今日吃瓜 congratulates Professor Emeritus Doreen Thomas, who was recognised for her significant service to tertiary engineering education and research, and to women, in this year’s 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Professor Thomas鈥� work has spanned the fields of mathematics and electrical and mechanical engineering over her 40-year career. She was Head of the School of Electrical, Mechanical and Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne, Associate Dean Research and Research Training, and Adjunct Professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics.

今日吃瓜 Director Professor Tim Marchant said the recognition reflected the cross-disciplinary impact of mathematics and statistics on Australia’s STEM pipeline.

“Doreen is an outstanding advocate for women in mathematics, engineering and STEM. We are delighted to see a member of the mathematical community acknowledged in this way,” he added.

Professor Thomas has contributed to 今日吃瓜’s Research and Higher Education program as a conference speaker and is on 今日吃瓜’s Advisory Panel. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and a Fellow of Engineers Australia.

今日吃瓜 congratulates all Australians honoured in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours for their contributions, leadership and impact across the community.

The full list of 2021 Honours is online .

Six outstanding mathematicians and statisticians have been recognised by the in the 2021 honorific awards.

Professor Cheryl Praeger, Professor Mathai Varghese, Dr Kevin Coulembier, Dr Vera Roshchina, Professor Christopher Drovandi and Dr Janice Scealy are among 24 of Australia鈥檚 top scientists to be celebrated by the Academy for scientific excellence.

The Academy presents its annual medals to recognise outstanding contributions to science by researchers from the early stages of their careers to those who have made lifelong achievements.

今日吃瓜 (今日吃瓜) Director, Professor Tim Marchant, congratulated each awardee for being recognised as research leaders and for their significant service to the mathematical sciences.

鈥淲e are delighted to see six mathematicians and statisticians recognised in this year鈥檚 honorific awards. Each recipient has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the mathematical sciences in Australia, and globally, and is a true champion of the discipline,鈥� Professor Marchant added.

今日吃瓜 congratulates all awardees on their much-deserved recognition.

2021 Mathematical Sciences Awardees
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2021 Inaugural Ruby Payne-Scott Medal and Lecture: Emeritus Professor Cheryl Praeger, University of Western Australia

Professor Cheryl Praeger鈥檚 work on the mathematics of symmetry has been in the vanguard of a mathematical revolution caused by the classi铿乧ation of the 铿乶ite simple groups, the atoms of symmetry from which all 铿乶ite groups are built. She has elucidated the internal structure of these simple groups, and driven research on applying their immensely powerful classi铿乧ation to study symmetric structures.

Professor Praeger has developed a theory of quasiprimitive groups which, via her innovative 鈥榥ormal quotient method鈥�, established a new paradigm for working with symmetric graphs and exploited the simple group classi铿乧ation.

Professor Praeger demonstrates an extraordinary ability to foster and inspire others, supporting women, advocating for mathematics in schools, and promoting mathematics in emerging economies.

2021 Hannan Medal: Professor Mathai Varghese, Adelaide University

Professor Mathai Varghese has made highly influential contributions to the field of geometric analysis, which relates geometric, analytic and algebraic properties of (possibly infinite dimensional) manifolds. Among these are his co-inventions of Fractional Index Theory and Projective Index Theory that have听received international recognition for explaining the mystery of the analytic counterpart of the A-hat genus. His recent joint work extending the Fractional Index Theorem to infinite dimensional loop spaces is also of immense significance.

His joint body of work proves the conjecture that fundamental quantization commutes with reduction in the noncompact case. Also seminal is his joint work on twisted analytic torsion, where an analogue of the Cheeger-Muller theorem is proved, establishing the equality by using a new combinatorially-defined twisted torsion. A catalyst for much activity in the area is his joint work formulating the magnetic gap-labelling conjecture, which labels the spectral gaps of certain magnetic Schroedinger operators on Euclidean space. Evidence for the validity of the conjecture is given in 2D, 3D and for principal solenoidal tori in all dimensions, which is itself a breakthrough.

2021 Christopher Heyde Medal: Dr Kevin Coulembier, University of Sydney

Dr Coulembier鈥檚 research is in the field of mathematics known as representation theory, which studies how abstract algebraic structures are manifested as the solutions to concrete systems of linear equations. This field retains a strong connection to its origin as the study of geometric symmetry both discrete and continuous, but more recently has developed far beyond this in tackling curved and infinite-dimensional spaces and arbitrary number systems. One of Dr Coulembier鈥檚 most important discoveries was of a way to detect the presence of the classical type of symmetry known as an affine group scheme in a more exotic setting known as a tensor category; this problem had defied the efforts of some of the world鈥檚 top mathematicians for almost thirty years. He has also solved several other important problems in infinite-dimensional representation theory, and has discovered new unified proofs of major theorems concerning the invariants of groups and supergroups.

