• Business Program Manager - Large...
• Support Analyst Programmer
• Project Manager
• Project Manager - Permanent...
• SAS Analyst

Society News

ACS, Information Age

29/11/2000 12:01:01

ACS Council elections appoint office-bearers for 2001The ACS held its annual elections in October, finalising the line-up of its National Council for 2001-2002 and awarding two Honorary Life Memberships and five Fellowships for outstanding contributions to industry and the Society.

New office-bearers for 2001 include Judy Hammond as Community Affairs Board Director, Jeff Garner as Marketing Board Director and Philip Argy, NSW Branch Chair (1999-2000), as National Vice President.

The Council meeting elected 10 ACS officials to the following positions, all of which take effect from 1 January 2001:

· Vice President - elected Philip Argy of NSW;· National Treasurer - re-elected Glen Heinrich of SA;· Membership Board Director - re-elected Professor John Hughes of NSW;· Professional Development Board Director - re-elected Wayne Knack of QLD;· Marketing Board Director - elected Jeff Garner of QLD;· Computer Science & Software Engineering Board Director - re-elected Professor Karl Reed of VIC;· Publications Board Director - re-elected Tom Worthington of ACT;· Community Affairs Board Director - elected Judy Hammond of NSW; · Information Systems Board Director - re-elected Dr Errol Martin of ACT; and· Computer Science Board Director - re-elected Professor Vijay Varadharajan of NSW.

The ACS National Council also includes the President, Immediate Past President, a second Vice President and Branch Chairs from each of the Society's eight State and Territory Branches, of which at least three and possibly four positions will be held by women.

Honorary Life Members

Kate Behan became the Society's first female Honorary Life Member in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the ACS at both Branch and National level in her 21 years of Membership. A former Director of the Marketing Board and Secretary and Member of the Victorian Branch Executive Committee, Kate is particularly valued for her pivotal role in the proposal and implementation of the ACS Certification Program.

ACS Immediate Past President Prins Ralston has been a conspicuous and enthusiastic worker on behalf of the Society over many years, helping to significantly raise the profile of the ACS in the public, government and international arenas. Prins was Chair of the ACS Restructure Committee in 1996 and, while ACS President in 1998/99, was instrumental in putting in place the structure and processes which subsequently lead to the Society's admission to the Australian Council of Professions.

ACS Awards Fellowships for Contribution to the IT IndustryJohn Roddick (currently Editor of the Journal of Research and Practice in Information Technology) has made a distinguished contribution to the field of IT in Australia through excellence in research, outstanding leadership in education (former Head of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of South Australia and now Professor of Information Technology at Flinders University).

Dr Vijay Khandelwal has made many contributions throughout a lengthy career as Senior Consultant with IBM. For the past 6 years he has worked as an academic in the School of Computing and IT at the University of Western Sydney, supervising Ph.D and Honours students, pursuing an active research program and consulting to both the private and public sectors.

David Wilson has worked in both industry and academia and is currently Associate Dean (Education) at the University of Technology, Sydney School of Computing Sciences. In addition to consulting widely in industry, he edited the Australian Computer Journal for many years, making a sustained and distinguished contribution to the dissemination of scholarly work in IT.

Roy Hill has enjoyed an exemplary career spanning industry and education, and was instrumental in establishing the first School of Computing within TAFE. For the past 10 years he has been Faculty Director, Information Technology at the Hunter Institute of Technology, Newcastle, where he has worked tirelessly to promote the IT Industry in the Hunter Region and nationally through his involvement and leadership in the AIIA Education and Training Forum.

Hamish Bentley has made an outstanding contribution to the field of IT education, initiating major curriculum innovations at Brisbane College of Advanced Education and in more recent times at Queensland University of Technology. His reputation as an excellent teacher is amply demonstrated by his nomination three times as University Lecturer of the Year.

ACS launches Web site for IT students

The ACS has launched a Web site for Australian IT students to assist them in their studies and help them prepare for working in the industry. The site is located at http://www.acs.org.au/student/ Developed for students by students, the Web site features information about IT courses and projects, has links to IT news and employment information, and provides opportunities for students to participate in competitions and list their final year projects for access by their peers.

The Web site was designed and built by final year Computer Science students at the University of Western Sydney under the supervision of Caroline Macgregor and ACS e-commerce expert Richard Bridge.

Student Project Leader Denis Lowe said between three and four students worked on the project, gathering requirements during the first semester this year, and doing the coding and implementation during Semester Two.

"Essentially, our goal was to create a Web site that met the needs and interests of Australian IT students. The most important element of the site is a mentoring system where students can post questions and receive answers from working professionals, with the responses posted on a public noticeboard for all Student Members to view," he said.

