Conference Secretariat: Conferences & Events Ltd PO Box1254, Nelson Ph: 03 546 6022 Email: [email protected] Exhibitors Royal Society of New Zealand Science Learning Hub Allan Wilson Centre LEARNZ GNS Science Cambridge University Press ABA Books Pearson G & A Sales Ltd The Logical Interface Exams4u Modern Teaching Aids NELSON CENGAGE Learning Plant & Food Reasearch Speakers Carl Ahlers Carl Ahlers is a passionate science communicator and developer of commercial science teaching aids for the classroom. He is the founding member of Prof Bunsen Science located in Geelong, Australia. Carl holds a MSc in Physical Chemistry, BEd and HED and has worked as a chemist in various laboratories including military explosive development.  But above all he loves to teach and has taught chemistry & physics at high school and tertiary level.  He has served as the head of the University of Pretoria Science Centre before making the move to Australia. As communicator he has more than 16 years of experience in presenting science shows, special science demonstration lectures and science activities.  In 2002 he and Mark Shuttleworth, Africa’s only astronaut, toured through Southern Africa with an inspiring science presentation. Carl’s passion for “simple, fun, engaging science” is bringing excitement and opening new opportunities to thousands of teachers and students. Dr. Lisa-ann Gershwin Title: Jellyfish or Law School: What was I supposed to do? Dr. Lisa-ann Gershwin is a true academic rags-to-riches story. A California native, she dropped out of high school prior to completing Grade 10. At the age of 28, after an unfulfilling three years as a stockbroker and having just been accepted to law school, she reconnected with her childhood love of marine biology, and began what can be best described as a jellyfish love affair. Now 17 years on, Lisa is living and working in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, as the Curator of Natural Sciences at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.  She is widely considered the world’s foremost authority on jellyfish identification and classification. Her work also encompasses their toxins and medical management, their evolution over the past 600 million years, and their ecology and bloom dynamics. She has authored over 45 peer-reviewed scientific publications, and was the editor of the popular Marine Stinger Management Newsletter for over two years.  Lisa has also given hundreds of interviews and seminars and been featured in countless documentaries. Her first PhD from the University of California, Berkeley on fossil jellyfishes was deferred in order to sort out the infamous box jellies and Irukandjis in Australian waters, finally earning her PhD from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, in 2005. Recently, Lisa has completed the first-ever monograph on the jellyfishes of New Zealand, including numerous new species. All up, Lisa has discovered 159 species new to science and is hoping to break the 160 mark by the date of this conference! Dr Mike Packer   Mike Packer is a senior scientist at the Cawthron Institute in Nelson and an associate investigator in the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. He uses biochemistry and molecular cell biology to investigate a range of interests including biological hydrogen production and biofuels, especially from algae. Associated higher value products are also an important part of this work. He is interested in the use of biological catalysts, such as algal hydrogenase, as potential cheap renewable replacements for rare earth catalysts like platinum for use in microbial fuel cells.   A graduate of Otago University, gaining a BSc in biochemistry and a MSc in marine science, he studied mitochondrial free-radical production and programmed cell death for his PhD. He then went on to study the role of free-radical signalling molecules in control of cell birth and stem cell differentiation in mammalian brain, in a post-doctoral position at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Cornell Weill Medical School in New York. He was involved in a start-up spin-off biotechnology company from this work (ArgiNOx Inc.) before establishing himself at Cawthron in Nelson. The common thread throughout his career is redox biochemistry and bioenergetics. He was a member of the Royal Society of NZ’s Presidents Panel on Energy and the Oxygen Group, a think tank of younger scientists at the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology. He works closely with academia and industry and is a scientific advisor to several startup biotechnology companies. Dr Paul Lowe Paul Lowe is Science Team Leader at Morrinsville College.  He holds an MSc (Chemistry) Waikato University and a PhD (Science Education) Curtin University (WA).   His PhD looked at the effect of cooperative learning and assessment (COLA) on attitudes towards science of Y9 and 10 students.  A 1998 study award enabled the fieldwork under supervisor Professor Darrell Fisher.  Data gathered clearly indicated a significant improvement in student attitudes.   An E Fellowship in 2006 with the MOE & CORE Education, after his PhD in 2004 and an RSNZ fellowship at the Tatua Dairy Co in 2003, enabled PROBLIT (problem-based learning in teams).   The PROBLIT course, involving teams of three G&T students from the CoroNet Schools clearly, demonstrated improved attitudes and learning outcomes (Biggs SOLO Taxonomy, thinking skills]. In 2009 the PLUTO (Please let us take off) project for average Y9 students began with Waikato and Curtin Universities co directed with Simon Taylor.  12 Waikato/BOP Schools were involved with exciting results, building to 16 schools this year. Paul and his team produce outstanding student research results.  10 prestigious RSNZ Gold CREST awards and numerous Realise the Dream and National representatives, some winning International events.  Willing scientists contribute significantly to this success.  