Melbourne University dean receives Belgian honour

Professor Iven Mareels, Dean of the School of Engineering at the University of Melbourne, has been made a Commander in the Order of the Crown of Belgium for services to engineering and science, writes the Melbourne Engineer’s Annie Rahilly. The honour was conferred by the Belgian ambassador to Australia, Patrick Renault. The Order of the Crown had only been awarded once in Australia; to Sir John Monash in 1919. “I am extremely pleased to have been awarded the Order of the Crown. As well as being a proud Belgian, I am also a proud Australian,” Mareels (pictured right) said. “I have been involved in the promotion of science, mathematics and engineering for most of my working life. I acknowledge we have come far in our understanding of the sciences but I know there is much more to do.” Mareels was born in Aalst; he obtained a Masters in electromechanical engineering from Ghent University in 1982 and a PhD in systems engineering from the Australian National University in Canberra in 1987. From 1996, he was a professor of electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Melbourne. In June 2007, he became dean of the Melbourne School of Engineering. He has received several awards in recognition of his research and teaching. He was a recipient of a 2008 Clunies Ross Award, Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering for his work on smart irrigation systems. He is fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in Australia, a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in the US, a member of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, a fellow of the Institute of Engineers in Australia, and a foreign member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts.