June 2005
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Professor's modelling career takes him to Tassie
Professor Tom Hardy jokes that he is a major cause of worldwide recessions - each time he graduated, he emerged after the ceremony to a crashed economy and a jobs wasteland. But his luck changed recently when he was headhunted to become the Vice President (Academic and Research) at the Australian Maritime College in Tasmania. Tom grew up in Ohio, where he studied liberal arts before moving into teaching. He arrived in Australia in 1974, and in a tropical change from chilly Ohio was posted to teach first grade students at Palm Island State School. Here he met two of the loves of his life – Townsville, and his future wife Cheryl. Back in the US, Tom decided he wanted a career involving “more intellect and less gut,” and so retrained in civil engineering. After a spell in the Oregon State Highway Department, he discovered a passion for understanding the physical processes of the sea, working at the Coastal Engineering Research Centre in Vicksburgh, Mississippi. Tom decided to specialise in coastal modelling, and returned to Townsville to study for a PhD at James Cook University in the mid 1980s. Making himself totally indispensable to JCU’s engineering department, he became a lecturer, professor and eventually Associate Dean of Engineering. Tom pioneered the use of computer modelling to investigate coastal processes such as waves, currents, cyclones and tidal surges. As Project Leader with CRC Reef, he has increased our understanding of the physical processes affecting the Great Barrier Reef and tropical coast, producing, among other things, an interactive atlas of the winds and waves of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. After almost 20 years in the tropics, Tom is now living in cooler Launceston, where he is in charge of teaching and research at the Australian Maritime College. The college was originally established to train seafarers. Now, it has diversified to offer naval architecture, ocean engineering, marine and offshore systems, and business administration of diverse maritime and fisheries organisations. Tom hopes to continue his links with CRC Reef, and to “get a little engineering in.” |
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CRC Reef Research Centre Ltd PO Box 772 Townsville
Queensland 4810 Australia
Telephone: 61 47298400
Facsimile: 6147298499
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