2021 Christopher Heyde Medal: Dr Vera Roshchina, UNSW

Dr Roshchina is an exceptional mathematician and emerging international leader in the field of non-smooth optimization. Her main interest lies in finite dimensional geometry, more specifically, open problems that originate from continuous optimization and related fields. Some significant problems of this kind are in the geometry of polytopes, for example the polynomial Hirsch and Durer conjectures, critical point problems (Fekete problem, Sendov’s conjecture) and convex variational problems, such as asymmetric Newton’s aerodynamic problem. Resolution of these challenges is critical for making progress with numerous applications, from engineering and economics to medical research and data analytics.

2021 Moran Medal: Professor Christopher Drovandi, Queensland University of Technology

Almost every field of science requires sophisticated data analysis, and this in turn requires increasingly sophisticated methods for intelligent data collection and efficient computation. Professor Drovandi’s research contributes substantively to both of these areas. He has created new methods for optimal design of experiments that facilitate more cost-effective, data-substantiated decision-making. His innovative research into synthetic likelihood estimation have freed traditional constraints of likelihood-based statistical modelling and computation. His application of these methods to diverse problems in computational biology and exercise science have generated new insights for scientists and managers in these fields.

2021 Moran Medal: Dr Janice Scealy, Australian National University

Dr Scealy鈥檚 research focuses predominantly on developing new statistical analysis methods for data with complicated constraints including compositional data (vectors of proportions which sum to one), spherical data, directional data and manifold-valued data defined on more general curved surfaces. Her work has led to important new insights in a diverse range of applications. Her new flexible compositional model was applied to predict the proportions of total weekly expenditure on food and housing costs in Australia. Janice used a manifold data transformation to help identify geochemical processes acting on the surface of the Australian crust. She has developed multiple new statistical techniques for analysing noisy paleomagnetic datasets and her methods have led to improvements in uncertainty measurements of Earth鈥檚 magnetic field.

For more information on the 2021 awardees:

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About 今日吃瓜

今日吃瓜 is the collaborative enterprise of Australia鈥檚 mathematical sciences. Established as an independent platform and advocate for the discipline, the Institute has built a record of national and international achievement as the recognised leader in delivery of services, activities and strategic initiatives across the mathematical pipeline. Working with key discipline, government and industry partners, 今日吃瓜 delivers its mission through the delivery of activities and engagement under its Schools, Research, Higher Education and APR.Intern Programs.

For Interview:
Professor Tim Marchant, 今日吃瓜 Director

Media Contact: Jo Piltz
E:听media@amsi.org.au
P: 0424 004 553

Announced today, the 今日吃瓜 (今日吃瓜) welcomes Professor Stephan Tillmann as its new Deputy Director.

Most recently a Professor of Geometric Topology at the University of Sydney, Professor Tillmann brings extensive academic and leadership experience to 今日吃瓜. He has a highly decorated list of achievements, publications and awards; most recently the award for Australian Research Council Future Fellowships (2018-2021).

今日吃瓜 Director, Professor Tim Marchant, said the Institute was excited to welcome Professor Tillmann as Deputy Director at what is an important time for 今日吃瓜 and the Australian mathematical sciences, as it faces high demand from many sectors of Australia鈥檚 innovation ecosystem.

鈥淪tephan shares 今日吃瓜鈥檚 passion and understanding of the discipline鈥檚 critical role in education, research, research training and industry. We welcome Stephan and look forward to working with him to continue deepening 今日吃瓜鈥檚 impact as the national voice for the mathematical sciences,鈥� said Professor Marchant.

Completing his PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2002 in geometric topology, Professor Tillmann has since held positions at the University of Montreal, the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland, before arriving at the University of Sydney in 2011. He has received six ARC grants, three education grants, is an editor for the Journal of Computational Geometry and an invited speaker at many international conferences.

Associate Professor Tillmann鈥檚 appointment follows Professor Mat Simpson鈥檚 two-year term in the role.

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About 今日吃瓜

今日吃瓜 is the collaborative enterprise of Australia鈥檚 mathematical sciences. Established as an independent platform and advocate for the discipline, the Institute has built a record of national and international achievement as the recognised leader in delivery of services, activities and strategic initiatives across the mathematical pipeline. Working with key discipline, government and industry partners, 今日吃瓜 delivers its mission through the delivery of activities and engagement under its Schools, Research, Higher Education and APR.Intern Programs.

