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2015 Honorary Award Recipients

The Title 'John Curtin Distinguished Professor' is awarded for 5 years, or until the retirement or resignation of the Professor from the University, whichever comes first. The title may be awarded for consecutive periods.

2015 John Curtin Distinguished Professors

Professor Igor Bray
Professor Igor Bray
PhD FAPS FAIP FInstP
Professor Bray, Head of Curtin’s Physics and Astronomy Department, is a world leader in the field of atomic collision theory, an excellent science communicator and a big-picture thinker - a combination of skills that has made him a great advocate and prominent speaker for science and science policy at local, national and international levels.
Title awarded for a consecutive period: Professor Bray was originally awarded the John Curtin Distinguished Professor title in 2010 and was then nominated for a consecutive period in 2015.

Professor Barry Fraser
Professor Barry Fraser
BSc(Melb) BEd PhD(Monash) FTSE FASSA FIAE FAAAS FAERA FACE
Professor Barry Fraser was one of the first three Professors at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, Curtin’s predecessor institution, having been promoted to a Personal Chair in 1985. For more than three decades, he was Director of the Science and Mathematics Education Centre (SMEC) and a leader in graduate studies in the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
Title awarded for a consecutive period: Professor Fraser was originally awarded the John Curtin Distinguished Professor title in 2010 and was then nominated for a consecutive period in 2015.
Professor Lin Fritschi
Professor Lin Fritschi
MBBS(Queensland) PhD(ANU) FAFPHM
Professor Lin Fritschi, Head of the Occupational Epidemiology Group in Curtin’s School of Public Health, is a cancer epidemiologist with a particular interest in occupational causes of cancer. Professor Fritschi has led many large case-control and cohort studies investigating occupational hazards as well as non-occupational causes of cancer.
Professor Julian Gale
Professor Julian Gale
BA DPhil FAA FRACI FRSC
Professor Julian Gale is a computational chemist and researcher in Curtin’s Department of Chemistry. He is well known for his work on the kinetics and mechanisms of crystallisation processes in materials science, mineralogy and geochemistry. Professor Gale has an exceptional reputation internationally for his research.
Title awarded for a consecutive period: Professor Gale was originally awarded the John Curtin Distinguished Professor title in 2010 and was then nominated for a consecutive period in 2015.

Professor Hong Hao
Professor Hong Hao
BEng(Tianjin) MSc PhD(Calif) FTSE FIEAUS FASCE FISEAM
Professor Hao, from Curtin’s School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, has research interests in earthquake engineering, blast and impact engineering and structural health monitoring. His strong international standing is evident in his many publications and citations, leadership positions on professional committees and demand for his services by many government and industrial organisations globally.
Professor Zheng-Xiang Li
Professor Zheng-Xiang Li
BSc(Peking) PhD(Macq)
Professor Zheng-Xiang Li’s research interests lie mainly in regional to global tectonics and paleogeography, paleomagnetism and geodynamics. He is also interested in the relationships between major tectonic events, large mineralisation systems and major environmental/climate changes.
Professor Chun-Zhu Li
Professor Chun-Zhu Li
PhD(London) FIChemE FAIE
Professor Li is an internationally recognised leader in the field of Energy Science and Engineering. In addition to the utilisation of biomass, Professor Li has also carried out fundamental research and technology development in other fields of Energy Science and Engineering, including the catalytic conversion of natural gas, fuel cells and membrane technology as well as clean coal technology.
Title awarded for a consecutive period: Professor Li was originally awarded the John Curtin Distinguished Professor title in 2010 and was then nominated for a consecutive period in 2015.

Professor Peter Love
Professor Peter Love
MSc(Bath) ScD(Curtin) PhD(Monash)
Professor Peter Love works in Curtin’s School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering and has a multi-disciplinary background with significant industry experience. His varied research interests include safety and reliability engineering, project management, risk management, infrastructure engineering, operations and productions management, and modelling and optimisations in complex projects.
Title awarded for a consecutive period: Professor Love was originally awarded the John Curtin Distinguished Professor title in 2010 and was then nominated for a consecutive period in 2015.

Professor Peter Newman
Professor Peter Newman
BSc(Hons) Dip ES&T(Delft) PhD(UWA)
Peter Newman is a Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute (CUSP), a globally significant research centre with more than 110 PhD students. His work includes government-associated roles, public activism and world-recognised research.
Title awarded for a consecutive period: Professor Newman was originally awarded the John Curtin Distinguished Professor title in 2010 and was then nominated for a consecutive period in 2015.

Professor Zongping Shao
Professor Zongping Shao
PhD
Professor Zongping Shao works in Curtin’s faculty of Science and Engineering and is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. He is internationally recognised and respected for his research achievements in chemical engineering, in particular for his work in solid oxide fuel cells and hydrogen energy.
Professor Kok Lay Teo
Professor Kok Lay Teo
BSc MASc PhD
Kok Lay Teo is a well-regarded Professor in Curtin’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Professor Teo has research interests in computation optimal control and optimisation and their applications. He also has research interest in financial portfolio optimisation and signal processing in telecommunications engineering.
Title awarded for a consecutive period: Professor Teo was originally awarded the John Curtin Distinguished Professor title in 2010 and was then nominated for a consecutive period in 2015.
Professor Simon Wilde
Professor Simon Wilde
BSc(Hons) PhD(Exon)
Professor Simon Wilde is currently a Deputy Director of the International Precambrian Research Centre of China and Curtin Node Leader of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Core to Crust Fluid Systems. Professor Wilde’s research is focused on the early Earth, the evolution of continental crust and the geology of China.
Title awarded for a consecutive period: Professor Wilde was originally awarded the John Curtin Distinguished Professor title in 2010 and was then nominated for a consecutive period in 2015.