Dr Williams has an outstanding personal research and public sector management record in marine science and rural resources. With her unusually broad academic base ranging from biology to mathematics nd with her professional experience in teaching, research, overseas consulting, public adminsitration and policy formulation, she has rapidly emerged as a key figure on the national science technology scene. Her recent appointment as a Director of the Australian Institute of Marine Science at the age of 41, coupled with her extensive range of other Australian and international advisory and policy achievements, are testimony to her growing influence on the national scientific scene and to her standing as a worthy candidate for fellowship of the Academy.