 2008
Malin Premaratne obtained two successive ARC Discovery Project grants for his work on photonic devices:
these showed strong international connections with luminaries from UCLA and the University of Rochester.
Jean Armstrong and Arthur obtained an ARC Discovery Project (DP) grant to support optical OFDM in 2007
and they also obtained individual ARC DPs in 2010 to support wireless and long-haul optical OFDM
respectively. Grahame Holmes and Brendan McGrath had ARC DPs for power electronics. Andy Russell
received a DP for burrowing robots, continuing his work on odours sensing and Ray Jarvis received a DP
with Ingrid Zukerman of the Faculty of Information Technology on robot-human interactions. Arthur joined
with old friends from the photonics CRC days to pitch a bid for the third round of funding for the ARC
Centre of Excellence in Ultrahigh Bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS3). This was awarded
$23.8M funding from 2011-2017, with around $1.7M supporting Monash research.
The Department has also had success working with industry and other institutions. Brian Lithgow achieved
recognition for his signal-processing techniques to diagnose and differentiate disease based on measuring
ECG while tilting patients in a specially-made chair (at the Alfred Hospital), and won the ABC TV New
Inventors show in 2010. Le Binh continued to work with Ausanda, headed by our alumnus Steve Mutabazi,
firstly on a Linkage Project and then through the Advanced Manufacturing CRC. The Centre for Power
Transformer Monitoring attracts strong support from industry, having 14 organizations funding the
previous research cycle collectively contributing $700k each year. In mid 2011, in preparation for starting
the next program of research, the Centre began an extensive process to identify the research that industry
would value and fund. As of the beginning of 2012 the Centre is negotiating on the finer contractual points
with its supporters for continuing sponsorship. Arthur was working with Ofidium on developing long-haul
OFDM.
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9. The Centres
Intelligent Robotics Research Centre
The Intelligent Robotics Research Centre (IRRC) was established by Ray Jarvis in 1987 and he has remained
its Director since that time. This Centre is the oldest formally established Centre in the Faculty of
Engineering and has developed a national and international research reputation over the years. Its core
academic staff consisted of Ray Jarvis, Andy Russell, Lindsay Kleeman and David Suter. The IRRC was very
successful in attracting research grants and received well over $12 million (some shared with other
institutions) when adding up the various grants achieved by individuals and collectively. At times it boasted
of having over twenty PhD students enrolled and was the lead node in the Australian Research Council’s
Centre for Intelligent and Perceptive Machines in Complex Environments (PIMCE). Its research interests
include computer vision, robotic hand/eye coordination, robot navigation (including simultaneous
localisation and mapping, path planning and environmental modelling), swarm robotics, biomimetics,
mechanoinformatics, computer systems and ultrasonic, thermal, tactile and olfactory sensing. Its
application domains include security and surveillance, bush fire fighting, search and rescue and factory
automation, amongst others.
Centre for Telecommunications and Information Engineering
Following Fred Symons’ retirement in 1996 Greg Egan led CTIE until his retirement in turn in 2007. During
this period CTIE became the largest Centre in the Department, directly involving over a third of the
academic staff and a large number of research staff engaged under its various grants.
The CTIE team, as well as continuing their early work, were responsible for new research outcomes and
contributions to international standards committees that we see manifested in today’s telecommunication
systems. This work included video coding, over the horizon radar, distributed video on demand, video over
mobile, optical communications, antenna systems, ad hoc networks, sensor nets, voice over internet
(VOIP), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), radio frequency identification (RFID), virtual film studios and
network security and the list goes on. The names of those involved, including the graduate students, are
too many to detail here but they know who they are and are remembered by each other. It was a great
period of camaraderie.
As part of its many activities CTIE had a key involvement in the Research Data Networks Centre, the
Australian Telecommunications Research Centre and the Distributed Systems Technology Centre, all of
which were funded under the Australian Cooperative Research Centre Scheme. CTIE was also successful in
establishing eMerge under the Cooperative Multimedia Centres Scheme and through these was able to
direct a large fraction of the associated $60M of funding to Monash.
Centre for Electrical Power Engineering
The Centre was established in 1991 with significant funding from the State Electricity Commission of
Victoria. Bill Bonwick was appointed to the Sir John Monash Chair of Electrical Power Engineering and took
up his position as Director of the Centre. He had been in the Department since 1967 but was selected for
the Chair from an international field of applicants. Three other existing members of the academic staff in
the electrical power area also joined the Centre and a further four appointments were made over the next
year or so.
The SECV agreed to fund a five year plan with a view to raising the profile and emphasis on electrical power
engineering and of obtaining the interest of talented undergraduates who would seek a career in the
industry. Thus the sequence of electrical power subjects in the BE course were upgraded and enhanced
and the laboratory facilities greatly improved.
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On the research front the Centre carried out research activities in the areas of power to isolated
communities, energy consumption reduction, superconductivity storage and system harmonics, reduction
of high electromagnetic fields, fibre optic sensors, isolating causes of electrical plant failure and energy
conversion using power electronics. In 1994 the Centre signed an agreement with the Electric Power
Research Institute of the USA to carry out research on transformer insulation phenomena. This activity has
gained support not only from EPRI but also from Australian industry and is still in operation at the time of
writing.
