Following an undergraduate training at Queensland University, a PhD in inorganic chemistry from Otago University, and post-doc appointments at the Universities of Tasmania and Adelaide, Roy Tasker has been teaching first-year university students at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) since 1985. In the 1990s his research interest was in developing students� mental models of the molecular world for a deeper understanding of chemistry concepts. The result was an integrated suite of molecular-level animations in the VisChem project. Then, on a three-year secondment with CADRE design (a multimedia production company) he gained experience in nine interactive multimedia projects to complement and supplement textbooks in chemistry and biochemistry. Since 2000 his research group has developed and evaluated multimedia learning designs and the results have been applied in this textbook project. In 1999 he was awarded the inaugural UWS Award for Teaching Excellence, and in 2002 the Royal Australian Chemical Institute Chemical Education Division Medal. Most recently, Roy was recognized with the prestigious 2011 Prime Minister's University Teacher of the Year award.
