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Brett Lee bowls into Deakin
Australian cricketer Brett Lee, the face of Deakin University's research and charitable activities in India, visited the Melbourne Campus at Burwood in February 2008.
Because of his interest in both sport and the film industry – he is a star of Bollywood movies in India – Brett was keen to not only see the Motion Capture Laboratory, but to be 'suited up' and filmed as he batted and bowled.
The hi-tech laboratory is helping train future generations of film-makers and animators studying at Deakin. It also has a role to play in the University's sports science programs.
'It would have been great to have something like this when I was younger,' said Brett, the winner of the Allan Border Medal for 2007.
'It allows you to analyse your bowling technique, to make sure you're not doing anything to harm your body, as was the case with me early in my career when I sustained stress fractures in my back.'
Brett was a hit with students enjoying O-Week activities on the Melbourne Campus at Burwood.
'It was a real treat to be able to show Brett not just through the Motion Capture Laboratory, but other aspects of the campus,' Deakin's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sally Walker said.
'Having been with Brett in India in October last year when we signed the contract, I know what an impact he has over there.
'It was amazing to watch all the heads turning here in Australia too.
'He is obviously a greatly talented and highly regarded sportsman in both countries and I am very pleased that he has chosen to be involved in promoting Deakin in India.
Find out more about Brett Lee's involvement with Deakin University in India: http://www.gsdm.com.au/newsletters/deakin/nov07/
Find out more about the Motion Capture Laboratory: www.deakin.edu.au/motionlab/
A world of science at the GTP
Successful research in the 21st Century is an international phenomenon and nowhere is that more on display than at the Geelong Technology Precinct.
“We
have a wonderful array of researchers from all over the globe,”
says Professor Peter Hodgson.
“At the moment, we have scientists working here from 15 different countries. We’ve also had researchers from another three countries, United States, Canada, Brazil and New Zealand, if you want to look back over the past 12 months. That makes a total of 19, 20 if you count the Australians.
“In places like Europe such a mix might be more expected where you have so many countries so close together. For us to be able to attract and retain people in a regional centre like Geelong, Australia, right at the bottom of the world, is a fantastic achievement.”
In addition to Australia, the list of nations currently represented at the GTP is: Sweden, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Iran, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia.
“What we are building here is a genuine international research centre,” Professor Hodgson said. “We have developed a lot of strategic relationships right around the world which allow a keen exchange of ideas.
Professor Hodgson said Deakin was thrilled at the quality of applicants for new positions within ITRI – the International Technology and Research Institute. Positions were advertised both in Australia and in Europe.
“There are some really high quality Professors from around the world who have indicated they want to come and be part of this international research centre,” Professor Hodgson said.
As well as their science, the researchers bring an international flavour to the culture of the GTP.
“We have celebrated a lot of national days from around the world,” Professor Hodgson said.
“We’ve held functions for the Iranian and Chinese New Years, and also the Indian Festival of Light, Divali.”
Needless to say, given the passion for the sport in both countries, the links between Australia and India have been re-inforced through cricket. Many of the young researchers from the sub-continent play cricket with the Waurn Ponds Cricket Club that has its home ground with the university.
“Our 7th XI is mostly made up of young players from India,” said the vice-president of the Waurn Ponds Cricket Club, Carl Smith. “They are very enthusiastic, very friendly people and we love having them as part of our club.”
A number of players from the Waurn Ponds 7th XI met the Indian Minister for Science, His Excellency, Shri Kapil Sibal – a noted cricket buff - when he visited the GTP in February.
Table tennis is another sport well represented within the GTP.
“We’ve had a number of lunchtime tournaments and the competition can be pretty ferocious,” said Professor Hodgson. “I think some, particularly the researchers from China, believe their national honour is at stake!
“In the end though, it is the science that really matters and to hear people sharing their ideas, their experiences in a sort of GTP patois, a mixture of languages, is just a wonderful thing.
