Citation

Professor Kerry Landman is an Applied Mathematician committed to cross-disciplinary research. She graduated with a PhD from the University of Melbourne in 1979, and subsequently has acquired a distinguished publication record with a total of 116 peer-reviewed papers in highly-regarded international journals. Her research reflects a life-time career devoted to the development of Applied Mathematics in Australia, and in particular to the application of mathematical modelling to industrial, environmental, biological and medical areas. The excellence of her research career and her long-standing support for ANZIAM and its aspirations form the basis for the award of the ANZIAM Medal.

Research excellence

Professor Landman has made fundamental and significant contributions to the understanding of physical and biological processes across a remarkably broad spectrum of applications. She has successfully exploited a wide variety of mathematical techniques, and has pioneered their use in numerous disparate applications. Her work encompasses:

• Modelling biological cell invasion which has provided a fundamental understanding of the embryonic development of the nervous system in the intestine. She and her collaborators have made major advances to the understanding of Hirschsprung’s Disease. Her work in the mathematical modelling has provided much insight and has greatly clarified how the disease is caused.
• Mathematical study of patterns on growing domains is a current research topic of considerable moment. While previous studies had been limited to slow growth, Kerry has pioneered the study of cell migration patterns on rapidly-growing domains. These results have crucial implications to understanding and mitigating embryonic developmental defects.
• Discrete cellular automata models has been one of her research topics since 2007. Kerry together with Professor Barry Hughes and their group have made significant advances in understanding the average properties of agent-based models through the approximating partial differential equations.
• Industrial applications have continued to motivate her principal research activities in Applied Mathematics. Her work, jointly with Professor White, has made fundamental contributions to predicting the performance of solid-liquid separation processes (gravity thickeners and pressure filters) and to characterizing fundamental material properties of solid-liquid systems. This particular work has made a significant contribution to environmental waste management, water treatment and minerals processing. Her research has developed a generalized approach to the understanding and prediction of solid-liquid separation procedures, and she has developed new numerical techniques to handle the difficult moving interfaces that evolve in flocculated suspensions.

Exemplary leadership in science

In summary, Professor Kerry Landman has established and led research collaborations across engineering, industry and biological fields for over 30 years. She has a proven record of achievement in the advocacy and public promotion of mathematics through partnership building and collaboration. As a role model, she has demonstrated influence across the scientific community.

While an ARC Australian Professorial Fellow 2008-2012, she was also an Invited Speaker at the 2011 International Congress for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) in Vancouver, being the sole invitee from our region. Professor Landman is an exceptional supervisor of higher degree students in the mathematical sciences. To date, she has supervised nine Doctoral students and ten Post-Doctoral appointments, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in academe and industry. Many of her students are women, who she has encouraged and mentored.

She has an exemplary record of leadership in a generation of collaborative research programs; this is particularly demonstrated through her role as the Director of the Mathematics-in-Industry Study Group (MISG) during the period 1993-1997. As Director, she provided strong leadership to the Applied Mathematics community, bridging the interface between the University of Melbourne and the community, and expanding the mathematics profession's public profile through extensive media coverage. She played a large role in developing MISG into the professional organization that is today recognized nationally and internationally.

Her Curriculum Vitae shows much other service to Applied Mathematics and the ANZIAM organization, including membership of the ANZIAM Journal Editorial Board since 2010. Over her career Professor Kerry Landman has been a constant supporter of ANZIAM, and she is recognized for the excellence of her numerous presentations at the ANZIAM conferences.

For all these contributions, Professor Kerry Landman is to be awarded the ANZIAM Medal for 2014.