The Electricity Supply Association of Australia fosters in-service courses for practising professionals and for
some years these courses were coordinated from within the Centre. An annual activity promoted by the
ESAA is the Power Summer School and this was run at Monash in 1998 by the Centre using its own staff and
with some help from outside.
Bill Bonwick retired at the end of 1997 and was replaced by Bob Morrison in 1998. Bob stayed until 2002
and then resigned. This effectively marked the end of the Centre. After the initial good level of funding
from the SECV there was a gradual decline in funding levels, mostly because the SECV had gone out of
existence and its successor bodies did not all have the same level of commitment to university-based
electrical power engineering.
Centre for Power Transformer Monitoring
In 1994 Bill Bonwick obtained funding from the Electrical Power Research Institute, a US organization that
rarely funds projects outside the US, for work in power transformer monitoring. In 1995 Bill appointed
Valery Davydov an immigrant from Novosibersk in Russia to head the work and the Centre for Power
Transformer Monitoring was formed. Its purpose was to develop the advanced technologies required to
improve monitoring so that some transformers could have extended lifetimes and others taken out of
service before becoming dangerous. The work flourished and expanded from that time with considerable
input from industry in Australia and overseas. Valery resigned in 2010 and Dan Martin was appointed in his
place.
Significant funding was received from the Victorian government and local industry in 2005 to expand the
number of laboratories, focussing on understanding the science behind transformers and their condition
monitoring. In 2008 the centre became completely industry funded, having attracted 14 domestic and
international supporting organisations, who signed up to a three year research programme through to
2011.
Dan had joined the Centre in 2007 after finishing his PhD at the National Grid High Voltage Research
Centre, University of Manchester, where he investigated the dielectric capability of vegetable oil based
insulation. Before then he worked as a hardware design engineer on communications equipment. Dan is
ably assisted by his deputy, Nick Lelekakis, who has 15 years of research experience within the Centre.
One of Dan’s first tasks in 2011 was to conduct a comprehensive review of the Centre’s projects to ensure
that the expectations of stakeholders were being met, assuring that funding continues to support the
centre’s activities into the future. A new direction has been to be fully involved with the department’s
mission of educating students, who are supervised on final year projects.
At the start of 2012 the centre entered a new cycle of research activity and has become more involved in
the department’s role of delivering high quality teaching to the next generation of power engineers.
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Centre for Biomedical Engineering
The Monash University Centre for Biomedical Engineering (MUCBE) was founded in 1992, based on a grant
from the Victorian Education Foundation (VEF) to set up a M.Eng.Sc. coursework degree. Ian Brown, a PhD
graduate of the department, was recruited to do this. The resulting course used hospital engineers and
other people external to the Department for most of the teaching, mainly in the evening, and involving
substantial time spent in hospitals. It resulted in many practicing biomedical engineers in Melbourne
upgrading their qualifications.
At the same time, the Federal Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) was closing the Repatriation Hospitals
and seeking to re-locate and divest itself of the Central Development Unit (CDU) located there. This was a
group that provided advice to the local prosthetics industry and assistance with new technology. An
agreement was negotiated whereby the CDU became RehabTech, part of MUCBE, funded for ten years, and
relocated to the Caulfield General Medical Centre with a well equipped gait laboratory and prosthetic
workshop.
In 1995 the VEF grant expired, more of the teaching was moved into the Department and some units were
offered as undergraduate options. This undergraduate teaching slowly took over as the main source of
students. About this time also, MUCBE moved into a new laboratory in Building 72, where large numbers
of student projects were carried out, both undergraduate and post-graduate. Gait, sports injury and
prosthetic projects were prominent. It became "home" to many of the BE/BSc(Physiology) combined
degree students.
Attempts to secure outside funding led to the y2k project, where MUCBE was engaged to assess the
expected performance of all computers embedded in hospital equipment in Victoria at the change of
millennium. This became a large and profitable project and led to the award of other consultancies after
2000, especially evaluating the equipment investment needs of hospital systems in various states.
In 2002 the DVA funding for RehabTech expired, as the Commonwealth handed responsibility for veterans
to the states, and RehabTech moved to the Clayton campus. Negotiations with the states, mainly for
maintaining a register of approved prosthetic components and known problems, saw funding continue for
a number of years, though with ever increasing difficulty. Eventually the staff took the business into a
private consultancy company.
MUCBE continued, with strong foci on simulators for training "key-hole" surgeons and monitoring of wheel
chair patients, as well as the ongoing hamstrings injury work. This brought a number of press and
television appearances, as well as highlighting the difficulties of working with elite athletes.
Throughout its life, MUCBE was well served by an advisory board of exceptional calibre, including hospital
engineers and representatives of the consulting and biomedical manufacturing industries. In 2010, with
the retirement of Profs Morgan & Brown, MUCBE was wound up.
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10. Computers
Monash’s first digital computer for University-wide use was a Sirius, installed by Cliff Bellamy of the Ferranti
company in Engineering Building 4 (now Building 35) in 1963. Cliff was appreciated at Monash and was
offered the position of Director of the Computer Centre. He resigned from Ferranti and joined the
University. He was a New Zealander who had taken a PhD at Sydney University in Civil Engineering and was
one of the first to use a computer in structural calculations. He joined Ferranti and in that role one of his
assignments was at Monash. He had an enormous influence on computing at Monash and indeed at other
places where computers were contemplated or being used. He became Dean of the new Faculty of
Computing in 1990 and retired in 1995. He died in 1996.
Monash’s second digital computer (for University-wide use) was a CDC3200, installed by Cliff in Engineering
Building 4 in 1964. It was heavily used by the Department’s research students in the early years and even
by some undergraduates in their final year projects.
The other kind of machine being used at the time for teaching and research purposes was the analog
computer. It was well suited to the simulation of dynamic processes but not much for calculations of other
kinds. The Faculty of Engineering purchased a Systron Donner analog computer in the early years and it
was used across the Faculty for research purposes. It was superseded by an Applied Dynamics hybrid
computer (made up of both analog and digital computers) in the 70s and it served the Faculty well for the
next decade or so. By the 90s analog computers had died out as digital computers grew more powerful and
could do all that analog computers could do and a lot more as well. The Faculty Computer Laboratory, up
until then based around the hybrid computer, moved into Building 60 with no analog computers and has
become the major computer facility within the Faculty.
Hybrid computer in the Faculty Computer Laboratory
A NOVA digital computer connected to an AD5 analog computer
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The first digital computer, purchased by the Department in 1969, was a Data General Nova minicomputer.
It had good instrumentation facilities and was used mostly for research work, especially in the biophysics
and electrical power areas. Users had to learn to program in Assembler! Several more Novas were
purchased in the following years for research purposes.
By the mid 70s microprocessors were becoming available and the Department set up some activities with
these. The introduction of a formal subject in computer engineering did not occur until 1979 by which time
microprocessor kits were becoming widely available and students were able to base some final year
projects around these. Then in the period 1980 to 1982 many more computer subjects were introduced
with the assistance of the Computer Centre (as mentioned above) and the name of the BE degree was
changed to Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering. The Computer Centre also assisted with the
purchase of a mainframe VAX computer which was installed in the Department and had terminal access for
students.
Ray Jarvis was appointed to a Chair in the Department in 1985. He came from the ANU with a strong
background in computer vision and robotics. He was the first appointment in the Department in the field
of computer engineering. He brought with him Julian Byrne from the ANU. It was Julian who promoted the
establishment of a local area network in the Department and this was installed in 1989. By this stage many
staff had PCs on their desks, long before it was common practice across the University.
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11. The Merger with Chisholm
The merger was consummated in mid 1990. What had been the Faculty of Technology at Caulfield then
came under the wing of the Faculty of Engineering and became known as the School of Applied
Engineering. The engineering degree on offer continued as it had been in pre-merger days but became
known as the Bachelor of Engineering (Applied) and in the case of Electrical and Computer Systems
Engineering the BE (Applied) (Electrical and Computing). The electrical group at Caulfield also offered a
Graduate Diploma in Computer Control and Communications and were involved in the Bachelor of
Technology (Computer Studies). (The BTech was the only program that had any activity on the Frankston
Campus so far as Engineering was concerned.) The Head of Department at Clayton then had some
responsibilities at Caulfield and was told to get on with the job of making the merger work effectively.
Feelings between the Clayton part of the Department and the Caulfield part were uneasy. There had been
opposition to the merger from both ends. Of the 13 academic staff at the Caulfield end only three had
PhDs and there was little in the way of research culture or research facilities. The Chisholm staff had been
doing a good job of turning out graduate engineers with a more practical emphasis and now they were
being forced to be part of a University with a more research-oriented emphasis. Various attempts were
made to bring the two ends of the Department closer together but so long as there was the physical
separation between Clayton and Caulfield and separate degree courses the two ends lived apart.
Nevertheless when new academic staff were selected at the Caulfield end a research background became
an important requirement.
After some years it was decided that the BE offered at Caulfield (the ‘Applied’ appellation had been
dropped some years earlier) should be phased out and that staff at the Caulfield end should be moved to
Clayton. This started in 1998 when a common first year program was offered at both ends. The BE
(Electrical and Computing) was then phased out over the next three years and all incoming students had to
take a single BE in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering. The move of the staff occurred in 1999
when a new building became available at Clayton. Finally the Caulfield staff were housed with the Clayton
staff and a more real integration took place. Nevertheless the ex-Caulfield members found it difficult for
the most part to move to a more research-oriented culture and in the departures of 2007 only two
remained in the Department.
The merger also involved the Gippsland School of Engineering but there was very little contact between the
Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering and the Gippsland School.
