Lithuanians in the news
14th October, 2005
A Senior Academic Appointment for a Distinguished Australian Lithuanian Researcher
Dr. Vijoleta Braach-Maksvytis
The University of Melbourne has recently announced the appointment of Dr. Vijoleta Braach-Maksvytis as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Innovation and Development). She was born in Australia to Lithuanian parents and has had an outstanding career as a researcher in nanotechnology and in science policy development nationally and internationally.
Vijoleta graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1984 with a BSc (Honours 1) in Biochemistry and Chemistry and then obtained a doctorate in Biophysics from the University of Sydney on structure-function relationships in self-assembled model membranes. She is the co-inventor of the Ion Channel Switch Biosensor, holding 18 patents in that area. In 2001 she was the convenor of the first national Nanotechnology in Australian Industry Workshop and she was instrumental in getting government to include nanotechnology as a national research priority in 2002. She was the Team Leader of Biomimetic Engineering in CSIRO Industrial Physics Division until June 2002.
She has been the head of the CSIRO Global Aid Initiative and has also been the Principal for Global Research Alliance. More recently she has been the Head of the Office of the Chief Scientist of Australia and has represented Australia in policy areas with APEC and EU. She has just been appointed to the National Commission of UNESCO and is chair of its Science Network.

Congratulations, Vijoleta!
Sources: www.cip.csiro.au http://uninews.unimelb.edu.au/articleid_2750.html