Dr Alex Zelinsky

Dr Alex Zelinsky: Group Executive, Information Sciences

Dr Alex Zelinsky leads Information Sciences research at CSIRO that is delivering science outcomes that have significant value and global impact for Australia.

• 11 July 2011 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Alex Zelinsky is the Group Executive for Information Sciences and a member of CSIRO’s Executive Team.

Dr Zelinsky oversees the development of world-class technology and service platforms that underpin multidisciplinary research, with an emphasis on supporting the National Research Flagships program.

He also oversees the A$111 million Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, a next generation radio telescope being built in Western Australia, and the associated A$80 million high performance computational facility, the Pawsey Centre.

Outside CSIRO, Dr Zelinsky holds positions including:

• Member of the Australian Government’s Information Technology Industry Innovation Council
• Member of the New South Wales Government’s National Broadband Network Taskforce
• Adjunct Professor at the Australian National University
• Vice-President of the Industrial Activities board of the IEEE’s Robotics and Automation Society.

Dr Zelinsky also serves on advisory panels to the Australian Research Centre (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Vision Science and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems.

Background

Dr Zelinsky’s career spans innovation, scientific and industrial research and development, commercial start-ups and education. 

He was appointed Group Executive in July 2007 and was Director of CSIRO’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Centre from July 2004 to December 2009. 

Before joining CSIRO to lead its ICT Centre, Dr Zelinsky was Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Seeing Machines, a high-technology company developing computer vision systems. The company was a start-up from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, where Dr Zelinsky was Professor of Systems Engineering.

Dr Zelinsky worked in robotics and computer vision at the AIST Electrotechnical Laboratory in Japan and has taught and conducted research in computer science at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. He started his career as a Systems Engineer with BHP Steel International.

Academic qualifications

Dr Zelinsky has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Mathematical Sciences (Honours), University of Wollongong, Australia
• Doctor of Philosophy, University of Wollongong,
• Graduate Diploma, Australian Institute of Company Directors
• Completed Advanced Management Program, Harvard University, USA. 

Achievements

Dr Zelinsky's contributions to science have been recognised by numerous science and industry awards including:

• Australian Engineering Excellence Awards, 1999 and 2001
• Business-Higher Education Round Table Award, 2001
• Australian Information Industries Award (iAward), 2002 and 2006
• Australian Eureka Science Prize, 2002
• US R&D magazine Top 100 Award, 2002
• ATSE Clunies-Ross National Science & Technology Award, 2005
• IEEE Inaba Technical Award for Innovation Leading to Production, 2010. 

Dr Zelinsky has been elected as a:

• Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE)
• Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (FIEEE)
• Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia (FIEAust)
• Fellow of Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD)
• Vice President of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society - Industrial Activities (RAS-IAB).

In 2009 Engineers Australia named Dr Zelinsky Professional Engineer of the Year (Sydney Division) and he has been included in Engineers Australia’s list of the 100 most influential engineers since that year. 

The World Economic Forum named Dr Zelinsky a Technology Pioneer in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Learn more in the CSIRO information sciences group overview.