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12. Malaysia
Engineering commenced at the Sunway (near Kuala Lumpur) campus of Monash University Malaysia in mid
1998 when Robin Alfredson (Mechanical Engineering) took up the position of Head of the School of
Engineering and Science. Initially two programs were offered, namely Mechanical Engineering (Clayton)
and Mechatronics (Gippsland). It was decided that Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering should be
offered from the year 2000. Since no specialist E&CSE subjects were offered in first year there was no need
for specialist staff until 2001. From the beginning of that year Bill Brown, who had retired from Clayton at
the end of 1999, headed up the E&CSE program at Sunway. One other staff member, Kenneth Ang, was
hired at the same time and so between the two of them the first semester of second year commenced with
25 students. The numbers increased with a mid-year intake but Bill and Kenneth remained as the only staff
members in E&CSE for that year.
Some very good laboratories had been established under Robin (including an electronics laboratory for
Mechatronics) and Bill extended these. Indeed all of the facilities for Engineering on the campus were
remarkably good, given the remoteness from Clayton and the smallness of the student body.
In 2002 E&CSE offered all (or almost all) subjects in the second and third years of the program. This
necessitated additional academic staff and these were appointed in time for the beginning of teaching in
both semesters. Bill left at the end of the year and Serge Demidenko was appointed to the Chair in E&CSE
at Sunway, but was not able to arrive until mid 2003. By this stage the full four year program was being
offered but the numbers in the fourth year were low because many chose to move to Clayton for their final
year and even for both third and fourth years.
The full program is still on offer at Sunway and the School of Engineering is doing quite well. The School
moved across to a new campus in 2007. The facilities there are very good, but filling staff positions is still a
challenge. Engineering academics can get good positions at the State Universities with better security and
the opportunities for obtaining research funding at Sunway are still limited. Therefore limitations on
publications means limitations on the opportunities for promotion.
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13. Alumni and SMEEA
The best way to measure the quality of a University is to look at its graduates. Thousands of bachelors,
masters and doctors degrees have been awarded by the Department over the past fifty years. These
qualifications are held in high regard in Australia and in other parts of the world.
The following are brief biographies or notes about some graduates. They first appeared in SMEEA
newsletters over the past decade so will be out of date in places.
Garth Jacoby (BE 65)
Garth cut his teeth at the PMG (then Telstra) Research Labs. He completed an MBA at Melbourne
University in 1972 with a thesis entitled ‘Control of R&D in Technology Organizations’. In 1973 he moved as
a technical expert to a small team in the PMG which produced "Telecom 2000", a document which played a
big part in transforming the PMG into a customer-focused forward-looking business. He moved to Finance
in 1981 and eventually became Telecom's Finance Controller. He was intimately involved with moving the
budget-driven PMG Government Department through many changes into Telstra, a competitive profitoriented public company. Upon the start of telecom competition in 1990 he moved to Marketing to head
the Telstra Pricing team. He retired in 1999 but took up consulting for overseas Telcos going through
deregulation. His golf handicap went out from 8 on retirement as Telstra's stock price dropped the day
after!!!!
Norm Gale (BE 69)
Norm was another Monash Graduate who made his start at the PMG (then Telstra) Research Labs. Instead
of getting carted off to Vietnam, he decided to join the staff at the University of Science in Penang,
Malaysia, where he lectured in the Applied Science School (now Industrial Science). He completed an MBA
at the University of Melbourne in 1984, after having a crack at a journalism degree at RMIT back in the
seventies - (they used to say “injinures coodent spel”).
The MBA started a transition from engineering to marketing and sales, via a stint as a consultant after he
left Telstra in 1988. This transition commenced with a job in Strategy (with Chris Beare and Terry Cutler) in
1985-6 and led to Norm playing a leading role in the strategic planning, market positioning and introduction
of ISDN, while still at Telstra.
His working life since 1988 has consisted of a series of leaps from start-up companies (Jtec, HarvestRoad,
Open Telecommunications) to large multi-nationals (Nortel and Alcatel) in no particular order. His time at
Nortel included working from Singapore in an AsiaPac role as marketing manager for data networks – in
those days largely Frame Relay and ATM, though with some introduction to IP networks.
He has a continued interest in the telecommunications industry through his role as a Director and active
committee member on the TSA (Telecommunication Society of Australia) and his modest consulting
activities (Clearbreeze Associates). In addition to his lifetime interest and continued activity in
telecommunications technology adoption and marketing, Norm is currently also working part-time for a
not-for-profit organization. The life-change is in progress.
Ross Gawler (BE 71, PhD 79)
Ross worked at the SEC for 15 years and EDS for 5 years in transmission and generation planning, electricity
market consulting and IT business development. At EDS in 1993 he founded a consulting practice in
electricity market analysis during the privatisation of Victoria's electricity assets. Since 1998 he has been a
director of McLennan Magasanik Associates where he continues his work in electricity market analysis. His
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main professional contributions have been on using creative engineering and economic analysis to identify
unnecessary investments and to accurately predict wholesale electricity prices. His advice has created the
opportunity to avoid billions of dollars of wasted capital investment.
Ian Taylor (BE 71, MEngSc 83)
Ian retired in 2001 from paid employment but he still skis, flies light aircraft, plays golf, gives U3A lectures
and is a ‘lay person’ on the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Avenue Hospital.
