MATERIALS AUSTRALIA
CMatP Profile: Dr Leon Prentice for SDI, and undertook a PhD in biomaterials at the same time.
Who or what has influenced you most professionally? It’s difficult to give credit to any one person. Different people have influenced me in many ways. At CESL, an older engineer would walk by with a casual gait and his hands in his pockets but calculate in his head the heat load in a titanium pressure oxidation autoclave by the volume of steam condensate we collected. (“Thirteen BTUs…”) He taught me that understanding how things work can be readily coupled with basic heat balances to get quick meaningful answers.
Where do you work? Describe your job. I recently moved from CSIRO Manufacturing to take up the role of Chief Research and Development Officer at SDI—a biomedical manufacturing company in Bayswater, Melbourne. SDI employs close to 400 people around the world (including a significant sales network), exports 90 per cent of its production, and is one of the global leaders in dental restorative materials and related products. My role oversees research and development, builds the overall Innovation strategy of the company, and manages some of its key external research collaborations.
What inspired you to choose a career in materials science and engineering? I’ve always loved materials. They’re the perfect interface between physics, chemistry, and engineering! I considered the pure option – Materials Engineering at Monash – after high school. In fact, my brother’s friend gave me a Materials Engineering Student Society t-shirt while I was in Year 11, but Melbourne University called more loudly. I started in Mechanical Engineering, moved to Chemical, did a double degree with Physics, and headed mostly into research. After undergraduate study I started working in research and development (R&D) 16 | SEPTEMBER 2021
At CSIRO, Mark taught me that keeping the collaborators and clients front of mind meant thinking about what the work would mean for them, and how it could make life easier. Kathie taught me that people are different, and that consideration and mindfulness go a very long way in building teamwork.
Which has been the most challenging job/ project you’ve worked on to date and why? Probably one I can’t say much about, but it involved critical deadlines, novel chemistry and process equipment, and complex professional relationships! I’ll have to cite another. Soon after taking on the Metal Industries Research Program at CSIRO, we faced challenges that in some ways were existential queries about the Program. I worked with my leadership team (and beyond) to sharpen our strategy and focus, pursue some major opportunities, build connections, make the case for new staff (including post-docs), and successfully push for a Science Leader. For a while there, I didn’t think metals had a long-term future in CSIRO, but we made some profound changes and advances.
What does being a CMatP mean to you? A badge of professionalism. It means someone else has had a look at what I can do, measured it against established criteria (that are beyond a pass mark at university), and said I measure up. BACK TO CONTENTS
More than that, though, are two other factors – a commitment to furthering the profession, and the professional network. On the first of those, it means encouraging others to get into the field, by setting an example of what a career pathway can be, exemplifying excellence in professional ethics and technical capability, and mentoring and encouraging students and early career engineers. On the network side, it’s good to see others at events or in newsletters, and a real pleasure to connect at conferences or on projects that bring our capabilities and interests together.
“I like seeing the results of research scaled up, implemented, and achieving a benefit beyond the commercial.” What gives you the most satisfaction at work? Seeing processes and products become a commercial reality, making a real difference to the world. Sometimes research can focus on a problem that’s fundamental or esoteric – the results may be great, but in the end the impact may be incidental or very far in the future. I like seeing the results of research scaled up, implemented, and achieving a benefit beyond the commercial. The ‘beyond commercial’ is really important to me – a large part of what I’ve worked on professionally has a real environmental or healthcare benefit. For example, my first ever ‘real’ engineering project, at BHP, was in lead (Pb) recycling; the CSIRO MagSonic™ process could reduce CO2 emissions WWW.MATERIALSAUSTRALIA.COM.AU
