Congratulations to Professor Michelle Coote on being awarded The HG Smith Medal for 2016. The HG Smith Medal is the premier research award of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and is awarded for “the development of some branch of chemical science; this contribution will be judged by research work published or accepted for publication during the ten years, or equivalent relative to opportunity, immediately preceding the award". 

Understanding how and why chemical reactions occur has always been of huge importance. In particular, chemical reactions are essential to the development of many of the materials that surround us such as plastics and functional materials.
While we have great knowledge of these processes we still have a long way to go. One researcher at the Research School of Chemistry — Professor Michelle Coote — alongside her research team, are making leaps and bounds in our understanding of chemical reactions. 

ANU has won $500,000 in new funding for innovation in the 2016-17 CBR Innovation Development Fund.
The funding will support four ANU projects, from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Research School of Chemistry and Research School of Physics and Engineering.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt said capturing more than a third of the $1.45 million funding recognises the work on innovation being done at ANU.