Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) Materials Node’s Prof Gordon Wallace steps aside as Director this week after leading the operation for over 15 years since its inception in 2007.
Led by Prof Wallace, the Materials Node has gone from strength to strength, providing the infrastructure and expertise to enable scaled processing of the most advanced materials as well as providing state-of-the-art fabrication facilities to develop innovative structures and devices. These capabilities have been used to great effect across a diverse array of areas but particularly in Energy and Health.
The Materials Node, based at both the University of Wollongong (UoW) and the University of Newcastle (UoN), combines an amazing array of skills, facilities and expertise. Between them, these partners offer extensive and unique capabilities in the design, development and fabrication using advanced materials.
“It has been a privilege to have served as the Director of the ANFF Materials node since its beginnings. It has been an amazing journey with an amazing team of people,” said Prof Wallace.
“The ANFF organisation recognises that new technologies without the right people are worthless. The value of talented individuals that can work as part of a team is priceless. This culture has enabled ANFF to attract and retain amazing individuals – even when the going was not as smooth as we would have liked.
“The wheels never fell off the wagon and we were always ready to pick up speed when fairer weather arrived.
“I remember many discussions with Prof Chris Fell as the ANFF vision was crystallised. It was recognised that world-class infrastructure and expertise in the area of materials and fabrication were necessary to support current research but also to catalyse the development of new frontiers. ANFF has delivered on both these counts.”
ANFF Materials has aided researchers and has assisted established companies across the country, whilst providing support to emerging entities, such as iFix Medical, Aquahydrex, Hysata, Sicona and Phycohealth.
The node has also been involved in the design and development of customised fabrication hardware, including the Biopen for cartilage regeneration, the 3D Alek for printing living ears, the 3D Genii for printing and developing prosthetics and the 3D Redi, a versatile 3D bioprinting system for research and training at UoW and developing new technologies such as printed, flexible light weight solar cells and advanced biosensors at UoN.
The Node will now benefit from the appointment of Prof Peter Innis who has vast experience as the Facility Manager of ANFF Materials Node for more than a decade. Prof Innis is a world-leading researcher in materials science.
“The Materials Node is in great hands with Pete taking the reins and he is supported by an amazing ANFF network including ANFF HQ,” said Prof Wallace.
Read more about the ANFF Materials Node here.