“It makes you realise that a lot of barriers that are created in the world are completely artificial, that we can all work together on important projects to make the world a better place, so long as there is the opportunity to do it.
“What we are creating at Deakin is just that - opportunity!”
Research Services Division:
Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds
Pigdons Road, Geelong, Victoria 3217 Australia
Telephone: +61 3 5227 2673 Facsimile:
+61 3 5227 2175
Email: dvc-research@deakin.edu.au
www.deakin.edu.au/research
DEAKIN RESEARCH UPDATES - BACK COPIES
Back issues of Deakin Research Updates are available at: www.deakin.edu.au/research
Reduce adolescent drinking and improve school success
Parents who are inclined to allow their children a sip of celebratory champagne should think again. New research has shown that parents who set rules that forbid their children using any alcohol at home reduce the risk that their children will become alcohol users in their early teens.
Deakin
University Professor of Psychology John Toumbourou completed the study
of the influences on early adolescent alcohol use with colleagues from
the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the University of Melbourne
and the University of New South Wales.
The results highlight the strong impact parents and schools have on teen drinking.
Professor Toumbourou said the findings were a wake-up call for parents who believed they were doing the right thing by allowing their children to sip alcohol at home or during celebrations.
“Parents totally underestimate the influence they have on their teenager’s drinking and the harm they put them in by letting them drink at home,” he said.
“We found that teens were around half as likely to have consumed alcohol by age 13 when their parents said that they did not allow their children to have even a small sip of alcohol at home or at celebrations in the first year of secondary school.
“We also found that adolescents with a parent who drank regularly, or smoked cigarettes, were at increased risk of drinking themselves. However, the findings revealed that whether or not parents drank regularly or smoked themselves, the families that set a firm rule that prohibited children using any alcohol at home reduced the risk of adolescent alcohol use.
“The findings suggest clear directions parents can take to curb the currently alarming rates of teenage alcohol consumption.”
The study involved 2315
Year 7 students from 24 schools in Melbourne who were then followed-up
one year later. It examined the influence of family factors relative to
school, peer and individual influences on the development of adolescent
alcohol use during the first year of secondary school.
Emily’s tough little mussel strengthens Lake Connewarre
You’ve got to admire Emily Cornwell’s dedication. Straight off the plane after arriving in Australia, the 22-year-old from Kalamazoo College cut through the fog of jetlag by visiting the waters of Lake Connewarre.
“It was a pretty quick baptism,” said the Fulbright scholar who is about two thirds of the way through a 10-month stay on Deakin’s Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds, and the much larger pond, the broader estuarine lake just south west of Geelong.
“I was taken to a number of saline measuring stations by one of my supervisors, Dr Janet Gwyther, who has been studying the ecology of the Lake for a number of years.”
Emily’s other supervisor is the woman to whom she is grateful for first making her aware of Lake Connewarre, Associate Professor Tes Toop.
As well as having a deep interest in the science of the lake, Tess Toop also lives on the edge of it.
“Yes, I have been to Tes’s house a few times,” smiles Emily. “I was looking around for a project I might do as part of my Fulbright and I was given Tes’s name at Deakin University and the rest is history, here I am!”
Through her study, Ecophysiological Characteristics of a Molluscan Population in Lake Connewarre, Emily is gaining a better understanding of how a tiny mollusc Xenostrobus securis is able to cope with rapid changes of salinity in the lake.
“Lake Connewarre presents an unique situation where extreme variations of salinity occur rapidly and seasonally and yet a wide range of flora and fauna persist through these variable conditions,” Emily says.
“Through this study, we are beginning to discover how the mussel tolerates these changes. In November for instance, after heavy rain in the catchment of the Barwon River, which flows into the lake, it was full of fresh water virtually overnight.
“As summer progressed and the rainfall was reduced the lake has returned to a highly saline state.
“What we’re seeing is that in times of stress, either too much freshwater or too much salt, the mollusc greatly reduces it metabolic rate and its oxygen intake.
New major partnership announcement.