New Fulbright scholars at Melbourne

Two researchers from the United States have arrived at the University of Melbourne ready to get to work on research projects looking at engineering models of turbulent flows, and the influence of Celtic folk traditions on Tasmanian music.

“When I visited Australia a year ago, I was surprised to find I was already familiar with a large number of the tunes popular there,” says Sytske Hillenius (pictured). A violinist, Ms Hillenius is a recent Graduate from the College of Charleston. She will spend 18 months in Australia examining the musical and social history of folk dance and music in Tasmania.

“[Early Tasmanian] music comes out of a Celtic tradition from immigrants and prisoners shipped to Australia, similar to the influx of Irish settlers in the Appalachian region of the United States from which my own folk music background originates,” she says.

Conducted in collaboration with the Folk Dance community in Tasmania and the University of Melbourne, Ms Hillenius’ research will focus on Celtic musical traditions and their influence on Tasmanian music as well as the multicultural influences on the traditions from the many immigrants to Tasmania.

“The project will examine the musical and social history of a transplanted but now assimilated tradition in Tasmania, the destination of many of the earliest settlers and convicts,” she says

“I will also investigate current musical practices and how they have been affected by and interact with the Global Celtic Sound – music stemming from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Brittany that has become globalised through colonisation and media development.”

During her Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship Ms Hillenius will speak with musicians and dancers from the community about their own understanding of the traditions and what influences them personally. To share the results of her work, she will develop a website for the community and a printed tune book.

The prestigious Fulbright program is the largest educational scholarship of its kind, created by US Senator J William Fulbright and the US Government in 1946. Aimed at promoting mutual understanding through educational exchange, it operates between the US and 155 countries. In Australia, the scholarships are funded by the Australian and US Governments and corporate partners, and administered by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission in Canberra.

Charles Meneveau, a mechanical engineer from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University, is the 2012 Fulbright Senior Scholar. He will be working with colleagues at the University of Melbourne.

An internationally recognised expert in the engineering field of turbulence, he will use his Fulbright Scholarship tenure to explore a most challenging aspect of turbulence - its dual nature combining ordered and random fluid motion.

“Turbulent fluid motions affect many important processes, such as power production in wind farms, pollen dispersal, and drag on airplanes,” Professor Menevaeu says.

“Through analysis in a branch of fluid dynamics called turbulence research scientists are seeking to find out the optimal distance between wind turbines in a wind farm for maximum power extraction. How far apart should organic crops be planted from genetically modified crops to avoid cross-pollination? And how can we reduce the power lost due to frictional drag forces acting on airplanes, ships and cars?

“The new models will enable more trustworthy computer predictions of turbulent flows in places like wind farms, and in areas like pollen dispersion and similar distributions,” Professor Meneveau says.

The Professor’s past research has focused on models inspired by the random nature of turbulence. His time at Melbourne will give him the opportunity to develop and test new hybrid turbulence models, combining both random and coherent elements. The Melbourne group is at the international forefront studying turbulence’s coherent nature. 

www.fulbright.com.au