staying connected ISSUE 23 WINTER 2003_TANAKA TAKES SHAPE_ARE YOU A FRIEND REUNITED?_BUILDING A DREAM_DR TATIANA’S SEX ADVICE_PLUS ALL THE NEWS FROM YOUR ASSOCIATION IMPERIALmatters Alumni magazine of Imperial College London including the former Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, Royal Post-graduate Medical School, St Mary’s Hospital Medical School and Wye College. ISSUE 23 WINTER 2003 In this issue ... 8121418202228 REGULAR FEATURES ASSOCIATION 1 Editorial by Sir Richard Sykes 24 News from the chapters 2 Letters 28 Book reviews 29 Focus on alumni NEWS 32 News from around the world 4 News from Imperial 34 Obituaries 10 News from the faculties 37 Honours FEATURES 8 Putting on the glitz_Tanaka Business School nears completion 9 Imperial in the city_the Citigroup Innovation Scholar shares his plans for 2004 12 The man who hates computers_An interview with the founder of Britain’s favourite website 14 To boldly go…_Nigel Bell looks back on 25 years of the Centre for Environmental Technology 16 IDEA League_A round up of the summer 2003 sports event 17 Building a dream_Imperial’s civil engineers are let loose on their very own building site 18 Healing through the Arts_An innovative approach to the healing process from the Chelsea and Westminster 20 Were you an IAESTE trainee?_An update on the international student exchange programme now in its 55th year 21 Mark Walport bows out_A new Director for the Welcome Trust 22 Dr Olivia Judson’s animal magic_Sex advice for all creation IMPERIALmatters DESIGNED AND PRODUCED BY IMPERIAL COLLEGE COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE OFFICE OF ALUMNI AND DEVELOPMENT EDITOR TANYA REED MANAGING EDITOR/PRODUCTION MANAGER LIZ CARR PUBLISHER LIZ GREGSON DESIGN JEFF EDEN PRINT PROLITHO DISTRIBUTION MERCURY INTERNATIONAL IMPERIAL MATTERS IS PUBLISHED TWICE A YEAR. THE NEXT ISSUE WILL BE PUBLISHED IN JUNE 2004 AND THE COPY DEADLINE FOR THIS ISSUE IS FRIDAY 23 APRIL 2004 ADDRESS FOR MAGAZINE ENQUIRIES: LIZ GREGSON, OFFICE OF ALUMNI AND DEVELOPMENT, IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON SOUTH KENSINGTON CAMPUS, ROOM 303 SHERFIELD BUILDING, LONDON SW7 2AZ [email protected] 2003 FRONT COVER: JAN CHLEBIK © IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE, . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. editorial DEAR ALUMNUS international place. Our students and staff Welcome to the Winter 2003 issue of your come from over 130 countries and we are magazine, Imperial Matters. Within these 37 proud of our global connections. pages, you will find news and features about By 2004, we shall not only have a College life and people. You will also find news Business School to rival the best in the about each other, and this is something I know world. We shall also have an entrance to the you value. College worthy of our students, staff, But at the turn of the year, I feel that I neighbours, and you – our alumni. should give you an Imperial insight into a news My very best wishes for a peaceful and story that’s set to run and run – the financing successful 2004. of universities. It was about this time last year that the whole issue became headline news. Serious issues of underfunding for teaching and infrastructure became embroiled in a vociferous political JAN CHLEBIK debate about student top-up fees. The real issue as I see it is not about costs, fees or finances. It’s all about values, self-determination and responsibility. At Imperial we are only interested in attracting the best students and staff from around the world and in developing their talent and potential. We will never change those values or lower our standards to suit the current political will. We will always admit students on merit and never on ability to pay. In that regard we are building our new scholarship fund to support those bright and able students who are less able to afford whatever fees may be in place. You can read more about this in building the connection, the insert that accompanies this issue. We have only to review the enterprise and achievements of our students and staff to prove the value of an Imperial College education. Sixty four civil engineering students created a real life construction project in only five days. Read about this on page 17. During the year, our staff have also continued to win national and international awards for excellence in their fields. Our congratulations to them all (page 37). Our challenges for Imperial are based on providing the best value for our students and staff. We have to create the conditions that will encourage them to come and work and play here. This means that refurbishment and new buildings will be a feature of our lives for years to come. The projects this work will support, however, are exciting and allow us