Professor Mark Tjoelker is the Associate Director of the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment and science leader of the Hawkesbury Forest Experiment whole-tree chamber research facility. He is a leading plant biologist and ecologist with expertise in the impacts of global environmental change on trees and forest ecosystems in natural and managed contexts. His research expertise includes climate change effects on respiration and carbon cycling, climatic adaptation in plant traits, plantation forestry, urban forestry and the biogeography of forest tree species. A goal of his research is to advance fundamental knowledge of plant and ecosystem responses to environmental change and provide science-based information to inform policy choices. Professor Tjoelker served as an advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture through the Forestry Research Advisory Council. He has authored more than 125 refereed journal articles and edited the book, The Biology and Ecology of Norway Spruce (Springer, 2007). His published work is among the most cited (top 1%) in the refereed literature (ISI, Essential Science Indicators). Professor Tjoelker was appointed to the prestigious ARC College of Experts commencing in 2019. The College plays a key role in identifying research excellence in the ARC National Competitive Grants Program, moderating external assessments and recommending applications for funding. Prior to arriving at Western in 2011, Professor Tjoelker was a faculty member in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at Texas A&M University, USA.
Email: M.Tjoelker@westernsydney.edu.au
Professor Miroslav FilipovicAstronomy, Science, Education and Computing are Professor Filipovic's profession, hobby, interest and passion. Especially, research in Astronomy has been a source of fascination since the early 1980s.
Imaging at all frequencies, especially at radio and X-rays, are his main ‘tools’. All the work is closely related to understanding the evolution of, and interactions between galaxies and the processes of star-formation and star evolution as they affect galaxy evolution. Also, he has been involved in projects that develop astronomical software (for data reduction, exp. MIRIAD, IRAF, AIPS++, MIDAS and NOD2).
Throughout his professional career he has been fortunate to work with the best instruments (telescopes) ever built. These include: Australia Telescope Compact Array, Very Large Array, Parkes, ROSAT, XMM-Newton, CHANDRA, NANTEN2, Hubble Space Telescope and South African Large Telescope. Also, he is a member of a few large consortia to build the next generation of instruments such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA and its precursor ASKAP) and eROSITA.
Professor Filipovic's major scientific research interests are in Supernova Remnants (SNRs), Super Planetary Nebulae (PNe), Milky Way structure and mass extinctions, HII regions, X-ray Binaries, Active Galactic Nucleus, Local Group of galaxies, Masers, Extrasolar Planets, Search for local/nearby Brawn Dwarfs, X-ray background radiation (SPT & Pavo deep field), virtual observatory, comets, star/planet formation and Stellar Content (WR, O, B stars) in nearby galaxies.
Email: M.Filipovic@westernsydney.edu.au