Academy Fellow, Professor Michelle Simmons FAA, has been announced as the L’oreal–UNESCO Asia–Pacific Woman in Science for 2017.
The UNSW Australia scientist is recognised for her ‘pioneering contributions to quantum and atomic electronics, constructing atomic transistors en route to quantum computers’. Professor Simmons leads the six-university ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology.
In 2005 Professor Simmons was awarded the Pawsey Medal by the Academy and was elected one of the youngest Fellows of the Academy in 2006. In 2012 she was named NSW Scientist of the Year and in 2014 became a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science. In 2015, Professor Simmons was awarded the Academy’s Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal and won the Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science.
Professor Simmons joins four other women scientists representing Africa and the Arab States, Europe, Latin America and North America. Each of the awardees will receive €100,000, to be presented in Paris in March 2017.
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