December 14, 2017

Emeritus Professorship awarded to Professor Allan Chivas

Geologist and geochemist acknowledged for formation of school at UOW. 

From exploring geological processes in remote parts of the Solomon Islands and Guatemala to establishing environmental geochemical research at UOW, Professor Allan Chivas has had a diverse career that has seen him recognised for his outstanding and highly original research contributions in geochemistry.

For his distinguished contributions to the fields of geology and geochemistry, and his exceptional service and dedication to UOW, Professor Chivas was today (Wednesday 13 December) admitted to the UOW Honorary list as an Emeritus Professor.

Citing the successful establishment of the University’s School of Geosciences as one of his major life achievements, Professor Chivas has made significant contributions to the understanding of Earth-surface processes at the younger end of the geological time scale.

With a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours) from the University of Sydney, Professor Chivas spent the early part of his career as a geologist in mineral exploration, based in Australia and the South-West Pacific Islands.

Completing his PhD on the rugged, green and wet island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, Professor Chivas mapped 800km of measured traverses along steep stream beds, learning Pidgin English to communicate with locals and making his own dictionary of the Koo language.

“I acted as the village medic, being the only person with medicines to distribute, and there were some nasty injuries with bush knives; and encountered many people who had never seen a white face before,” he said. “It was a great adventure and a character-building experience.”

Professor Chivas said while fieldwork brings with it risks and challenges - on one occasion the light plane he was travelling on ran out of fuel mid-air, while on another trip to Guatemala, the door of the small commercial plane flew open immediately after take-off and passengers were forced to link arms, form a human chain and reach out to close the door as the plane continued its climb – it also provides some of life’s greatest opportunities.

“Most geologists would vouch for their love of fieldwork and say that they would prefer to be in the field rather than behind a desk,” he said.

“We sometimes say that ‘the rocks talk to us’, so clearly too much fieldwork also has an effect.”

Upon completing his PhD, Professor Chivas undertook overseas post-doctoral positions in the United States and France, before returning to Australia in 1979 and spending 16 years with the Environmental Geochemistry Group in the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University.

In 1995, Professor Chivas joined UOW as the Foundation Professor of the then newly formed School of Geosciences. His brief was to amalgamate the pre-existing Departments of Geology and Geography, and to establish environmental geochemical research. Under his direction, the School of Geosciences grew to be the second largest earth science school in the country and secured more than $15 million in grants from the Australian Research Council.

Professor Chivas is recognised at both the international and national level for his outstanding and highly original research contributions in geochemistry.

Besides being at the forefront of some of the most significant theoretical questions concerning geochemical processes on planet Earth, Professor Chivas is a world leader in aspects of mass-spectrometry and has established from scratch several geochemistry laboratories during his career.

Professor Chivas was appointed as a Fellow of the Geological Society of Australia in 2001 and elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2010. He is also an active member of several other societies that include The Geochemical Society, Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of the Geological Society, London, and a member of The American Geophysical Union.

During his address at today’s graduation celebration, Professor Chivas offered some heartfelt advice to the audience.

“To make a lasting contribution to society, the community and beyond, you will need to step beyond fundamental technical expertise, necessary though that is, and take humanity’s best interest to heart,” he said.

“I encourage you to maintain the common touch and also harness your emotional intelligence.”