Public Physics Talk

The New Zealand Institute of Physics with the support of the Dodd-Walls Centre are delighted to invite you to Victoria University of Wellington’s Rutherford House for a free evening session in Room GBLT1 featuring the two speakers below.

Please RSVP on the link above (see website section).

"Light, Sperm and Sustainability"
Cather Simpson is the Chief Science Officer for Engender Technologies, a University of Auckland spin-out developing technology to sort sperm by sex for the dairy industry and a Professor of Physics
and Chemistry at the University of Auckland. Cather’s research explores the interaction of light with matter, particularly how materials can convert light into more useful forms of energy. For the last 10
years, she has developed a focus on agriculture, where her work has led to two internationally award-winning spinout companies, including Engender which won the 2016 Silicon Valley Forum 1st-place

AgTech medal. Recent accolades include a Ako Aotearoa National Teaching Excellence award and the 2019 Pickering Medal from the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Ap -arangi. She was named Baldwins Researcher Entrepreneur and BNZ Supreme winner at the 2016 KiwiNet awards, and is a NZ Primary Industries Champion and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Ap -arangi. Her keen interest in sustainable agriculture has led to invitations to speak nationally and internationally.

"From the banks of the Motu River to Haskell Strait Antarctica"
Dr Tim Haskell began his career working in industrial heating and cooling in the time of New Zealand's first energy crisis. He then turned his attention to information technology systems, developing DSIR's computer network, which was one of the first in the world. This technology was spun off and later purchased by Allied Telesyn, based in Christchurch. While leading this work, Tim conceived and initiated a new project to develop high-speed processing using optical technology, which developed into the Photonics Group at Industrial Research Ltd (IRL) and later Callaghan Innovation.

At the same time, Tim became increasingly involved in Antarctic research, sea-ice research in particular, and became the New Zealand leader of the programme for decades, coordinating and
mentoring sea ice research. “Camp Haskell” as it was known, was a focal point for nearly 40 years for researchers collecting data on seasonal sea ice formation and developing models to understand and predict global climate and climate change.

Venue: GBLT1 Lecture Theatre - Pipitea Campus