NICTA's Byron Wicks wins inaugural Fulbright Victoria postdoctoral Scholarship

A prestigious Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholarship has been awarded to NICTA’s Byron Wicks. NICTA, Australia’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research Centre of Excellence, is delighted to recognise this outstanding achievement, which will see Byron take up postdoctoral research in electronic engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, from July this year.

Byron’s study at Berkeley will build on his work at NICTA’s Victoria Research Laboratory, where he contributes to the Gigabit Wireless Project. Last year, this team produced the world-first "GiFi" chip, a transceiver integrated on a single chip that operates at 60GHz on CMOS. Byron’s work will also inform the collaboration with the Centre for Eye Research Australia, the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and the Bionic Ear Institute, aimed at developing a "bionic" eye.

"Receiving this award presents me with a wonderful opportunity to go to the US and study with the world’s leading researchers in my field," Byron said. "It also allows me to develop skills that I can bring back to Australia and contribute to our research community here."

Byron is one of two winners of the inaugural Fulbright Victoria Scholarship, valued at up to $40,000. The Scholarship was established in 2008 by the Victorian State Government and Victorian universities to support research of benefit to the state.

Byron is an alumnus of the University of Melbourne, with a PhD in Engineering in the field of high-speed wireless communications. NICTA supported Byron’s PhD under its NICTA-enhanced PhD program. Byron also holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and a Bachelor of Science.

The Chargé D’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy, Mr Daniel Clune, and the Premier of Tasmania, the Hon. David Bartlett MP, presented the twenty-three 2009 Fulbright Scholars with their scholarships at the Annual Fulbright Presentation Dinner at Moorilla Estate in Hobart last night.

Document(s): NICTA's Byron Wicks wins inaugural Fulbright Victoria postdoctoral Scholarship
Contact: Dorothy Kennedy
Phone: +61 2 9376 2098 or +61 488 229 687
Email: dorothy.kennedy@nicta.com.au