Ian gained diplomas from RMIT and worked for the Bureau of Meteorology before enrolling at Monash.
After graduation he joined the Antarctic Division where he designed a VHF radar system for the study of
disturbances in the ionosphere associated with auroral currents. He installed and operated this equipment
at Mawson where he was a member of the 1973 winter party.
He then worked for several years as deputy leader of the Alfred Hospital’s Medical Electronics Department.
This position involved the supervision of a group who maintained and constructed equipment for patient
monitoring and treatment. He also took an active part in the introduction of new equipment and
procedures into intensive care wards and operating theatres and the preparation and presentation of
training programs for both nursing and medical staff. The establishment and enforcement of standards of
electrical safety were also included in his responsibilities.
Ian then moved to the CSIRO Division of Mineral and Process Engineering. Originally responsible for
computer and instrumentation support of mineral processing research, his activities moved to a more
direct research involvement in a new ironmaking process. He retired as Senior Principle Research Scientist
and Program manager for ferrous smelting research.
John Snare (BE 73, MEngSc 82)
John began what was to become a long professional career with Telstra (previously the PMG then Telecom)
Research Labs in 1973. He initially studied techniques for using the existing telephone network to transmit
data (a novel idea at the time). It wasn’t long before he moved onto projects concerning techniques for
automatically switching data streams and importantly managing traffic in data networks. These were the
early days of packet switching based on virtual circuits. John was a pioneer with the X.25 packet switching
protocol and worked as one of Telstra’s representatives with the CCITT (now the ITU-T) on the
development of the X.25 standard. He also worked on the procurement and implementation of Telstra’s
first packet switching network, Austpac. John subsequently worked on the development of ITU standards
for Open System Interconnection, the famous (or infamous) OSI standards. In 1985, as a manager in
Telstra’s Research Labs, John took an interest in business applications for data services and in particular
how information handled in such services could be secured. In 1993 he moved into a range of Telstra ‘head
office’ management assignments concerning information security policy and implementation. After leaving
Telstra in 2000, he worked as an R&D manager in Adacel Technologies, a software engineering company
developing a range of IT security solutions for eCommerce, and more recently worked for Fujitsu Consulting
as a specialist information security management consultant. He still does freelance consulting in the area
of the management of information security, but is easing into retirement and spending more time cycling,
sailing, singing in a local choir, travelling, and attempting to recapture his youth driving his classic MGA.
Allen Conduit (BE 75)
Allen obtained a PhD in fibre optic communications from Southampton University in 1982. He has
extensive experience in the development of technology businesses. As one of the first Australians to
identify the potential of fibre optic technologies he has played a prominent role in developing and
promoting these technologies in Australasia. In 1983 he founded Fibernet Pty Ltd a major supplier to the
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regional telecommunications carriers. In 1996 Fibernet and its joint venture companies were sold to the US
AMP Corporation, which retained him as Director, Engineering & Technology until 1999. In 2000, he
became the first CEO of Redfern Optical Components Pty Ltd based in Sydney and involved in the
development of advanced Bragg grating filters. At the same time he was a Director of Techstream Pty Ltd
and associated companies and helped transition the group into Whise Acoustics Ltd, a pooled development
fund specializing in acoustic technologies. In 2003 Allen became the CEO of Ceramic Fuel Cells, one of the
largest research and development investments in Australia and a world leader in solid oxide fuel cells for
efficient electricity generation. Ceramic Fuel Cells was floated on the ASX in July 2004. He resigned from
full time employment at the end of 2004 and is currently on a sabbatical and studying for a Master of
Commercial law at Monash University City Chambers. Upon completion of these studies he intends to apply
his accumulated experiences in business-creation, management and law to Directorship positions and in
this way contribute further to the stimulus of growth and maximizing return on investment in technology
businesses.
Steve Mutabazi (BE 75, MEngSc 85)
Steve is an entrepreneur and business executive with international experience in the Information &
Communications Technology (ICT) industry. He commenced his career as a telecommunications engineer in
1976 with the then Telecom Australia (now Telstra).
Steve’s entrepreneurial career dates back to the mid 1980s, when he founded an IT company to acquire
and commercialize partially developed financial services software from a firm of chartered accountants.
The company fully commercialised the product and secured major customers, including the then Australia’s
top two publicly listed companies. Steve later merged the company into Infolink Group Ltd, a venture
capital funded company in which he was a founding member of the Executive Board.
At the onset of deregulation of telecommunications in 1990, Telstra Corporation appointed Steve to an
executive position to lead a key corporate initiative designed to protect its business with the top 500
Corporate & Government customers. Steve led six other strategic initiatives during the company’s first 6
years of competition, including significant aspects of the Future Mode of Operation initiative to fully digitize
the company’s network and automate its key business processes. He also played a leading role in Telstra’s
Front Office Re-build Program to fully modernize the company’s customer facing operation.
