Ian Young (academic)

Young was born in Cunnamulla, a small town in South Western Queensland in late 1950s.{{cite web|url=https://www.woroni.com.au/words/anu-decision-makers-series-vice-chancellor-ian-young/|title=ANU Decision Makers Series: Vice Chancellor Ian Young|website=Woroni|date=24 July 2014 |access-date=May 15, 2025}} He studied Civil Engineering at James Cook University. He completed three degrees at James Cook, graduating with BE(Hons) (1979), MEngSc (1982) and PhD (1984).{{cite web|url=https://www.jcu.edu.au/outstanding-alumni/search/alumni/2010/professor-ian-young|title=Professor Ian Young|website=James Cook University|date=26 April 2020 |access-date=May 15, 2025}}

Young was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg Germany from 1983 to 1984, where he studied under Klaus Hasselmann.{{cite web|url=https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/connect/explore-the-humboldt-network/singleview/1032018/prof-dr-ian-r-young|title=Prof. Dr. Ian R. Young|website=Humboldt Foundation|access-date=May 15, 2025}}

Young returned to Australia in 1984 and took up a teaching and research role at the Australian Defence Force Academy. At this time, Young's research focused on the development of global numerical wave models, the development of nonlinear wave processes, shallow water waves and tropical cyclone wave models. His work on spectral wave models underpinned the development of today's global models such as WaveWatch. His field research at Lake George near Canberra pioneered understanding of the growth of waves in finite depth conditions and has become a standard approach for engineering design in such situations.Young, I.R. and Verhagen, L.A., 1996, "The Growth of Fetch Limited Waves in Water of Finite Depth. Part I: Total Energy and Peak Frequency", Coastal Engineering, 28, 47-78.{{cite web|url=https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/04/making-waves-in-global-forecasting/|title=Making waves in global forecasting|date=15 April 2016 |publisher=Swinburne University of Technology|access-date=May 15, 2025}}

In 1999 he was appointed to the role of executive dean of the faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Adelaide and subsequently also became pro vice-chancellor in 2001.{{cite web|url=https://www.anu.edu.au/about/our-history/professor-ian-young-ao|title=Professor Ian Young AO|access-date=May 15, 2025|website=Australian National University|date=11 October 2014 }} In 2003 he became the second vice-chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne,{{cite web|url=https://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news507.html |title=Young Is Swinburne's New Vice Chancellor|publisher=University of Adelaide|access-date=May 15, 2025}} where he served until 2011 when he became the eleventh vice-chancellor of the Australian National University in Canberra. In 2016 he returned to Melbourne to take up the position of Kernot Professor of Engineer at the University of Melbourne.{{cite web|url=https://www.vernet.com.au/assets/Documents/7736d39183/VERNet_annualreport16_web_300517.pdf|website=Vernet|access-date=May 15, 2025|title=2016 Annual Report}}

Following 2010, Young's research has focused on the role of ocean wind and waves in climate and climate change.{{cite journal |last1=Young |first1=I. R. |last2=Zieger |first2=S. |last3=Babanin |first3=A. V. |title=Global Trends in Wind Speed and Wave Height |journal=Science |date=22 April 2011 |volume=332 |issue=6028 |pages=451–455 |doi=10.1126/science.1197219|pmid=21436400 |bibcode=2011Sci...332..451Y }}{{cite journal |last1=Young |first1=Ian R. |last2=Ribal |first2=Agustinus |title=Multiplatform evaluation of global trends in wind speed and wave height |journal=Science |date=10 May 2019 |volume=364 |issue=6440 |pages=548–552 |doi=10.1126/science.aav9527|pmid=31023894 |bibcode=2019Sci...364..548Y }} This work has largely been achieved by building long-term databases of satellite observations of the ocean from altimeter, radiometer and scatterometer instruments. A series of publications in this field have highlighted changes in global wind speed and wave height climates over the past 30 years and pioneered this field of research.{{cite journal |last1=Ribal |first1=Agustinus |last2=Young |first2=Ian R. |title=33 years of globally calibrated wave height and wind speed data based on altimeter observations |journal=Scientific Data |date=29 May 2019 |volume=6 |issue=1 |page=77 |doi=10.1038/s41597-019-0083-9|pmid=31142742 |pmc=6541622 |bibcode=2019NatSD...6...77R }}

