Alexander (Sandy) Elliott
Nomination for Dr Alexander (Sandy) Elliott, Principal Scientist in Catchment Processes at National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA). I (Anna Lintern) met Sandy at my first MODSIM in 2017 when I was a post-doc. Sandy joined the Society in 2007 (MODSIM2007) and has attended every MODSIM since 2013. This is no easy feat given that his government position in New Zealand limits his ability to travel internationally. Sandy’s current research centres on predicting the relationship between land use on water quality at catchment scale, and the impact of mitigation actions on water quality. He has authored 40 journal articles, 4 book chapters and 70 conference proceedings over the course of his career, with real-world science application evidenced by over 80 consulting reports. The catchment models developed or improved by Sandy’s research work have led to improvements in environmental outcomes. Key examples include: Sandy’s recent catchment-scale models have been used as part of planning processes for Hurunui and the Waikato River Basin. Sandy also led the development of CLUES, a catchment water quality model used extensively to assist policy development in New Zealand, with application to national policy assessment. He is highly sought after as an expert in the field of water quality modelling. He has provided expert advice to (i) regional councils on modelling mitigation measures for microbial contaminants, and (ii) the New Zealand Commissioner for the Environment on effects of land development and intensification at national scale. He has also developed models for a national Campylobacter risk assessment for the Ministry for Environment (New Zealand). He is also an excellent mentor to young researchers. I personally have benefited from his mentorship and I have personally heard from two other researchers at NIWA who have expressed their gratitude towards Sandy for his mentorship in their research careers. Sandy has tirelessly contributed to the Society. He was co-chair of the Water Quality Modelling Session at MODSIM 2017 and 2019, and chaired Catchment Water Quality Modelling sessions in MODSIM 2021 and 2023. In addition, he co-chaired a Water Quality Modelling workshop at MODSIM 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023. He is a founding member of the MSSANZ Water Quality Modelling Special Interest Group, and he organised two workshops as part of this SIG: the 2-day 2021 Water Quality Modelling Workshop (online), the 3-day 2023 Water Quality Modelling Workshop in Queenstown, New Zealand (in person). Sandy was the leader of the organising committee for this latter workshop, which had 42 attendees from across New Zealand, Australia and the UK. The SIG envisages that this will be the first of many workshops based in New Zealand for MSSANZ SIG members, to reach out more broadly to the New Zealand audience. He has also recently joined the MSSANZ Committee (non-executive member). Sandy is a highly valued member of the Society – his leadership in designing and co-convening the recent Water Quality Symposium in NZ demonstrates his commitment to the science of modelling, and water quality modelling in particular. It also demonstrates his dedication to the Society, showcasing the role that the Society can play in furthering the Society’s goal of building and bringing together modelling communities (developers and users) across NZ and Australia (and internationally).
Dr Jin Teng
I have known Dr Teng professionally for more than 20 years.
Dr. Jin Teng is a Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO Australia, where she plays a leading role in advancing research in hydroclimate and flood inundation modelling to solve a variety of practical water resources problems. Over the past two decades, her contribution to the advancement in the field has been recognized by very high citations, multiple awards and distinctions. During her career, she has published more than 130 publications, including ~60 peer reviewed papers. This includes multiple papers listed by the Web of Science as highly cited with a Web of Science h-index of 24 and 3,207 lifetime citations; Google Scholar h-index of 32 and 5,455 lifetime citations.
Dr Teng has made significant contributions to MSSANZ since 2005. She has published papers in 2005 and 2007 MODSIM congress proceedings and attended every MODSIM conferences in-person thereafter (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023). She started helping with sessions organising, including reviewing abstracts and papers, since 2009 and has been the main convenor of the session “Advances in flood inundation and tsunami modelling” in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 MODSIM congresses. She has also guest chaired some sessions over the years, especially for the hybrid conference in 2021. She has been actively involved in the judgement for student awards for every MODSIM she has attended. She was recognised by MSSANZ with Early Career Research Excellence Prizes in 2017 and was a keynote speaker at MODIM 2023.
In summary, Dr Teng is an internationally recognised expert in modelling and simulation and contributes enormously to advancement of the field. She is an outstanding collaborator and mentor, and a great leader and supporter of MSSANZ and MODSIM. Thus, I very strongly nominate Dr Jin Teng for the 2024 fellow of MSSANZ.
Min Chen
Min is a member of MSSANZ since 2018 and served as a Management Committee member from 2022 to 2023. He attended MODSIM since 2019 with his group and was on the Program Committee and Editorial Board for MODSIM 2021 and MODSIM 2023. In both conferences he was the lead convenor of stream C. In 2023, he introduced the cooperation between OMF and MSSANZ. He is also very active in promoting MSSANZ and the MODSIM-Conference in China. For example, he organized the Nanjing-based activities for MSSANZ’s 50th anniversary celebrations and shared many MSSANZ-related conference invitations and news through the EMS official WeChat account to attract Chinese scholars. Min is a Vice President of iEMSs and has continuously supported and fostered international collaboration and made a tangible contribution to MODSIM and MSSANZ, and hence fulfills, in our opinion, the criterion of “Unselfish dedication to promoting the aims of the Society”. Min is an outstanding scholar and co-editor in chief of Environmental Modelling & Software. His contributions to the advancement of science in environmental modelling and software can clearly be considered “outstanding contributions to modelling and simulation.” See the attached CV for a full list of his publications and scientific achievements.