Dr Adi Paterson, the Chief Executive of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), has been named Professional Engineer of the Year in the 2012 Sydney Division Engineering Excellence Awards.
He was surprised and delighted to be advised of the honour after being nominated.
As Chief Executive since 2009, Dr Paterson has overseen a major revitalisation of ANSTO, with several new projects across the site such as the construction of the Centre for Accelerator Science and major extensions to the Minerals Division and OPAL reactor building.
Most recently, a $168 million plan was announced to build a nuclear medicine manufacturing plant at Lucas Heights that will help meet global health needs, along with a collocated waste treatment plant to showcase the Australian developed Synroc technology.
This project alone will create around 250 new jobs.
“Engineering is the basis of all of our work here, fromnuclear medicine production to radiocarbon dating. It is crucial for our infrastructure to be up to date and this is driving growth at ANSTO.
"Our number of employees has risen from 920 to more than 1100, and we are also providing numerous construction jobs,” Dr Paterson said.
“I was greatly honoured to receive the award and would like to thank those who put my name forward.”
Dr Paterson is one of hundreds of qualified engineers working at ANSTO.