From 1997 to 2000 at Hewlett-Packard Company, Steve led the company’s Asia Pacific Internet Services
Program, in an entrepreneurial role specifically created by Hewlett-Packard’s global management in the
USA to strengthen its business in the then emerging Internet Service Provider market. In this role Steve
covered 12 countries, including Australia, China, Taiwan, South Korea, India, and South East Asian
countries. Steve provided leadership to sales, marketing and consulting teams based in these countries to
win new business and deliver internet and e-commerce infrastructure to major telecommunications service
providers within the region.
In early 2000 the then newly listed Melbourne IT Ltd appointed Steve as Chief Marketing Officer and also as
CEO-designate to establish a new line of business. The launch of the new line of business was abandoned
due to the “dot com bubble burst”.
In 2001 Steve founded and is the current Managing Director of Ausanda Communications Pty Ltd, a
technology company which is developing innovative telecommunications products to address the
significant cost barriers that telecommunication carriers currently face as they roll out major bandwidth upgrade programs. These innovative products significantly enhance the widely installed dense wavelength
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division multiplexing (DWDM) platforms, enabling seamless carriage of significantly higher data rates per
channel than is possible over currently installed optical transmission networks.
Of special significance is that the development of these products has involved significant collaborative
effort between Steve’s company and the Department’s team led by Dr Le Binh. Collaborative activities
commenced in 2005 and led to a Contract Research project funded by his company and a Linkage grant
project also sponsored by his company. Steve intends to maintain this close relationship between his
company and the Department.
Steve is a Research Associate of the Faculty of Engineering.
Alan Finkel (BE 75, PhD 81)
(From email sent to all staff of the University in 2007)
Alan Finkel to be Chancellor
‘Respected neuroscientist, entrepreneur and philanthropist Dr Alan Finkel will be the
next Chancellor of Monash University. Dr Finkel is the seventh Chancellor in the
University’s 50 year history, but the first Monash graduate to be appointed to the
prestigious role. Vice-Chancellor Richard Larkins said it was a coup for the University
to secure the services of such a prominent Australian. Alan will bring a wealth of
experience and skills to Monash, from his experience with medical research, the
commercialisation of scientific discoveries, through to the governance of complex
organisations.
‘Like Monash University, Alan has a truly global perspective on the links between science, innovation and
education. As a Monash graduate and the current chair of the National Research Centre for the Prevention
of Child Abuse, based at the University, Alan is already very much part of the Monash family.’
Dr Finkel said he looked forward to starting on January 1, 2008. ‘I am honoured by the opportunity to work
with Professor Larkins and the Council on the governance of this extremely successful University. I look
forward to participating in the development of strategies that will enable Monash to be highly responsive
to the continually changing nature of university funding and to be innovative with respect to educational
initiatives and research priorities.’
Dr Finkel received his doctorate in Electrical Engineering at Monash University in 1981. After two years of
postdoctoral research at the Australian National University he went on to establish and lead Axon
Instruments, a world-class supplier of electronic and robotic instruments and software for use in cellular
neuroscience, genomics and drug discovery both in the university and pharmaceutical company research
sectors.
Dr Finkel recently invented a device that was successfully commercialised to speed drug research, and has
also co-founded the award-winning science magazine Cosmos, managed the merger of several prominent
research institutes, represented the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in a program to
foster appreciation of science in secondary school students, and co-founded a company distributing
educational toys and books for children.
Art Coolidge (BE 80)
Art came to Australia from the US in the 70s. After secondary teaching in Melbourne he enrolled for our
BE. His grades were not auspicious. He claims he holds the record for the highest number of sups for a
student completing the degree! He returned to the US after graduation and settled in Oregon. He wrote to
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a number of us recently to bring us up to date with his career. He sent us 15 pages of handwritten
material! But well worth the read. Here are a few excerpts:
‘In terms of personal pride, my Monash degree ranks well ahead of my US undergrad and master’s
degrees.’
‘Not long after leaving Australia I began work with Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, Oregon. I was with the
Manufacturing Engineering Development department and was involved with the development of an ion
implanter monitoring and control system.’
‘In 1985 I shifted to a small start-up firm to write software for board-testing of components for an optical
reticle engraver. At my interview I risked candour and honesty to enquire if my sole experience with Intel
x-86 processors would be a problem since their machine relied, entirely, on the Motorola 68xxx processors.
My interviewer said “No worries – it will take you a week or two to learn the Motorola processor. There
are two kinds of programmers: those that prefer the Motorola CPU and those that lie.” I guess nobody
programs in assembly language now but back then it was a breath of fresh air to start working with a CPU
that had orthogonal register sets, rather than registers whose function seemed more dependent on the day
of the week.’
He then moved to work for a machine vision company in Medford Oregon. He says ‘It was the most
challenging and interesting work I’d done … working for the most POORLY MANAGED company I had ever
encountered!’
‘I can’t recall, after shifting to Medford, Oregon employment in 1987, which came first on the rural 50
hectares where we live: Did I get the sheep for training the Border Collie or did I get the Border Collie for
herding the sheep?’ (Art holds a Beginning Sheep Shearing Certificate and shears his own sheep.)
