Cathy Foley

Foley has a Diploma of Education in High School Physics, from Macquarie University (1979), a Bachelor of Science (Hons 1) majoring in Physics from Macquarie University (1980), and a PhD in Physics, also from Macquarie University (1984). She also spent six months on a scholarship as a Research Fellow, Department of Electrical Engineering, at Oregon State University, USA in Corvallis while writing up her PhD.[9]

Foley joined CSIRO in 1985 as a National Research Fellow and was promoted to Senior Research Scientist in 1991, Principal Research Scientist in 1996, Senior Principal Research Scientist in 2000, and Chief Research Scientist in 2008.[10][11] Dr Foley was also previously the deputy director of CSIRO's manufacturing business unit, as well as Chief of the Division of Materials Science and Engineering in 2011 CSIRO's Materials Science and Engineering division.[12]

Foley made significant contributions for the comprehension of superconducting materials and to the evolution of devices that use superconductors to detect magnetic fields and locate deposits of minerals.[13]

At Macquarie University, Foley and T. L. Tansley authored a series of highly regarded papers on indium nitride semiconductor films.[14][15][16][17] The work of Tansley and Dr Foley is considered central to the development of semiconductor lasers in the blue-green region of the spectrum.

Foley's awards include the 2015 Australian Academy of Science's Clunies-Ross Award, 2013 Premier's Award for Woman of the Year, and in 2011 the AUSIMM MIOTA prize.[18] Preceding this award, she was a fellow of the Institute of Physics in the UK, past president of the Australian Institute of Physics, and a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ASTE).[19] She has been president of Science and Technology Australia, where she represented 68,000 Australian scientists and technologists.[20]

Foley was awarded a public service medal on Australia Day in 2003 and in the same year won the Eureka Prize for the promotion of science.[21] She sits on the Scientific Advisory Committee of Australia's Centre for Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies.[22]

In May 2020 Foley was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science[23] and in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for "distinguished service to research science, to the advancement of women in physics, and to professional scientific organisations".[24]

On 1 January 2021, Foley replaced Alan Finkel as Chief Scientist of Australia.[3]