Southern Cross University Vice Chancellor honoured

Southern Cross University Vice Chancellor Professor Peter Lee has been named a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), an independent body of 800 eminent Australian engineers and scientists driving technological solutions for a better Australia.

He has been honoured for his internationally recognised commercialised developments in process control innovation and for his contributions to engineering education.

Professor Lee has developed approaches that have improved the economic efficiency of process production. These are now in wide commercial use through a major international vendor and have created numerous effective applications in industry.

As an active member of Engineers Australia, Professor Lee has played major roles nationally in the promotion of engineering, science and mathematics and has supervised nearly half of Australia’s and New Zealand’s current university staff in the field of process control.

He has also co-developed patented techniques for alarm management that have delivered improved safety and risk management in process industries.

The safety issues associated with poor alarm management have been blamed for the events that occurred at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant, the BP Texas oil refinery fire and explosion, the Longford Gas Plant explosions in Melbourne, and numerous other process incidents.

Professor Lee, who was awarded a Federal Government Centenary Medal for service to Engineering in 2001 was also named by Engineers Australia as one of the top 100 most influential engineers in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009 and has worked as a consultant to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation on the application of control methods in the process industries.

He has also been active in delivering industrial training courses to industry personnel from a wide range of process industries, including petrochemical, oil and gas processing, minerals processing, waste water treatment, pulp and paper and agri-chemicals. These courses have been designed to help bridge the gap between theory and practice, ensuring that the impact of academic knowledge is enhanced through application in industry.

Photo: Professor Peter Lee, who has been named a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE).