Chief Scientist awarded for outstanding contribution to Mechanical Engineering
Dr Francis Rose, Chief Scientist at the Platform Sciences Laboratory in Melbourne has been awarded the 2007 AGM Michell Medal for outstanding contribution to Mechanical Engineering by Engineers Australia.
Approx fifty friends, colleagues and persons from the mechanical engineering profession attended the presentation of the Award to Dr Rose in Melbourne on the 13th April. The Award was made for Dr Rose’s seminal contributions in the areas of fracture mechanics and structural health monitoring and his long standing and continuing leadership in mechanical engineering and engineering mathematics.
Dr Rose has contributed seminal work on crack bridging which now forms the basis for the design on bonded repairs to aircraft structures (known as the Rose model). His theory of transformation toughening in partially stabilised zirconia provided new insights into the trade-off between strength and toughness in this new class of high-toughness ceramics, for which he has received international acclaim. He has also contributed a comprehensive analysis of laser-generated ultrasound that has become a standard reference in the emerging field of laser ultrasonics, as well as an elegant theoretical model for eddy-current detection of cracks in thin sheets, and a novel approach to detecting multiple, but individually small, cracks, both of which have been confirmed experimentally. In 1995, he initiated and led a comprehensive research program in support of the structural integrity management of the RAAF F-111 fleet to a planned withdrawal date of 2020, with Australia as the sole operator of this aircraft type in the world.
Dr Rose’s professional involvement is immense. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Institution of Engineers Australia and the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, UK. He is an Adjunct Professor at three Universities and is currently the Chairman of the National Committee of Mechanical Sciences of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences (since 2005) and has been Chairman of Engineers Australia’s National Committee on Applied Mechanics (2001-2005). He has served on a number of Government research councils and been an invited Keynote speaker at many local and international conferences. Amongst these commitments he still finds time to act as a mentor and to encourage young applied mechanics researchers.