Young's period as vice-chancellor of the Australian National University has been called controversial. Internally, Young set out to restructure the finances and administrative structures of the institution, a process which required financial restraint and a voluntary early retirement scheme in 2014.{{cite web|url=https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6072362/australian-national-university-vice-chancellor-ian-young-to-leave-post-in-2016/ |publisher=Canberra Times|title=Australian National University vice-chancellor Ian Young to leave post in 2016|date=4 February 2015 |access-date=May 15, 2025}} Externally, Young became chair of the Group of Eight in 2014, a time when the Australian Government proposed the deregulation of Australia's university system. {{cite web|url=https://the-riotact.com/anus-ian-young-to-chair-the-group-of-8/120288|title=ANU's Ian Young to chair the Group of 8|publisher=The Riot Act|access-date=May 15, 2025}} The Group of Eight became a strong supporter of this policy and hence Young was a public advocate. Ultimately, the controversial proposal was unable to pass the Australian Senate and hence did not come into effect.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jul/30/australias-top-eight-universities-push-for-higher-fees-fewer-students |title= Australia's top eight universities push for higher fees, fewer students|work=The Guardian|date= 30 July 2014|access-date=May 15, 2025|last1= Hurst|first1= Daniel}}

Outside of his university research roles, Young is also involved in business activities. He is the President and CEO of Conviro, President of CloudCampus and Chair of the Board of VERNet.

• 1986 - Lorenz G. Straub medal for research in Hydraulic Engineering
• 1998 - Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Australia
• 2001 - Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
• 2000 - Centenary Medal, Australian Government
• 2011 - Honorary Fellow, Engineers Australia
• 2012 - National Medal for Education by the Vietnamese Government
• 2012 - Officer of the Order of Australia, AO
• 2017 - Keven Stark medal for excellence in Coast and Ocean Engineering

• Young, I.R., Rosenthal, W. and Ziemer, F., 1985, "A Three-Dimensional Analysis of Marine Radar Images for the Determination of Ocean Wave Directionality and Surface Currents", Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 90, No. C1, 1049–1060.
• Young, I.R., Hasselmann, S. and Hasselmann, K., 1987, "Computations of the response of a wave spectrum to a sudden change in wind direction", Jnl. Physical Oceanography, Vol. 17, No.9, 1317–1338.
• Young, I.R. and van Vledder, G.Ph., 1993, "A Review of the Central Role of Nonlinear Interactions in Wind-Wave Evolution", Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. A, 342, 505–524.
• Young, I.R. and Verhagen, L.A., 1996, "The Growth of Fetch Limited Waves in Water of Finite Depth. Part I: Total Energy and Peak Frequency", Coastal Engineering, 28, 47–78.
• Young, I.R. and Burchell, G.P., 1996, "Hurricane Generated Waves as Observed by Satellite", Ocean Engineering, 23, 8, 761–776.
• Young, I.R. and Verhagen, L.A., 1996, "The Growth of Fetch Limited Waves in Water of Finite Depth. Part I: Total Energy and Peak Frequency", Coastal Engineering, 28, 47–78.
• Young, I.R., Zieger, S. and Babanin, A.V., 2011, "Global trends in wind speed and wave height", Science, 332, 451–455.
• Young, I.R. and Ribal, A., 2019, "Multi-platform evaluation of global trends in wind speed and wave height", Science, 364, 548–552.
• Ribal, A. and Young, I.R., 2019, "33 years of globally calibrated wave height and wind speed data based on altimeter observations", Sci. Data, 6, 77.

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Category:James Cook University alumni

Category:Engineers from Melbourne

Category:Living people

Category:Academic staff of the University of Melbourne

Category:Officers of the Order of Australia

Category:1957 births

Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering