School Advisory Committee

Prof Michael Barnsley – Australian National University

Michael Barnsley has been a Professor of Mathematics in the Mathematical Sciences Institute at the Australian National University since 2004. He has been awarded two Australia Research Council grants to further his mathematical research, has published numerous peer reviewed papers and three books, teaches a third year course in fractal geometry and chaotic dynamics, and is active in research.  During the period 1987 to 1999 he founded and ran a successful company which developed technology to compress images using fractal mathematics.  This technology was widely used in industry at the time and the company was floated on the stock exchange in 1997.   

Before this entrepreneurial period he had a career as an academic.  He was awarded a BA in Mathematics from Oxford University in 1968, a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1972 and this was followed by positions at Centre Etudes Nucleaires de Saclay, and other universities. During the period 1979 to 1991 he was a Professor of Mathematics at Georgia Institute of Technology, where he supervised six doctoral students and introduced fractal geometry to the syllabus in 1986.   

Dr Steve Davies (Chairman) – APRA

Dr Steve Davies is the General Manager, Statistics at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).  Contributing to its role as the prudential regulator in Australia, APRA acts as a national statistical agency for the Australian financial sector. APRA provides financial statistics to contribute to a more stable, competitive and efficient financial system.  Since joining APRA in 1999, Dr Davies has worked with the financial sector to modernise and improve APRA’s regulatory reporting framework and data collection systems. He was also responsible for the development of APRA’s statistics publications as well as the centralisation of data collection at APRA on behalf of the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.  

Prior to joining APRA, Dr Davies worked with the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Australia) for ten years as an applied statistical scientist.  Dr Davies holds an Honours degree in Mathematics and Computation from Oxford University and a Ph.D. in Statistical Science from the Australian National University.

Mr Dean Jones – Smith’s Hill High School

Dean Jones obtained his Degree and Graduate Diploma of Education from the University of Wollongong in 1991 and 1992. He began his teaching career at Macquarie Fields HS (a partially selective high school) in 1993, where he stayed for nine years. He gained his first Head Teacher Mathematics position in 2002 at Albion Park HS, where he stayed for 5 years, before moving to his current position at Smith's Hill Selective HS in 2007.    Dean is the group leader of local teachers responsible for the development and organisation of the highly successful HSC Mathematics Revision Day and the Year 9 Talented Students Day.  He is an experienced marker at the School Certificate, HSC Mathematics and HSC Extension Mathematics level and co-ordinates and presents at many professional development days for mathematics teachers.

Dr Christine O’Keefe – CSIRO

Dr Christine M. O'Keefe is the Research Leader for privacy and confidentiality in CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics, Senior Specialist Consultant for the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Adjunct Professor in the School of Mathematical Science at the University of Adelaide. Her recent research focusses on solving problems relevant to balancing the competing objectives of privacy and confidentiality protection with access and use of data bases and data archives, using cryptographic and statistical approaches. She is particularly interested in automated methods to confidentialise the outputs of statistical analyses conducted on confidential data.  

Prior to joining CSIRO in 2000, Christine held academic positions at the University of Adelaide and the University of Western Australia, as well as several visiting positions at European universities. Her research at this time concerned finite geometry and its applications to information security.  The University of Adelaide awarded Christine a BSc with Honours in Pure Mathematics in 1982 and a PhD in Pure Mathematics in 1988. She was also awarded an MBA by the Australian National University in 2008. Christine earned the Australian Mathematical Society Medal 2000 for distinguished research in the Mathematical Sciences and the Hall Medal of the Institute for Combinatorics and its Applications 1996 for outstanding contributions to the field. In 2010-11 Christine held a Newton Turner Career Award, designed to further the scientific careers of exceptional senior scientists at CSIRO.

Mr Gerry Sozio - St Mary Star of the Sea College,  Wollongong  (Assistant Principal)

Gerry Sozio is the Assistant Principal (Dean of Studies) at St Mary Star of the Sea College Wollongong. Previous to this, he held the position of Mathematics Coordinator. He has taught all levels of Mathematics at St Mary's as well as at Bede Polding College South Windsor and St Joseph's Catholic High School Albion Park. Gerry has been the recipient of a number of teaching awards. In 2004, he was appointed as a Visiting Teaching Fellow at the University of New South Wales in the School of Mathematics and Statistics. He has also lectured and tutored courses in a casual capacity at the University of Wollongong in the School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics . Gerry holds a Master of Educational Leadership and will complete his Master of Mathematics at the end of 2011.
 

Mr Edward Szoldra – Australian Bureau of Statistics

Dr Virginia Wheway – Boeing

Virginia Wheway was born and raised in Wollongong and completed an honours degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Wollongong in 1994. This degree was completed part time whilst a cadet at BHP Steel in Port Kembla. Shortly after finishing her degree, she transferred to the R&D division of BHP and worked on statistical and mathematical aspects of projects in minerals exploration, steel manufacturing and chemistry. Becoming restless a few years later, Virginia decided to return to university to study towards a PhD. While studying, she worked as a statistical consultant and part-time lecturer at several universities in NSW. Virginia was awarded her PhD from the University of Wollongong in 2002 in the field of data mining, which saw her study in both the Schools of Mathematics and Computer Science. Upon completion of her PhD, Virginia moved to Seattle to work as a research mathematician for Boeing Phantom Works. Along with her team, Virginia was awarded a US Patent for her work on detecting patterns in ‘black box’ data recorders. This technology is now used by airlines to manage their fleet maintenance schedule.

Virginia returned to Australia in 2005 and spent a year working at the University of Newcastle on a longitudinal study of women’s health as both a statistician and data manager. During this time she completed postgraduate studies in clinical epidemiology at the University of Newcastle. In 2006, Virginia began working at Boeing Defence Australia as a mathematician, shortly followed by a six month secondment as a Senior Business Analyst for Boeing Australia’s in-country President. Following this assignment, Boeing Research & Technology Australia was established and Virginia became the chief mathematician. During this period, she assisted Boeing Australia in determining its carbon footprint and interpreting upcoming carbon tax legislation. Virginia was appointed to the newly created role Environment, Health and Safety Director, Boeing Australia in 2009. This has seen her expand her career into areas such as business strategy and integration, forecasting, and stakeholder engagement as well as being a great alignment for her personal interest in sustainability.

In her spare time Virginia enjoys anything outdoors; cycling, hiking, camping. She and her husband own 160 acres of wilderness in the NSW Hunter Valley, where they spend every spare weekend camping and building a cabin out of recycled building materials. Virginia is also a keen gardener and enjoys growing, cooking and eating food straight from hers and her neighbours’ gardens.

Dr Daniel Yuen – Bluescope Steel Research