ACS President John Ridge said the Society hoped the new site would provide a useful tool for its Student Members and encourage wider communication between aspiring professionals and those already in the workforce.

"The ACS is working to provide better services and facilities for our Student Members. We're proud of the fact that this Web site has been specifically designed and created by students for students. I'm confident they will find it both helpful and relevant," he said.

The ACS welcomes input from students around Australia for future enhancements that will help the site as it develops into a national resource.

Government must lead the way in innovation investment, says ACSAustralia's Governments must provide stronger leadership if they expect the private sector to increase its investment in R&D and innovation, according to ACS President John Ridge.

Ridge used his speech to the 2000 Information Outlook Conference in Canberra in November to challenge the public sector to take more seriously its responsibility to invest in innovation, and to provide an environment and policy framework that also encouraged other organisations to do so.

"If the Government followed the lead of other progressive countries, it would invest significantly more in IT&T R&D while ensuring it provides the appropriate incentives and legislative environment to encourage private sector investment," he said.

Ridge also called for simpler, more efficient bureaucratic processes to enable high technology companies to respond more rapidly to changes in technology or market conditions.

He said while America, UK, Canada, Singapore and Ireland were increasing their R&D spending in the mid-late 90s, Australia has significantly reduced its investment because of policy implementers who have allowed themselves to be distracted from the main game.

"Australia is a nation of innovators and, yes, some of those innovative minds have been applied in seeing how they could manipulate the system for their personal advantage. But let's not punish everyone for the sake of those few," he said.

"If we are so concerned about people rorting the system, let's catch a few and punish them severely as a warning to others and get on with the job on developing our knowledge industries.

"From every perspective, financial, academic and social, it makes sense to invest in innovation," Ridge said.

During his speech, he also congratulated the ACT Government on its commitment to rolling out broadband infrastructure through Canberra via the TransACT commercial venture.

"I challenge other Australian Governments to follow their lead and initiate similar projects in other states rather than waiting for the Federal Government or private sector to fill the gap," he said.

NSW Pearcey Award goes to fibre optics specialist A fibre-optics components specialist has won the NSW Pearcey Award in IT for 2000, which was announced in Sydney on November 15th by NSW Minister for Information Technology and Western Sydney Kim Yeadon.

An initiative of the Pearcey Foundation, which was established to honour the memory and work of Trevor Pearcey and other IT pioneers, the 2000 State Pearcey Award seeks to recognise an individual's innovative and pioneering achievement and contribution to research in IT.

The award is jointly sponsored by the ACS, AIIA and the NSW Government Office of IT, and was presented at NSW Branch Annual Conference Dinner held at the Parramatta Parkroyal.

In accepting the award, Clinton Paddison said the recognition by his professional colleagues encouraged him to try and emulate the example of technology pioneer Trevor Pearcey, who designed CSIRAC, Australia's first working computer.

"This award gives me the motivation to try and optimise what Trevor Pearcey basically did a few decades ago in helping to develop a technology industry in Australia. I think it's wonderful that the Pearcey Foundation is recognising the efforts of young Australians who have made technological contributions to Australia," he said.

The 25-year-old optoelectronics engineer, a graduate of Macquarie University, is employed as Product Implementation Manager with JDS Uniphase, a fibre-optics components manufacturer which produces optical fibre filters for network installations.

Chairman of the Pearcey Foundation Ian Dennis said Paddison was a worthy winner who had developed a significant level of competence in his professional field.

"Clinton is a very impressive young man who has established strong credentials in the area of fibre optics, an industry which is the basis of major technological advances due to the convergence between computing and telecommunications.

"He was nominated by his managing director as someone who has made and is making a major contribution towards establishing Australia as a centre of excellence in this highly advanced technology," he said.

Paddison was chosen from an impressive list of nominees by an expert panel which included ACS representative Richard Bridge.

"We were delighted with the calibre of people who were nominated for this year's award," said Bridge.

"It's exciting to see how much young talent there is in the industry and to know that many of our young professionals are leading the world in their chosen field of expertise," he said.

New structure for Pearcey Foundation

The Pearcey Foundation Board has also approved a new structure which involves the establishment of a national committee as well as committees in each state and territory.

The national body will retain responsibility for the Pearcey Medal, Web site, national sponsorship, Federal Government liaison and national initiatives, while the regional committees will look after the state award and local projects.

A November meeting of the Foundation's Board approved a number of new initiatives, including an education project and the Pearcey Media Prize, to be introduced in 2001, which will recognise an IT journalist who has contributed consistently to the promotion and recognition of the Australian IT industry.