Published on the 9th March 2022 by ANSTO Staff
Key Points
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Prof Vanessa Peterson has been awarded the Nancy Millis Medal for Women in Science by the Australian Academy of Science this week
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As research leader of the Energy Materials project at ANSTO, Prof Peterson receives this honorific for her exceptional leadership in the characterisation of energy materials for more than a decade
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As a female working in a male-dominated research area and with a dedicated commitment to STEM outreach, Prof Peterson has been an inspiration to fellow scientists, as well as girls and young women interested in science
One of ANSTO’s most accomplished scientists and internationally recognised energy researchers, Prof Vanessa Peterson, has been awarded the Nancy Millis Medal for Women in Science by the Australian Academy of Science this week.
Prof Peterson is the 9th recipient of the award, which is given to women who have developed an independent research program and demonstrated exceptional leadership, in any branch of the physical and biological sciences.
As the research leader of the Energy Materials project at ANSTO and an Honorary Professorial Fellow of the Institute for Superconducting & Electronic Materials at the University of Wollongong, Prof Peterson receives this honorific for her exceptional leadership in the characterisation of energy materials for more than a decade.
“Known for formidable intellectual prowess, feisty spirit and purple-streaked hair, Prof Peterson is a unique and exceptional scientist, who has inspired many,” said Prof Andrew Peele, Director of Nuclear Science and Technology, “and we are delighted with the announcement.”
Fittingly, the announcement was made two days after International Women’s Day.
“It is important to recognise the contribution of female scientists, who face many challenges. I am honoured to be selected by my peers,” said Prof Peterson.
“Our insatiable need for cheap energy presents a major challenge to present-day society and I find it deeply satisfying to know that my research makes a difference in meeting this challenge.”
“My expertise in neutron and X-ray scattering, techniques that can probe the atomic-scale properties of materials, provides a fundamental understanding of how to improve sustainable energy systems,” said Prof Peterson.
Prof Peterson investigates materials for battery, fuel-cell, and gas separation and storage technologies, such as hydrogen, using a range of specialist techniques at ANSTO. Her pioneering work on batteries has been highlighted many times on the ANSTO website. The latest report is here.
She is proud that many of these contributions occurred concurrently with her becoming a new mother.
With contributions to over 175 publications, Prof Peterson’s work is widely cited, and she is the lead on research published in many high profile journals including Nature Chemistry,Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, and Advanced Materials.
At the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, Prof Peterson helped commission and further develop the capabilities of two neutron powder diffraction instruments, as well as extend the capabilities of other neutron instruments through her research and experimental set-ups that she developed.
Prof Peterson leverages her role and expertise as a neutron instrument scientist to collaborate on and lead research into energy materials.
Prof Peterson uses her scientific breath to develop new approaches and equipment for cutting-edge experiments that target energy materials research, including conducting experiments with operating batteries and the development of specialist sample-environment devices for real-time measurements.
She has attracted some funding for her energy materials research. Most recently, she was part of a team that received Australian Government Cooperative Research Centre Project (CRC-P) funding to investigate advanced nanoporous metal-organic framework mats for high-efficiency hydrogen storage and an Australian Research Council Linkage grant to develop advanced framework materials for hydrogen storage applications. In 2020, she was part of another industry-led team that received CRC-P funding for the novel processing of pyrite ore to produce battery-grade cobalt and sulfur.
Prof Peterson's leadership extends into the research community, and her leadership roles include participation in editorial advisory boards for research journals, an appointment to the International Union of Crystallography’s Commission on Neutron Scattering, as a Director-at-Large of the US-based not-for-profit company the International Centre for Diffraction Data, for which she is also an Executive, technical co-regional Chair, and elected Fellow.
Prof Peterson is a past President and Vice President of the Australian X-ray Analytical Association, and she holds formal roles on international facility advisory teams, such as the Neutron Advisory Board for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the USA and previous roles for the J-Parc facility in Japan.
Prof Peterson is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI CChem).
While ANSTO is not a higher research degree awarding institution, Prof Peterson has formally co-supervised 17 PhD students to successfully achieve their degrees and supervised directly 7 postdoctoral researchers.
"This investment is ensuring the next generation of materials characterisation experts," said Prof Peterson.
As a female working in a male-dominated research area and with a dedicated commitment to STEM outreach, Prof Peterson has been an inspiration to fellow scientists, as well as girls and young women interested in science. Her outreach includes valued scientific communication for the broader community and engagement in activities such as National Science Week and the World Science Festival. Prof Peterson has been featured in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemistry World, Cosmos, and QANTAS in-flight magazine, as well as TV appearances.
She is the recipient of numerous awards, but notably is often the first woman to receive these, including the past three of which she was awarded. These include the 2020 Australian X-ray Analytical Association’s Bob Cheary Award for Excellence in Diffraction Analysis for “significant long-term contributions to diffraction analysis”, the Australian Neutron Beam Users Group neutron award for “outstanding research in neutron science and leadership promoting the Australian neutron scattering community (2019); and the Society of Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand’s Sandy Mathieson Medal for “distinguished contributions to science involving X-ray, neutron or electron diffraction and/or imaging” in 2017.
