Amanda Barnard AM

FAIP FRSC FACS CP, Senior Professor, Deputy Director, and Computational Science Lead

Picture of Amanda Barnard AM

Research

Professor and Deputy Director Amanda Barnard’s research interests primarily lie in:

  • Applied machine learning and artificial intelligence
  • Data science and eResearch
  • Computational methods for the physical sciences, including theoretical development and simulation
  • Informatics applied to materials, nanotechnology and health
  • High performance computing

Biography

Professor Amanda Barnard is one of Australia’s most highly awarded computational scientists. She currently leads research at the interface of computational modeling, high performance supercomputing, and applied machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). She was awarded her BSc (Hons) in applied physics in 2000, her PhD in theoretical condensed matter physics in 2003, and DSc in 2020 from RMIT University. After graduating she accepted a Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory (USA, 2003-2005), and the prestigious Violette & Samuel Glasstone Fellow at the University of Oxford (UK) with an Extraordinary Research Fellowship at The Queen’s College (2005-2008). Prior to joining ANU she was an ARC QEII Fellow, Office of the Chief Executive (OCE) Science Leader, and then Chief Research Scientist in Data61 at CSIRO (2009-2020).

With more than 20 years experience in high performance computing and computational modeling and informatics, Prof Barnard sits on boards for various institutions. She has been recognised for leadership, and has been awarded in five scientific disciplines, and in 2022 was appointed a Member the Order of Australia (AM).

Activities

Honours & Awards

  • 2024 Fellow - Australian Computer Society (FACS), AUST
  • 2022 Member of the Order of Australia (AM) - Office of the Governor General, AUST
  • 2022 Certified Professional (CP) - Australian Computer Society, AUST
  • 2019 AMMA Medal - Association of Molecular Modellers of Australasia
  • 2018 Fellow - Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), UK
  • 2018 100 Woman of Chemistry - Royal Society of Chemistry, UK
  • 2017 Woman of Achievement - Black & White Foundation, Vision Australia, AUST
  • 2014 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory) - Foresight Institute, Palo Alto, USA
  • 2014 ACS Nano Lectureship (Asia-Pacific) - American Chemical Society, USA
  • 2012 Fellow - Australian Institute of Physics (FAIP), AUST
  • 2010 Distinguished Lecturer - IEEE, South Australia, AUST
  • 2010 UNSW Eureka Prize for Scientific Research - Australian Museum, AUST
  • 2010 Frederick White Prize - Australian Academy of Science, AUST
  • 2009 Chief’s Science Research Award - CSIRO Materials Science & Engineering, AUST
  • 2009 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year - Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science, Department of Innovation, Industry, Science & Research, AUST
  • 2009 Mercedes-Benz Australian Environmental Research Award - Banksia Foundation, AUST
  • 2009 Future Summit Leadership Award - Australian Davos Connection, AUST
  • 2009 Young Scientist Prize in Computational Physics - International Union of Pure and Applied Physics
  • 2009 J G Russell Award - Australian Academy of Science, AUST
  • 2008 Alumnus of the Year Award - RMIT University, AUST
  • 2008 Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship - Australia Research Council, AUST
  • 2008 L’Oreal Australia “For Women in Science” Award - L’Oreal - UNESCO, AUST
  • 2005 Extraordinary Junior Research Fellowship - The Queen’s College, Oxford, UK
  • 2005 Violette & Samuel Glasstone Fellowship - University of Oxford, UK
  • 2004 Innovation Award (Student Category) - RMIT University, AUST
  • 2004 University Research Prize - RMIT University, AUST
  • 2003 CNM Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship - Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), USA

Boards

  • Board of Directors, AgriFood Innovation Institute, AUST (2023 - current)
  • Strategic Advisor to the Board of Directors, Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre, AUST (2023 - current)
  • Independent Director, Board of Directors, New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI), NZ (2019 – current)
  • Advisory Board, Our Health in Our Hands (OHIOH), AUST (2019 – current)
  • Advisory Board, ChoiceFlows Inc., North Carolina, USA (2019 – current)
  • Academic Board, Australian National University (2021 – 2022)
  • Scientific Advisory Board, Centre for Biomedical Data Visualisation (BioViS), Garvan Institute, AUST (2017 – 2020)
  • External Advisory Board, AIBN Centre for Theoretical and Computational Molecular Science (CTCMS), University of Queensland, AUST (2014 – 2019)
  • Course Advisory Board (Masters program), Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe University, AUST (2015 – 2017)
  • External Advisory Board, Centre for the Study of Choice (CenSoC), University of Technology - Sydney (UTS), AUST (2011 – 2013)

