Aust MS : WIMSIG-News-Jan2017 : January 2017 Newsletter of the AustMS Women in Mathematics Special Interest Group

WIMSIG NEWSLETTER - January 2017

Vale Anne Penfold Street

With regret, we note the passing of Anne Penfold Street on the 28th of December 2016.

Anne was appointed Professor of Mathematics at The University of Queensland in 1985. Her career included excellence in research, teaching and service to the mathematical community, which lead to many awards including an Order of Australia Medal in 2014. The AustMS WIMSIG Anne Penfold Street Awards are named in her honour.

A great mathematician, a great educator and a great community leader.
Vale Anne.

The Australasian Journal of Combinatorics is planning a special issue in honour of Anne. Contact ajc@maths.uq.edu.au for more information.

Jennifer Seberry — Latrobe Outstanding Alumni of 2016

Emeritus Professor Jennifer Seberry discusses some of the ways in which she overcame some obstacles in her career in this 2-minute video.

2016 Australian Awards for University Teaching

Congratulations to Professor Birgit Loch (Swinburne) and Associate Professor Deborah King (Melbourne) on their recent Australian Awards for Univeristy Teaching.

Birgit received an Award for Teaching Excellence for pioneering ways of engaging students studying mathematics.
Deborah received a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning for impacting student success through the development and dissemination of innovative teaching and assessment practices in large enrolment mathematics classes.

Kerrie Mengerson Awarded Pitman Medal

Professor Kerrie Mengerson (QUT) has been awarded the Pitman Medal, the highest honour of the Australian Statistics Society. This is the first time the Pitman Medal has been awarded to a woman. Congratulations Kerrie!

Women in the Mathematical Sciences Dinner

On Sunday 4th December the 2016 Women in the Mathematical Sciences Dinner was held at University House at ANU. The dinner was chaired by Giang Nguyen (Adelaide, WIMSIG Treasurer) and featured presentations from Associate Professor Lesley Ward, Professor Alex James, Professor Kavita Ramanan (Plenary Speakers from the AustMS meeting), Sue Wilson (Plenary Speaker from the Australian Statistical Conference), Professor Andrew Roberts (Dean of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU), and Ms Karly Winkler (Australian Signals Directorate).

There were 140 dinner participants including attendees of the AustMS meeting and the Australian Statistical Conference. The dinner was generously supported by the Australian Research Council through Professor Nalini Joshi’s Georgina Sweet Laureate Fellowship, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS), the Australian Signals Directorate, and the Mathematical Science Institute at ANU. We also acknowledge Pierre Portal, the local organiser of the dinner.

Each presenter gave some interesting anecdotes about their career. The atmosphere was positive; we can all do something to address gender equity.

WIMSIG General Meeting

On Sunday 4th December (before dinner), WIMSIG held a general meeting. This meeting was an opportunity for the membership of WIMSIG to meet the committee members, hear about our activities and discuss future projects.

Joanne Hall (WIMSIG Secretary) chaired the meeting, enabling Lesley Ward (WIMSIG Chair) and Giang Nguyen (WIMSIG Secretary) to prepare for the dinner. Thirty two members and friends of WIMSIG were present.

Joanne Hall delivered a report on WIMSIG's projects and activities, Inge Koch (AMSI) talked about the Choose Maths project, Birgit Loch (Swinburne) presented on a successful program preparing women for promotion, Sally Zanic discussed the opportunities available at MATRiX, and Katherine Seaton (LaTrobe) discussed strategies to increase the participation of female students in the running for the BH Neumann prize. Thank you to all those who presented, to everybody who came, and to Pierre Portal (ANU) - our local organiser.

WIMSIG Annual Report

Each year WIMSIG writes an report to AustMS informing them of our activities. The 2016 Report is 28 pages long and includes reports from recipients of the Praeger and Street Awards. Paper copies of the report were distributed at the WIMISG general meeting in December. An electronic copy is available here (PDF, 1.1MB). Previous annual reports are also available on the WIMSIG Resources page.

EVENTS

ANZIAM 2017 Women in Mathematical Sciences Lunch

Date: Tuesday 7 February, 2017
Website: http://www.maths.adelaide.edu.au/anziam2017/events/

The Women in Mathematical Sciences Lunch is held at national ANZIAM conferences to promote and celebrate the contribution of women to the mathematical sciences.

In 2017 the event will feature the female invited speakers at ANZIAM 2017: Dr Claire Postlethwaite, Associate Professor Maria Vlasiou, and Dr Martine Woolf. For information on (and some advice from) these speakers, please see the question-and-answer interviews on the AustMS website.

Conference delegates of any gender are welcome to attend the Lunch, which will be chaired by Associate Professor Lesley Ward.

The Lunch will be held in parallel to the main conference lunch on Tuesday 7 February. Tickets are free but must be booked through the conference registration system.

The 2017 Lunch has been organised by Gobert Lee, Giang Nguyen, and Yvonne Stokes on behalf of the AustMS Women in Mathematics Special Interest Group (WIMSIG). Information on WIMSIG is available from the WIMSIG website. The Lunch is supported by ANZIAM, WIMSIG, and the Australian Research Council through Professor Nalini Joshi's Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellowship.

WIMSIG Conference 2017

Celebration of Women in Australian Mathematical Sciences

SAVE THE DATE: September 24-26 in 2017
University of South Australia, Adelaide
Call for Expressions of Interest

If you are considering going to the WIMSIG Conference 2017, then register your interest. This is the first event of its kind in Australia, so we don’t know just how popular the event will be. The expression of interest form also gathers information about potential childcare and lactation space requirements. If there are any other services that may enable your attendance, then please ask Lesley Ward. We want this event to be as inclusive as possible.