The winners of the 2023 Tasmanian STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Excellence Awards were announced this week at a celebratory event at a ceremony at the University Club in Hobart. Congratulations to all winners for their outstanding contributions.
This year Associate Professor Matthew Harrison from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture was awarded the Premier’s Tasmanian STEM Researcher of the Year prize for his globally-recognised research in agricultural sustainability, climate change adaptation and greenhouse gas mitigation.
Dr Vipul Gupta from the University of Tasmania received the Tasmanian STEM Early Career Researcher of the Year award for his research excellence in developing new 3D printed materials, printers, and microfluidic analytical systems.
Mars Buttfield-Addison was awarded the Tasmanian STEM Communicator of the Year award for her diverse and broad science communication endeavours that cover topics from radio astronomy to space junk and debris, to machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Kawajit Kaur of St Helens District High School and Patrick Cooley of Bayview Secondary College received the Tasmanian STEM Primary Teacher of the Year and Secondary Teacher of the Year awards respectively, for their use of innovative and creative approaches to inspire their students’ passion for STEM.
The Minister’s STEM Innovation of the Year Award was awarded to the Potato Pathology Team from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture for their novel, bacterial-based biological product to prevent the potato disease, powdery scab.
The Tasmanian STEM Excellence Awards highlight the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – STEM – in our economy and our community. The finalists acknowledged are leaders in their fields and their innovative achievements will inspire others and help chart the future for Tasmania. The Tasmanian Government’s STEM Excellence Awards have been presented since 2016 to celebrate the outstanding achievements of our foremost scientists, researchers, communicators, innovators and teachers.
The Tasmanian STEM Excellence Awards are supported by the Tasmanian Government, Inspiring Tasmania and the University of Tasmania.