Panels

  • Expert Panel, Advanced Grants (PE11), European Research Council, EU (2023 – current)
  • Expert Panel, Competitive Research Programme (CRP), National Research Foundation, Singapore (2019 – current)
  • College of Assessors, New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE), NZ (2019– current)
  • Selection Panel, Frederick White Medal, Australian Academy of Science (2019 – 2023)
  • Assessment Panel, New Zealand–Singapore Data Science Research Programmes, Innovation & Employment and Singapore Data Science Consortium (2020)
  • Assessment Panel, New Zealand Data Science Research Programmes, MBIE, NZ (2019)
  • Mid-term Review Panel, Centres of Research Excellence (CoREs, 10 in total), Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), NZ (2017)
  • Jury, L’Oréal For Women in Science Fellowships, AUST/NZ (2016 – 2020)
  • Panel of Expert Advisors (Physical Sciences), The Nature Index, Nature Publishing Group, UK (2013 – 2020)
  • Panel of Judges, Eureka Prize for Early Career Research, Australian Museum, AUST (2011 – 2016)

Committees

  • AI Flagship Scheme, National Computational Infrastructure, AUST (2023 – current)
  • Chair, Jubilee Joint Fellowship Program, Australian National University, AUST (2021 – current)
  • Chair, Pioneering Women Program, School of Computing, Australian National University, AUST (2021 – current)
  • Chair, Tenure Track Recruitment Committee & Panel, School of Computing, Australian National University, AUST (2021 – current)
  • Program Committee, Pawsey Supercomputing Centre for Extreme Scale Readiness (PaCER), AUST (2020 – current)
  • Chair, Higher Degree Scholarship Committee, School of Computing, Australian National University, AUST (2021 – 2023)
  • Chair, Australian Leadership Computing Grants (ALCG), National Computational Infrastructure, AUST (2019 – 2023)
  • Deputy Chair, Change Management Group, Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre Capital Refresh, AUST (2018 – 2023)
  • Materials Research Society (MRS) Award Nominations Subcommittee, USA (2019 – 2020)
  • Chair, User Reference Group, Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre Capital Refresh, AUST (2018 – 2020)
  • Chair, National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme (NCMAS), AUST (2018 – 2019)
  • Procurement Steering Committee, National Computational Infrastructure, AUST (2018 – 2019)
  • Data61 Executive Science & Technology Sub-Committee, CSIRO, AUST (2017 – 2018)
  • Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre Partner Allocation Scheme, AUST (2015 – 2019)
  • Data61 Rewards (Promotions) Committee, CSIRO, AUST (2017 – 2018)
  • Data61 Scholarship Committee (VIC/TAS/WA, NSW/SA), Data61, CSIRO, AUST (2016 – 2018)
  • Athena Early Adopters Committee, Pawsey Research Supercomputing Centre, AUST (2017)
  • Deputy Chair, National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme (NCMAS), AUST (2016 – 2017)
  • Pawsey Research Supercomputing Uptake Strategy Group, AUST (2015 – 2016)
  • National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme (NCMAS), AUST (2012 – 2016)

Editorial Boards

  • Editorial Advisory Board, Advanced Intelligent Discovery, Wiley‐VCH (2024 – current)
  • Guest Editor, Special Issue on Real‐Time Control Decisions using Machine Learning, Mach. Learn. Eng., IOP Publishing (2024 – current)
  • Editorial Advisory Board, Matter, Cell Press (2021 – current)
  • Editorial Advisory Board, Advanced Theory and Simulation, Wiley-VCH (2021 – current)
  • Executive Editorial Board, Journal of Physics: Materials, IOP Publishing (2018 – current)
  • Editor-in-Chief, Nano Futures, IOP Publishing (2021 – 2024)
  • Executive Editorial Board, Nano Futures, IOP Publishing (2018 – 2024)
  • Editorial Advisory Board, Nanoscale, Royal Society of Chemistry (2013 – 2024)
  • Guest Editor, Special Issue on Artificial Intelligence in Electrochemical Energy Storage, Batteries & Supercaps, Wiley-VCH (2022)
  • Guest Editor, Special Issue on Advanced Material Modelling, Machine Learning and Multiscale Simulation, Journal of Physics: Materials, IOP Publishing (May 2019)
  • Senior Associate Editor, Science Advances, AAAS (2014 – 2017)
  • Guest Editor, Special Issue on Modelling for the Nanoscale, Nanoscale, Royal Society of Chemistry (February 2012)
  • Guest Editor, Special Issue on CVD Growth of Nanodiamond, Advanced Materials-CVD, Wiley (September 2008)
  • Guest Editor, Special Issue on Theory and Simulation of Nanomorphology, Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience (March 2007)
  • Associate Editor, Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, American Scientific Publishers (2005 – 2011)

