President’s piece Welcome to the first Taylor & Francis version of Preview. I would like to welcome our new publication partners and thank Lisa Worrall, Mark Lackie, Ted Tyne, Danny Burns and the Publications Committee for their herculean efforts during this time. I ask Members to be patient with Taylor & Francis while we are in this transition phase. Don’t hesitate to let us know of any issues, problems or difficulties, just email the Secretariat secretary@aseg. org.au and they will direct your concern to the right person. A big thank you to CSIRO Publishing for the many years we have worked with them, particularly Helen Pavlatos who has been Preview’s Production Editor for the last eight years. Helen has helped Preview Editors and the ASEG reach our valued Members, contributors and sponsors, with her professionalism, patience and generosity. In December 2018 Minister Andrews announced the sixty successful women selected to take part in the second round of the Superstars of Science,Technology (https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia. org.au/), Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programme.The programme supports women working in the STEM sector and gives them the opportunity to share their passion with the Australian community.The successful participants in this year’s cohort represent some of Australia’s most inspirational scientists, technologists and educators. Earth scientists were named superstars of STEM for the first time, and one of“ours”, a geophysicist, was awarded this honour. Dr Kate Selway, ARC Future Fellow with the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Macquarie University, shines brightly and represents geophysics in this illustrious cohort.We will ask Kate to keep us up to date during her two years as a star.The other earth scientists recognised include Dr Steph McLennan, a geologist working with the Australian Antarctic Science programme in Geoscience Australia; DrTeresa Ubide, a volcanologist from the University of Queensland and DrVerity Normington, a geologist from the NorthernTerritory Geological Survey. Please see the full list and their biographies at https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia. org.au/what-we-do/superstars-of-stem/ Congratulations to all the outstanding scientists selected! The MinEx CRC announced their new directors in December 2018, and there are a couple of familiar names: John Emerson, Lindsay Gilligan, Kelly Keates, Linda Kristjanson, and Peter Rossdeutscher. Existing Board Members are Chris Pigram (Chair), Erica Smyth and Andrew Bailey (CEO). The MinEx CRC, is a $218 million research collaboration aimed at developing technologies to increase the discovery of new mineral deposits. Find out more at https:// minexcrc.com.au/ I look forward with interest to seeing how MinEx progresses over the next 5–10 years. At this time of year the ASEG State Branches hold their AGMs. I would like to send a big thank you to all the Branch committees and office bearers from 2018 and wish the incoming committees all the best. April will see the Federal Annual AGM, which will be held in Canberra. Dr Steve Hill, Chief Scientist at Geoscience Australia, will be the guest speaker at the AGM and there are plans underway to have the talk live-streamed.The Federal Executive will be asking for your support to make minor changes to the Constitution around being able to vote electronically, details will be sent out soon via email.The call to nominate for the Federal Executive is in this edition of Preview. If you are interested in joining the Federal Executive, or would like to nominate someone, just email Megan fedsec@aseg.org.au and put those names forward. Talking about nominating, please nominate a mate, a colleague, a mentor, or a geophysical guru for one of the ASEG awards. The webpage https://www.aseg. org.au/about-aseg/honours-awards has all the details to help you nominate. If you want a hand, just email me and I can get you started. One of the awards, the ASEG Service Certificate, is“for distinguished service by a Member to the ASEG, through involvement in and contributions to State Branch committees, Federal Committees, Publications, and Conferences”. Another, the Lindsay Ingall Memorial Award, is “for the promotion of geophysics to the wider community”. Andrew Mutton is the Honours and Awards Chair. He does a marvellous job, with his committee, of overseeing the awards process. He is also a good source of information, and very able to give you some advice on how to nominate someone. He can be contacted at awards@aseg.org.au. Remember to get your abstracts in for the AEGC 2019 Data to Discover Conference in Perth 2–5 September 2019. Tim Dean (ASEG) and the AEGC organisers have a cracker programme. Have a look at the updated website http://2019.aegc.com. au. Remember register early, submit an abstract and book into a workshop or two. I hope to see you there! Heather Smith PSM Secretary of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science and Marina Costelloe at the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) Women in Leadership event late 2018. Marina Costelloe ASEG President president@aseg.org.au 2 PREVIEW ASEG news President’s piece FEBRUARY 2019