to capitalise on our unique ability to research at the interfaces between subjects. Many of you will know about the new Tanaka Business School and College entrance on Exhibition Road. A hint of its future scale and splendour is now evident to the world. Staff and students will be working in that building next Spring and you can see a photo essay outlining its genesis on page 8. You are members of the Imperial College Association, a worldwide organisation of 80,000. The Association will keep you in touch with other alumni, staff, students and supporters and update you on College life. I encourage you to stay involved and to become lifelong partners in this network. You, as graduates of our world class institution, will make your contribution to a global society. Imperial is a genuinely IMPERIALMATTERS_WINTER 2003 1 letters letters Imperial Matters welcomes letters for publication, by post or email. We reserve the right to edit them to meet space constraints. Unless you request otherwise, letters may also appear on the Imperial College alumni website as a part of the online edition of Imperial Matters. These are two of many comments we have received Imperial Matters under about the magazine. Your feedback, negative or the microscope positive, truly does help us to steer the direction of Imperial Matters and helps us to provide what we Dear Editor think you would like to read about. It is valued. I have had some difficulty and reservation about writing to you about We particularly thank Dr Loveday for his valid and the summer 2003 edition of Imperial Matters. However you did say in balanced comments. We would welcome news from the covering note that you were interested in feedback, so here goes… other ‘oldsters’ which we could feature in our alumni As it stands, the edition is well printed, well illustrated and full of section (pages 24–37) as a means of increasing interest for this group. news, but it has the overall gloss and glitz of an advertising brochure, We are keen to use Imperial Matters not only to bring you news of the or now in many cases, company ‘Annual General Review’ rather than College today, but also to tell you about the interesting and varied ‘Statements’. The overall feel is one of ‘aren’t we marvellous!’, ‘isn’t it lives that alumni of the College have gone on to lead. great!’ and is becoming quite remote from oldsters like myself. We look forward to hearing from you. An important problem that you have which is not of your making arises from the fact that Imperial has rapidly enlarged with a new large medical Faculty, plus the merging of Wye College. In addition, the boundaries of some of the old constituent departments and colleges Placements online are disappearing. I am writing on behalf of the Internship As a result, it is difficult for a past student of my generation to Centre, run by the enthusiastic relate at all to all the marvellous happenings referred to. I suspect engineering students of the City and that the latter comments might be shared with students of the 60s, Guilds College Union, to acknowledge all 70s and 80s. of the kind offers of summer work I am not quite sure what you as publishers can do about all of placements made by alumni members this. As a magazine, it will, I am sure, relate immediately to present following the item on the Internship staff and students, but the risk is that for many past students, as a Centre in the previous issue of Imperial publication, it will join other unread journals like the AA magazine, Matters entitled ‘Can you help students as a glossy journal of high standards, but of passing interest! secure vacation placements in your company?’ We have now had in excess of 20 offers and have consequently been able to help current DR DOUGLAS LOVEDAY PHD BSC DIC CCHEM MRSC (CHEMISTRY 1947) students secure valuable work placements with these offers. The Internship Centre is based on the strength of these job offers and we are always looking for more jobs to put into our database. We would be delighted to hear from you if you can help us in any way Dear Editor either by making a job offer yourself or enticing some interest in your As this is the best alumni magazine among the five that I receive company to do the same. regularly, I thought I should respond to your invitation to ‘write to us’ Over 1,500 students from all over the College accessed the and offer you special congratulations. Internship Centre during the last academic year, helping to place I found your obituaries of two of my old students – John Knill and dozens of students in different organisations. There are no fees Peter Hills – dignified, well informed and moving. involved in joining the scheme and further information is available on Many thanks and all good wishes for many more successes.