He is the current Chief Judge of the East Waikato S&T Fair. Paul represented NZ in Cambodia in 2007 at the ‘Microsoft Innovative Teachers Conference’ and in 2009 won the KUDOS Science Educator/Communicator award in the great Waikato region. This year he won the Prime Ministers Science Teacher award. Associate Professor Bronwen Cowie, University of Waikato Osborne Memorial Lecture Associate Professor Bronwen Cowie taught science, physics and mathematics in New Zealand secondary schools for a number of years before moving to The University of Waikato as the researcher on the Learning in Science Project (Assessment). Her doctorate is in formative assessment / assessment for learning in year 7 to 10 science classrooms with a particular focus on student perceptions and experiences. Bronwen was previously the director of the Centre for Science and Technology Education Research. Bronwen has worked on a number of large national research projects including the Laptops for teachers evaluation, the Evaluation of Environmental Education in schools and kura, and the Curriculum Stocktake National Schools Sampling Study. She has extensive experience in classroom-based research with years 1 to 10 teachers and students using interviews, observation, the collection of student work and video as a data generation tools. Most recently, she was a co-leader of a three study of interactions around ideas in science and technology primary classrooms. Currently, she is involved in the Curriculum implementation exploratory studies project which is a joint WMIER/NZCER project. She is a co-director of the Science Learning Hub, which is a MoRST initiative to make New Zealand science accessible to New Zealand teachers via a multimedia web-based resource.   Anna Sandiford Peter Spratt Memorial Lecture PhD MSc BSc(Hons) AEFP MFSSoc MRSNZ MIFPI Dr Sandiford is an Independent Forensic Science Consultant, which came about as the result of eight years at university, three degrees, one Postgraduate Certificate of Proficiency in Forensic Science and the luck of the draw.  She has now been working in forensic science for12 years and has spent more than 20 years immersed in the world of science. She started her scientific life in geology, an interest that has persisted to the present day.  She has used her geological background to advance her forensic science career and actively promotes the use of geological, earth and environmental sciences in the forensic setting. She has a science blog (www.FSRL.co.nz/blog) that is syndicated as “Forensic Scientist” to the national Sciblogs.co.nz science website, which is run by the Science Media Centre of the Royal Society of New Zealand.  As a result of this, Dr Sandiford has realised that her role is now far more about science communication and science education than it ever used to be.  Because she enjoys it, she spends more and more of her time speaking to a range of people about science, forensic science and the role of geology in the world at large.  Her audiences include inter- & national peers, Police officers, lawyers, school children, geologists, students, interest groups and corporate/commercial organisations. She has extensive experience in all types of casework and has prepared statements and reports for thousands of cases in the UK, New Zealand, the Cayman Islands and the Channel Islands.  She has given evidence in the UK equivalents of District and High Courts, including London Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) and in several high-profile cases in New Zealand and the UK. Her areas of expertise are varied and include alcohol, drugs, glass, footwear/sock prints/tyre marks, packaging, physical fits, drug-driving and palynology (pollen).  She provides case review assistance including all types of physical, trace, toxicological and biological scientific findings as well as consideration of, and advice on, continuity and handling of items. She is a Member of a number of professional organisations, which means she governed by Codes of Conduct, Ethics and Imparttiality.   Dr Andrew Cleland Dr Andrew Cleland is Chief Executive of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand.  He came to this role after 23 years as an engineering academic, including time as a dean. He continues to play a leading role in the development of engineering education both in New Zealand and internationally.  He plays a major role in the National Engineering Education Plan Project, which has included a strand to better define career pathways from secondary school to tertiary stud y. Dr Serean Adams Dr Serean Adams is a scientist in the Aquaculture and Biotechnology Group at Nelson’s Cawthron Institute. Her main interest is developing cryopreservation methods for New Zealand’s commercially important shellfish species. She also works on developing cryopreservation methods for micro-algae and has been involved in the Department of Conservation’s Kakapo Recovery Programme developing a method for cryopreserving sperm of the endangered kakapo. She is also heavily involved in triploidy research on shellfish at Cawthron. Serean completed her PhD as well as her undergraduate and post-graduate degrees at the University of Otago studying cryopreservation of sea urchin gametes, embryos and larvae. She went on to do a post-doc at the University of Luton in the UK studying aspects of fish eggs and embryos in relation to cryopreservation  before returning to New Zealand to take up her position at Cawthron. Dr Brian Boyle Dr Brian Boyle completed his PhD at the University of Durham in the UK. He held positions at the University of Edinburgh; the Anglo-Australian Observatory; the University of Cambridge; was Director of the Anglo-Australian Observatory (1996 to 2003) and Director of CSIRO Australia Telescope (2003 to 2009) before his appointment to CSIRO SKA Director in February 2009. Dr Boyle has published more than 300 papers in astronomy. His primary research interests are in the fields of quasars, active galaxies and cosmology. He also now plays a major role both nationally and internationally in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) programme; a project to build the world’s largest cm-wavelength radio telescope. Awards (since 2000) Jan 2000: Appointed Adjunct Professor, University of NSW April 2003: Centenary Medal for “services to Australian astronomy" Sep 2005: Awarded Fellowship Australian Institute of Company Directors May 2006: Elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science Dec 2006: Elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society Sep 2007: 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize (shared) Graham Leonard Graham is a Volcanologist and Natural Hazards Scientist within the Mapping Section at GNS Science. His particular research interests are in the history and eruptions of the Taupo Volcanic Zone; New Zealand volcanic geology, mapping and geochronology; developing effective response to warning systems (including research in the USA, Thailand, South America and Europe), especially for volcanic, tsunami & landslide/lahar processes. He has recently been working on a national guideline for tsunami evacuation maps, and he is often out collecting rocks samples from New Zealand's volcanoes to help determine the timing and style of past eruptions. Graham lives in Wellington and has a PhD from the University of Canterbury. Back to top Gold Sponsors Faculty of Science   Science Learning Hub     Roger Osborne Lecture Sponsor   General sponsor