Your Location Within Site:
Mike Andrews
IRL senior scientist Mike Andrews was recently promoted to the ranks of Distinguished Scientist for his work on silicon and acoustic sensors that have pushed the technological boundaries of imaging and detecting. These include sensors used to measure the Martian atmosphere and others that have helped raise the quality of New Zealand agricultural produce by improving fruit storage and analysing the quality of products such as meat and timber.
Mike Andrews
Mike was awarded a Royal Society Science and Technology Medal in 1999. More recently, his expertise in wave physics, materials and complex signal processing led to the development of acoustic tools to improve the efficiency and exports from New Zealand’s $5 billion forestry sector, and to create a new export industry in wood quality measurement tools. The impact of this technology is such that over 50,000 logs are tested daily in New Zealand, greater numbers internationally, and many structural sawmills qualify all logs with these devices.
Mike’s career in New Zealand began in 1971, working as an atmospheric physicist in the DSIR. For 10 years he probed plasma motions in deep space, studied the chemistry of our upper atmosphere and identified the structure and origins of the winter polar ionosphere.
In the 1980s he pioneered the development of silicon technology in New Zealand; building a silicon chip plant, cultivating local expertise and fabricating custom chips that enabled development of leading edge products. This mix of fundamental physics, materials, electronics and packaging expertise underpins the New Zealand electronics industry to this day.
Mike’s research in the early 1990s, exploring the new field of silicon sensors, forms the basis of course material still in use at Caltech and other prestigious institutions overseas.
Mike continues to be a visionary in his work. He is currently applying his fundamental physics knowledge in a new area for IRL, medical optical sensing, by pioneering the development of niche clinical technology to be used in Skin Imaging. This is now a major FRST[?] bid (6M over four years) in partnership with Professor Peter Hunter, Auckland Bioengineering Institute.
In addition, Mike’s latest work on laser speckle for peripheral blood flow measurement has attracted attention from the medical community and venture capitalists as the technology can potentially fulfil a significant need in diabetic foot ulcer screening and management.