PROFESSOR SCOTT KABLE

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Fulbright Senior Scholar

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“Knowledge of new chemical pathways will lead to better understanding and control of combustion and alternative energy processes. These pathways will be studied using ultrafast techniques, which probe reactions at the speed the atoms themselves move.”

Professor Scott Kable, a Professor in Chemistry with The University of Sydney has won a 2009 Fulbright Senior Scholarship to visit the University of Wisconsin, Madison, for six months. He will carry out research into ultrafast photochemistry, which aims to understand in detail how complex chemical reactions unfold.

“In the same way that time-lapse photography of plants growing speeds up a very slow process to the point where we can make sense of it, the project I’m working on is looking at making a very fast process ‘slow’ enough so that we can understand it,” Scott said.

“This is important because if we can understand and model chemical reactions it could mean that ultimately we could modify and control them.”

Scott’s research is basic or fundamental research in an area that is rapidly expanding into diverse scientific fields. It has possible applications in a wide range of areas, such as more efficient solar energy generation, atmospheric processes and even molecules in space.

Scott said that the ultrafast photochemistry techniques are not currently practiced in Australia. The students and post-docs in Australia will clearly benefit from being trained in the latest ultrafast techniques.

“The outcomes of my program will be new research directions in ultrafast photochemistry and techniques being introduced to Australia. It will also lead to the sharing of education findings from both countries. Research and undergraduate students in both countries will benefit,” Scott said.

“The most immediate impact of the proposed program will be the new collaboration between the Crim group and my laboratory. This interaction will be on a daily basis and provide the most fertile environment for exchange of ideas and sharing of expertise.”

Scott is a graduate of Griffith University with a BSc and a PhD, and he also has a Grad Dip Bus Admin from QUT. He has won three University of Sydney "Excellence in Teaching Awards", a Carrick Program Award (National Teaching Award) and a Citation from Royal Australian Chemical Institute (service to physical chemistry). He is a Fellow of the RACI, has been JILA Fellow (University of Colorado) and was awarded the Le Fevre Prize (Aust. Academy of Science).