Scientist, engineer and ATSE Fellow Professor Veena Sahajwalla FTSE FAA has been named the 2022 NSW State Australian of the Year at a livestreamed event at Sydney’s Luna Park
Best known for inventing the process to create ‘green steel’ and launching waste-transforming ‘microfactories’, Professor Sahajwalla is the founding director of UNSW’s Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology.
‘Promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and greater sustainability continue to be extremely important to me,’ Professor Sahajwalla said.
‘And as I engage with many people every day, I see these issues are generating a community and industry groundswell that we should embrace to help our society collectively tackle the challenges we face, to improve our environmental, social and economic wellbeing.’
A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering since 2007, Professor Sahajwalla was on the Expert Working Group for our major report Towards a Waste Free Future: Technology Readiness in the Waste and Resource Recovery Sector.
It calls for a transition to a circular economy to reduce and recycle the 67 million tonnes of waste Australia produces each year.
Brownyn Fox nominated for Victoria Australian of the Year
Another ATSE Fellow, Professor Bronwyn Fox FTSE, was a nominee for 2022 Victorian State Australia of the Year.
The CSIRO Chief Scientist and Swinburne University researcher has pioneered groundbreaking techniques to 3D-print carbon-fibre composites.
These strong, light-weight materials are used to manufacture everything from passenger gets to sporting equipment.
Professor Fox is the Chair of the Academy’s Victoria Division and recently starred in our webinar exploring the extraordinary potential of the Internet of Things.