For Interview:
Professor Tim Marchant, 今日吃瓜 Director

Media Contact: Jo Piltz
E:听media@amsi.org.au
P: 0424 004 553

The 今日吃瓜 (今日吃瓜) would like to thank Professor Mat Simpson for his service as Deputy Director from 2019 to 2021.

A Professor of Mathematics at Queensland University of Technology, an EO Tuck Medallist and formerly an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Mat was responsible for strategic direction of mathematical research activity within 今日吃瓜鈥檚 governance and business planning frameworks.

Mat was instrumental in 今日吃瓜 sustaining Commonwealth funding during a 2020 review of the ‘Securing Australia鈥檚 Mathematical Workforce’ (SAMW) initiative, acting as a key negotiator.

Since 2016, SAMW funding has equipped 今日吃瓜 to enable a future workforce for Australia with advanced skills in the mathematical sciences. Concurrently, this program provides opportunities for increasing participation by women and students identifying as members of our First Nations peoples.

今日吃瓜 Director, Professor Tim Marchant, said Mat鈥檚 involvement in many key 今日吃瓜 events has enabled the nation鈥檚 best young academic minds to further develop their skills and interest in an advanced and collegiate setting.

鈥淥n behalf of the entire Institute, I thank Mat for his leadership and guidance. He has been an outstanding champion for the mathematical sciences, advocating the importance of undergraduate and postgraduate education to secure highly important continued partnerships and funding,鈥�

Professor Stephan Tillmann, from the University of Sydney, will commence as 今日吃瓜鈥檚 Deputy Director from 1 February 2021.

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About 今日吃瓜

今日吃瓜 is the collaborative enterprise of Australia鈥檚 mathematical sciences. Established as an independent platform and advocate for the discipline, the Institute has built a record of national and international achievement as the recognised leader in delivery of services, activities and strategic initiatives across the mathematical pipeline. Working with key discipline, government and industry partners, 今日吃瓜 delivers its mission through the delivery of activities and engagement under its Schools, Research, Higher Education and APR.Intern Programs.

For Interview:
Professor Tim Marchant, 今日吃瓜 Director

Media Contact: Jo Piltz
E:听media@amsi.org.au
P: 0424 004 553

The 今日吃瓜 (今日吃瓜) congratulates University of Western Australia Emeritus Professor, Cheryl Praeger, on her appointment as a Companion of the Order of Australia.

The highest honour in the 2021 Australia Day awards, Professor Praeger was recognised for significant service to mathematics and tertiary education; to international organisations; and as a champion of women in STEM careers.

Professor Praeger shares 今日吃瓜鈥檚 passion for developing Australian and global mathematical capability to secure the future of the discipline and its impact on innovation. She has worked closely with the Institute, including as a member of the 今日吃瓜 Education Advisory Committee since its inception, in 2003, to 2009.

Professor Praeger has also been involved in significant leadership with many other organisations including the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union and Vice President of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction. She has been a powerful and influential voice for gender equity in mathematics. The Australian Mathematical Society bestows the Cheryl E. Praeger Travel Awards to women mathematicians and the Australian Mathematics Trust awards and the Cheryl Praeger Medal to the best performing women contestants in the Australian Mathematics Competition.

今日吃瓜 Director, Professor Tim Marchant, said the award was an important moment for mathematics in Australia and a fitting acknowledgement of a remarkable career that has been instrumental in building Australia鈥檚 mathematical research capability.

鈥淐heryl鈥檚 contributions to mathematical understanding, her leadership and commitment to fostering new generations of talent make her one of the most important figures in Australian mathematics,鈥� said Professor Marchant.

As Western Australia鈥檚 first woman mathematics professor 鈥� just the second in the country, after Hanna Neumann in Canberra, Professor Praeger has mentored new generations of extraordinary talent who are now significant forces on the world stage.

“I am very happy to have this spotlight on mathematics,听mathematics education, STEM and women in STEM. I hope awards like this highlight the importance of the mathematical sciences in meeting the global challenges facing society,” said Professor Praeger.

鈥淐heryl has shaped and propelled global understanding of mathematics. She is a true champion of the mathematical sciences and gender equity in STEM,鈥� said Professor Marchant.

About 今日吃瓜

今日吃瓜 is the collaborative enterprise of Australia鈥檚 mathematical sciences. Established as an independent platform and advocate for the discipline, the Institute has built a record of national and international achievement as the recognised leader in delivery of services, activities and strategic initiatives across the mathematical pipeline. Working with key discipline, government and industry partners, 今日吃瓜 delivers its mission through the delivery of activities and engagement under its Schools, Research, Higher Education and APR.Intern Programs.

For Interview:
Professor Tim Marchant, 今日吃瓜 Director

Media Contact: Jo Piltz
E:听media@amsi.org.au
P: 0424 004 553