When Professor Alistar Robertson painted his beard red, white and blue for charity last year, it said much about this extraordinary scientist who has stepped out of the mould of the traditional academic.

Known in scientific circles for making his mark on Charles Sturt University and in the community for his passion for inland waterways, Professor Robertson is known to his colleagues and students as an inspirational researcher and leader who fires enthusiasm.

On the wider stage, Professor Robertson has earned an international reputation for scientific excellence and a strong national reputation for applied research in Australia's most threatened rural environment, the Murray-Darling Basin.

These achievements have been recognised by the University in naming him the recipient of the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence in 1998, to be awarded during the afternoon Graduation ceremony for CSU's Albury-Wodonga Campus.

Moving from a marine background as Senior Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Professor Robertson was appointed as Foundation Chair in Environmental Science at CSU's Wagga Wagga Campus in 1994.

Since his appointment, he has successfully attracted over $800,000 in National Competitive Grant Funding to the University and has been appointed to an Australian Research Council committee.

He has also been invited to join local and national environmental and academic committees and is well known on the conference circuit as a stimulating and challenging speaker.

To say he is passionate about wetlands is an understatement, having been involved in research in this field for 25 years and publishing 70 papers and four books on ecological issues and research. He is currently concerned with the role ecological scientists can play in the sustainable management of Australia's farmlands.

He has been attributed to developing a vigorous and highly productive research team in aquatic ecology with three post-doctoral fellows and nine doctoral students, and is an associate director of The Johnstone Centre, a research centre for applied environmental research.

Professor Robertson will receive the 1998 Vice-Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence from CSU's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Cliff Blake, during the afternoon Graduation ceremony, which commences at 2.30 pm in the Albury Convention and Performing Arts Centre, Swift St, Albury.