After some years of engineering work Art took partial retirement. He got involved in the training of
volunteer firefighters, he took on some part time maths instruction and then applied to be a ‘Court
Appointed Special Advocate for children’. In this role he has been involved in all sorts of difficult situations
but clearly he has had some success and fulfilment. He finishes his letter with a page of calculations related
to the power factor correction on a 300hp motor he had seen in a lumber mill!
Peter Cass (BE 81)
Peter moved around in the early years to gain experience. He
spent time with Norman Disney and Young on electrical and
lift consulting engineering, Honeywell on projects and sales of
building control systems, Kuttner Collins on electrical
consulting to health and education projects and David Price
and Associates on electrical and instrumentation consulting
to the petrochemical industry. He then worked for Kone
Elevators as a Sales Engineer for 11 years. Kone are based in
Finland and supply escalators and lifts to the building
industry. While there he was involved in the introduction of
the Machine Room Less (MRL) Elevator to Australia. He is
now the Services Engineering Manager with Rider Hunt, a
quantity surveying firm in Melbourne and is responsible for
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the cost management for electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, communications and fire services on major
commercial building projects.
The photograph shows Peter demonstrating his fourth year project in 1981.
Geoff Ramadan (BE 81)
Geoff undertook his first commercial venture during his last year of University in the design and
development of a microprocessor-based production monitoring system for a major carpet weaving
company. In 1983 he founded Unique Micro Design (UMD) with partners Harry Ramadan and Alan Walker
(BE 81) and has become its lead solution architect and Managing Director and is supported by a highly
skilled team of engineering and software professionals.
Initially focused on the design and manufacturing of microprocessor-based devices and interfaces the
company has now evolved into an engineering ICT solutions company in data capture and supply chain
applications including RFID. UMD have been involved in RFID for over six years initially with the
development of control systems for cattle drafting. This has led to various other projects covering all major
RFID spectra in LF, HF and UHF technology. It has included the custom design of hand-held RFID devices to
read implants in two-year-old thoroughbreds developed for Racing Victoria.
Geoff was instrumental in the development of ‘UMD-EDGE – Edgeware Application Development Device
Platform’ and its derivative ‘UMD-VAST – Venue Access System for Turnstiles’ a middleware and application
software development platform designed to collect and manage RFID devices and terminal data. UMD
VAST was successfully deployed at the VRCs Melbourne Cup carnival in 2006. It has also been installed in
AAMI Stadium in Adelaide and in the Caulfield and Moonee Valley racecourses. UMD EDGE has been
deployed in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in Victoria, tracking over 30,000 garments and providing real
time visibility and reporting.
As the chief solutions architect much of Geoff’s current work involves assisting customers develop ‘viable’
RFID and ‘intelligent sensor network’ solutions.
Geoff was a founding member of the ‘RFID Association of Australia’ and Chairman of ‘Automatic Data
Capture Australia (ADCA)’ for several years, a leading reference source for automatic data capture
technology in Australia. ADCA has merged with Australia’s largest industry association, The Australian
Industry Group and in particular the Digital Technology Forum of which Geoff is an Executive Committee
member and Data Capture/RFID Industry Sector Head.
Rick Alexander (BE 82, PhD 89)
Rick worked on the development of a non-contact 3D shape measurement system for his PhD. After
leaving Monash in 1990 he moved to ANCA in Melbourne working on the development of embedded
control software for numerically controlled machines. In 1992 he moved to Invetech (which became part of
the Vision Systems group in 1993) and worked on a variety of projects. These projects ranged from an
automated visual inspection system, development of computer generated holograms for security coding of
products to firmware development for an automated tissue processor. In 1995 Vision Systems bought IEI
who then produced the VESDA range of very early warning smoke detectors. He was the team leader for
firmware development of the LaserPlus range of early warning smoke detectors, which were first marketed
in 1997. From then he has been working on the development of firmware for various fire protection
products. He has taken many roles, from hands on coding of signal processing algorithms to system level
specification and project management. Currently he is working on both system specification for new
systems, general firmware development and also signal processing development. He is married to Babs (BE
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81 and PhD 87 from Monash Materials Engineering). His hobbies include music and he is part of a guitar
vocal duo Zanthii Blue (www.zanthiiblue.com) who play cafes and festivals. They've recently released a CD
"These Places". Rick also released a CD of Instrumental guitar music "Innocent Dreams" in 1999.
Chris Leckie (BE 87)
Chris completed a PhD in Computer Science at Monash in 1995. He has been at the University of
Melbourne since 2000, where he has been researching on network intrusion detection as a Senior Lecturer
in Computer Science and Software Engineering. In 2005 he won the Kelvin Medal for teaching in
Engineering and has been collaborating with a local company (Intelliguard IT) to commercialize some of his
recent research. Prior to 2000 he was a researcher in the AI group at Telstra Research Laboratories.
Nigel Aylott (BE 88, PhD 95)
Nigel was tragically killed in America in 2004 whilst taking part in an adventure competition. He was one of
the greatest students the Department has ever seen. After graduation he joined Telstra Research and
completed his PhD on a part-time basis in 1995. After 15 years with Telstra he resigned to take up
adventure activities on a full time basis. He was a full-on person who did everything with guts and
determination. He is sadly missed.
Victor Koss (BE 92)
Victor won the Graham Beard Prize at the end of his BE course in 1992. He has just passed 16 years with
the same firm, Booz & Co. Having joined as a junior analyst in 1993, he is now a Partner in the Financial
Services practice, based in London. A solid engineering and science education has come to good use over
the years, given the process management, analytics, and systems/operations skills and insights that good
business and management consulting requires. Specifically, he has been involved in a very wide range of
consulting engagements, from (currently) advising governments on how to address the financial crisis,
through global growth and market entry strategies, operations restructuring, core banking systems
platform replacement, new technologies and innovation (e.g. speaking at banking conferences on mpayments), and business performance improvement.
From the pleasant and calm surrounds of the Clayton Campus, he has had the pleasure of working across
most of Europe (spending most time in the UK and The Netherlands), the US, Brazil, Middle East, Thailand,
Australia, New Zealand, and even the Caribbean for 4 months! Although having a stint at Harvard Business
School to do an MBA in 1996/97, he enjoys being involved in the Monash alumni network in London,
especially the excellent events typically held at Australia House.
The next ambition is to slow down the frenetic pace and travel associated with management consulting and
seek to deliver a course at Cranfield University which is only a few miles from where he lives. Cranfield is a
specialised engineering technology and management theory university – hopefully a good match for
Victor's knowledge and skills!
Stephen Handley (BE 95)
Stephen enrolled in a Master of Science in Music Engineering at the University of Miami Florida in the USA.
He paid course fees by donning an Akubra and entertaining patrons of the Outback Steakhouse with tails of
crocodiles and sharks and ended up marrying the head bar tender. After graduating from Miami he
embarked on a series of jobs working for companies with interests in the emerging digital media industry.
(TI, SonicBlue (Rio) and Portalplayer). After 3 jobs in 4 years he now works for Microsoft leading a team
responsible for deployment and certification of digital media technologies, including the PlaysForSure
program. Keep your eye out in your local Harvey Norman, Dick Smith or JB Hi-Fi in the July time frame.
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Chris Millar (BE 95)
Chris began his career with Fuji Xerox in Melbourne, within the IT department, a distinct step away from
the engineering degree he’d just completed. After holding a number of roles, he moved on to become the
Victorian State Administrator. In 2000, keen to get experience living and working abroad, he moved to
London and joined Granada Television within their IT Department. After surviving a merger in 03/04 he
became the London Technical Manager for ITV. Chris’ responsibilities now revolve around the
management of staff, systems and projects across a number of sites in the UK.
David Martin (BE 95)
David worked for BHP Steel (now Bluescope) for five years in project and operational roles before joining
Nylex’s Engineering Department at its Mentone facility. He was promoted to Plant Manager of Nylex’s
production facility in Sale before joining his current employer, Marand Precision Engineering in January
2004. He is now based in Moorabbin and has progressed to the role of General Manager of Marand’s rail
division after gaining experience in Marand’s automotive and aerospace operations. He is one subject
away from completing an MBA and is married with one child and another due any day now.
James Fallon (BE 97, PhD 02)
James spent a brief time in the Department of Otolaryngology at Melbourne University before moving to
Sydney to work at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute where he learnt the technique of
microneurography, recording from individual nerves in awake human subjects. In 2004 he moved back to
Melbourne to begin work at the Bionic Ear Institute, where with funding from the National Institutes of
Health in the United States he is a key member of a team mapping changes in the brain occurring as a result
of cochlear implant use. Along the way he has continued his ties with the Department, including lecturing in
2006.
The Society of Monash Electrical Engineering Alumni (SMEEA) was formed in 1986 with a view to enabling
graduates to get together from time to time, to recall old experiences, to hear about developments in the
Department over the years and to assist with current projects wherever possible. Kishor Dabke was the
first President of SMEEA and did a marvelous job in getting the Society off the ground and organizing a
number of memorable events. Bill Brown took over as President in 2000. The Society has held a dinner in
many of the years of its existence and has always managed to find a graduate or staff member of the
Department to be the after-dinner speaker. The following is a list of the speakers and their topics over the
years:
1994
Ian Wright
Building Frigates for the Australian and New Zealand Navies
1995
Steve Blanche
Managing Eastern Energy
1996
Ian Taylor
Electrical Engineering in the Antarctic
1997
Alan Finkel
Running a High-tec Biomedical Product Company in Melbourne and
California
1998
Peter Seligman
The Development of the Bionic Ear
1999
James Brown
The Alternative/Renewable Energy Scene in Australia
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2000
Peter Gerrand
The Melbourne IT Story: Challenges of Growing a global IT business from a
University Startup
2005
Peter Hart
Electrical Systems for Heavy Road Vehicles
2006
Paul Kirton
TRL and the Changing World of Telecommunications
2007
Ross Gawler
An Engineer Masquerading as an Economist
2009
David Morgan
Biophysics in the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems
Engineering – a personal perspective
2010
Peter Seligman
From milliwatts to Gigawatts.
From the Bionic Ear to a Sustainable Energy Plan for Australia
2011
Ed Cherry
My Life in Electronics
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