Conference Organising

  • Workshops on Computational Science (WCS), 25th International Conference on Computational Science (ICCS), Singapore, 2025 (Program Committee)
  • Track G: Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Methods for Accelerated Materials Discovery and Advancement, International Conference on Modern Materials and Technologies (CIMTEC), Montecatini Terme, Italy, 2024 (International Advisory Board)
  • Symposium CT05: Artificial Intelligence and Automation for Materials Design, Materials Research Society (MRS) Spring Meeting, Seattle, USA, 2021 (Co-Chair)
  • NANO2020, Melbourne, AUST, 2020 (Co-Chair) [Cancelled due to COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Symposium F: Computational Materials, 20th International Union of Materials Research Societies International Conference in Asia (IUMRS-ICA), Perth, AUST, 2019 (Chair)
  • International Conference on New Diamond and Nano Carbons (NDNC 2018), Flagstaff, USA, 2018 (International Advisory Board)
  • Australian Symposium on Computationally Enhanced Materials Design (ACEMD), Sydney, AUST, 2018 (Program Committee)
  • Symposium E: Established & Emerging Nanocolloids: from Synthesis & Characterization to Applications II, European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) Spring Meeting, Lille, France, 2016 (International Advisory Board)
  • Symposium HHH: Nanodiamonds - Fundamentals and Applications, Materials Research Society (MRS) Spring Meeting, Phoenix, USA, 2016 (Co-Chair)
  • Symposium: Computational Nanotechnology, International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICONN), Canberra, AUST, 2016 (Co-Chair)
  • Conference on Computational Physics 2015 (CCP2015), Guwahati, India, 2015 (International Advisory Board)
  • CSIRO Advanced Materials and Intelligent Processing} (CAMIP), Melbourne, AUST, 2015 (Chair)
  • CSIRO Manufacturing Expo 2014, Melbourne, AUST, 2014 (Steering Committee/Scientific Program Co-Chair)
  • Conference on Computational Physics 2014 (CCP2014), Boston, USA, 2014 (International Advisory Board)
  • Symposium: Theoretical and Computational Molecular Science and Technology, NanoBio AUST (includes 5th International NanoBio Conference & 3rd International Conference on BioNano Innovation), Brisbane, AUST, 2014 (Co-Chair)
  • Symposium — Computational Nanotechnology, International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICONN), Adelaide, AUST, 2014 (Co-Chair)
  • Recent Progress in Graphene Research 2013 (RPGR13), Tokyo, Japan, 2013 (International Advisory Board)
  • Conference on Computational Physics 2013 (CCP2013), Moscow, Russia, 2013 (International Advisory Board)
  • 1st International Materials Informatics Conference, Melbourne, AUST, 2013 (International Advisory Board)
  • Conference on Computational Physics 2012 (CCP2012), Kobe, Japan, 2012 (International Advisory Board)
  • Australia-India Joint Symposium on Smart Nanomaterials, Melbourne, AUST, 2011 (Program Committee)
  • Conference on Computational Physics 2011 (CCP2011), Gatlinburg, USA, 2011 (International Advisory Board)
  • MM2010: Advances in Biomolecular and Materials Modelling, Parkville, AUST, 2010 (Program Committee)
  • International Academic Conference on Nanotechnology Software Tools, Singapore, 2010 (International Advisory Board)
  • Symposium F: Carbon Based Nanostructured Materials, International Conference on Processing & Manufacturing of Advanced Materials (THERMEC), Berlin, Germany, 2009 (Co-Chair)
  • Symposium K: Materials Modelling and Design for Property Enhancement, International Union of Materials Research Societies - International Conference on Electronic Materials (IUMRS-ICEM), Sydney, AUST, 2008 (Co-Chair)
  • Symposium V: Crystal Shape Control and Shape Dependent Properties: Methods, Mechanism, Theory and Simulation, MRS Spring Meeting, San Francisco, USA, 2008 (Co-Chair)
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