Award made to wheat director

Press, 29 May 1981, Page 20

Award made to wheat director

For a notable contribution to food science and food technology a Christchurch man. Mr R. W. Cawley, who is director of the Wheat Research Institute, received the J. C. Andrews Award at. the annual conference of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology in Dunedin last week. Dr Andrews, with whom the award is associated, was one of the founders of food technology as a profession in New Zealand. In 1965 when he was Chancellor of Massey University as a tribute to his interest in food science and technology and in the department of food technology, at Massey University he was enrolled as the first member of the. institute. The citation of the award to Mr Cawley notes that the work he has undertaken and directed during most of his working life has affected the lives of every Now Zealander -- "it can truly be said that he has had a strong influence on everyone's morning slice of hot buttered toast, to say nothing of the influence he has had on the cut lunch, the garlic bread 'and the hamburger bun.” Mr Cawley has been with the Wheat Research Institute for more than 30 years and has been director since 1965. Born in Palmerston North, he attended Takapuna Grammar School and then Auck-

land University, where he graduated master of science with honours in 1948.

For two years before joining the institute as a chemist in 1950 he was a temporary lecturer in the department of agricultural biochemistry at. Massey College, and subsequently while on the staff of the institute he studied biochemistry ' at Otago University for a year.

In 1956 he joined the staff of T. .1. Edmonds, Ltd. as assistant factory manager, but he returned to the institute again in 1958. In 1963 he spent a year at the wheat research unit of the Com-

monwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation under a research fellowship grant.

Mr Cawley is a fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry and a fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology. He was also the second president of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology.' Mr Cawley has had a number-of papers and articles published in both trade journals and international scientific publications.

The. citation refers to him guiding the Wheat Research Institute through a period of striking change, with the major technological advance during his directorship having been the change from long dough fermentation to the mechanical development of doughs in the baking industry. There has also been a very substantial reduction in the numbers of both flourmillers and bakers in the country.

Outside his work, he has been keenly interested in mountains, ’ mountaineering and ski-ing and until recently was a member of the Arthurs Pass National Park Board. He also has a strong interest in sailing. In giving the J. C. Andrews Award address, Mr Cawley reviewed the work and philosophy of the Wheat Research Institute.