Honorary doctorates for scientist and entrepreneur

university-of-canterbury

Thu Jan 29 2009 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Honorary doctorates for scientist and entrepreneur

Thursday, 29 January 2009, 4:41 pm
Press Release: University of Canterbury

Two University of Canterbury alumni — one an internationally renowned radiation scientist and the other a leading investor and contributor to technological and scientific endeavour — will receive honorary doctorates from their alma mater this year.

Dr Andrew McEwan, former director of the National Radiation Laboratory (NRL), will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree while an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree will be conferred on Neville Jordan, President of the Royal Society of New Zealand. The doctorates will be conferred during the University’s April graduation ceremonies.

Dr McEwan, who graduated from Canterbury University with a BSc (Hons) in 1963 and has a PhD in medical physics from Cambridge University (1969) and a Diploma in Health Administration from Massey University (1982), has made significant contributions to radiation physics and radiation safety over the past 40 years.

After completing his degree at Canterbury University he took up a position as a scientist with the NRL, an association that spanned almost 40 years until his retirement in 2002.

During his time at the NRL, Dr McEwan served as its director for 13 years from 1984, was a member of the Radiation Protection Advisory Council (1984–2002), served on a sub-committee of the New Zealand Atomic Committee (1980-86) which reviewed berthing criteria for nuclear-powered ships, was team leader of a NRL radiation survey of Christmas Island in 1981 and was a member of the South Pacific Scientific Mission to Mururoa Atoll in 1983.

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From 1989 to 1994 he was chairman of an international scientific advisory panel that advised the Marshall Islands government on a nationwide radiological study. From 1996 to 1998 he served as chairman of a task group for a study of the radiological status of Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls co-ordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and in 1999 he was a consultant for the IAEA in an evaluation of the radiological status of the former French nuclear test sites in Algeria. He has also been a member of many IAEA peer review missions to Asian countries evaluating radiation protection infrastructures.

From 1997 to 2004 Dr McEwan was a member of a standing committee of the International Commission on Radiological Protection and is a Fellow of the Australasian Radiation Protection Society (serving as president 2000-2002), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He has also helped teach postgraduate courses in medial physics at UC and recently wrote a book, Nuclear New Zealand: Sorting fact from fiction, looking at the scientific facts about radiation and its safety.

Mr Jordan graduated from UC with a BE in electrical engineering in 1967.

After graduating he worked as an air traffic control engineer for the Department of Civil Aviation then took up a position with IBM. In 1976 he set up his own telecommunications company, MAS Technology Ltd, which by 1996 employed 240 staff in 15 offices worldwide. In 1997 MAS Technology became the first, and remains the only New Zealand private company to list on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

In 1999 Mr Jordan founded private equity company Endeavour Capital Ltd which provides investment capital to science and technology companies, and has since gone on to establish numerous science, engineering and technology-based companies.

Mr Jordan has served on several ministerial science and technology committees and has been on the board of AgResearch (1993-1998), the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (1999-2001) and the Prime Minister’s Growth and Innovation Advisory Board (2002-2005). Currently President of the Royal Society of New Zealand, he was recently appointed Chair of the National Information and Communications Technology Australia (NICTA) Review Panel by the Australian Government.

He is also a laureate of both the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame and the Hi-Tech Hall of Fame.

A Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Professional Engineers NZ, in 1997 Mr Jordan received the Governor General’s Supreme Award for Exporting. In 1998 he was awarded the United Kingdom Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) Kirby Medal and the following year became a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM).

ENDS

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