ANFF ACT’s Node Director, Professor Chennupati Jagadish, has decided to step away from his role having been with ANFF since its inception in 2007.

He has been succeeded as the ACT Director by Professor Hoe Tan of ANU who has been involved with ANFF-ACT for a number of years, collaborating with Jagadish and working on the fabrication and application of optoelectronic devices.

Over the years Jagadish has built a reputation of being one of the kindest and most industrious people in the ANFF community, while also having become one of Australia’s most celebrated academics and a world-leader in a variety of disciplines.

Jagadish’s career lists too many achievements to summarise cleanly, but he has published approximately 900 papers, holds 5 US patents, co-authored a book, co-edited 15 books, guest edited 18 special issues of journals and edited 12 conference proceedings. He is a fellow of more than 20 institutes, including the Australian Institute of Physics, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the Australian Academy of Science, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (USA), the US National Academy of Inventors, and SPIE (the International Society for Optical Engineering) and has served in various positions of authority for many of these.

He has also worked towards a number of charitable causes, including setting up the Chennupati and Vidya Jagadish Fellowship and Scholarship Awards, which give students and researchers from developing countries the chance to travel to the Research School of Physics at ANU to pursue collaborative research for up to 12 weeks.

In addition to driving the ANFF ACT node, his creation and support of the Australian Nanotechnology Network (ANN) and the establishment of ICONN, a long term series of conferences that demonstrate the breadth of the ever-evolving nano community, are just some of the reasons ANFF and its user cohort are grateful for his long service.

Jagadish’s contributions were formally recognised in the 2016, when he was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for ‚Äúeminent service to physics and engineering, particularly in the field of nanotechnology, to education as a leading academic, researcher, author and mentor, and through executive roles with national and international scientific advisory institutions.‚Äù

Emeritus Professor Chris Fell, Chairman of the ANFF Board, said: ‚ÄúIn so many ways Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC has been the face of nanotechnology in Australia. It is particularly in his well communicated enthusiasm for nanotechnology and his mentorship of numerous researchers that Australia owes him a special debt. From ANFF’s viewpoint, he has been a strong supporter and a voice to government on how Australian research can best be supported. We will miss his incisive input as ACT’s Node Director but are confident we can turn to him for wise counsel in the years ahead. Safe travels, Jagadish, our best wishes go with you.‚Äù

Dr Ian Griffiths, ANFF CEO, added: “I believe I speak for the entirety of ANFF when I wish Jagadish the very best in his other pursuits, he has been an inspiration to members of our network at all levels. Looking forward, it’s a delight to be able to welcome Professor Tan into an even more involved role, having seen and heard so much about what he has already done and can do in the future for ANFF and the ACT node in particular.”

The new ANFF ACT Director, Professor Hoe Tan, said: ‚ÄúThank you Jagadish for your leadership, advocacy and support over the years to make ANFF ACT Node a node we can all be proud of and continue to provide exceptional service to users. Being the next ACT Node Director will indeed be a very big pairs of shoes to fill in. I’ll do my best and look forward to your continual guidance.‚Äù

Find out more about ANFF ACT here.