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Faculty Honours Pages
Honours Profiles
Scott Penfold
"I graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Radiation Physics (1st Class Honours) degree from the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics in 2006. Having obtained the University Medal from the Faculty of Engineering, I attracted an Australian Postgraduate Award beginning in 2007 and am currently in the 3rd year of my PhD. My project is based on the development of proton computed tomography for proton radiation therapy, a form of cancer treatment that may improve the chance of controlling tumor growth and reducing treatment side-effects. I am currently conducting a research stay at Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC) in California. LLUMC is the site of the world’s first hospital-based proton therapy facility. Throughout my PhD, I have participated in international scientific meetings. I have presented work in Hawaii, China, Germany and the U.S.A. In 2008, I attracted funding from the Cancer Institute of NSW for a research scholarship worth $20,000. I plan to submit my thesis in early 2010."
Katrina Matus
I just graduated with my B. Commerce (Honours), majoring in Marketing. I chose to stay and complete the additional honours year because I had developed an interest in academic research through my work as a research assistant for Professor Sara Dolnicar in the School of Management and Marketing. I also felt the experience would give me a competitive edge in the graduate job market where just having a Bachelor degree is no longer a guarantee of being offered a job.
My honours research was in the area of environmentally sustainable tourism, in particular investigating the reasons why people engage in high or low levels of pro environmental behaviour at home and on vacation and how to attract tourists with smaller environmental footprints. My results were quite fascinating and I gained a lot of satisfaction from being able to offer practical recommendations to environmentally concerned tourism destinations based on my results. For example, my results indicated that a lack of appropriate facilities and infrastructure was a key reason why some tourists were less environmentally friendly on vacation than at home, indentifying this as a potential area for improvement in the tourism industry.
One of the highlights of my honours year was spending three weeks at the University of Munich working on my data analysis with statistician colleagues of my supervisor, Prof Dolnicar. It was an invaluable learning experience for me, and I came back feeling much more confident in my data analysis skills. Prof Dolnicar and I are currently working on producing a journal paper from my research. The whole process of managing my own research project, being self motivated and improving my research skills has been highly beneficial. It was a key factor in my successful application for a graduate position with Deloitte’s Human Capital Consulting division, where I will start working in 2010. Although I have made the decision to go out into industry now, coming back to complete a PhD will always be an attractive option for me.
Cassandra Smith
"My honours project is looking at deep sea marine fauna (namely sponges) and searching for new novel bioactive metabolites. I am still undertaking the honours project and have 3 months remaining however, I have enjoyed it up until now and expect to continue to do so.
"Honours provides me a very different experience from the coursework in an undergraduate degree. It has taught me to work independently and to investigate new ideas rather then just copy procedures from lab manuals. Honours opened my eyes to more fields of Chemistry then I knew about before and the opportunity to work alongside PhD candidates, Post docs and academics is a great learning experience.
"It has been worthwhile - Honours provides a deeper understanding into the chosen field of study as you are immersed in it every day rather then reading about it in class notes and text books".
Cassandra plans to apply for a PhD to start next year.
Uwana Evers
"My psychology Honours project seeks to gain insight into the experiences of Australian and International students who live in the multicultural environment of university dormitories. Specifically, I am examining two colleges of the University of Wollongong based on their resident demographic. I have had the opportunity to collect questionnaires from the student residents, and then interview a number of students to understand their individual experiences. International student mobility is increasing rapidly, creating opportunities for individuals from different countries to co-exist and experience each others’ cultures. This research will add to our understanding of optimal group contact processes and will identify conditions that lead to increased levels of intercultural sensitivity.
"The Honours fourth year was always part of my degree, B Psychology. I wanted to undertake an Honours year as a challenge; as an opportunity to conduct my own research in an area that I wanted to pursue. This project has enabled me to experience what practical academic research entails, and I have learnt so much already! Of course there are stressful times, and it would be a lie to say that Honours is easy… but I am so glad that I decided to continue onto fourth year psychology.
"After Honours is over – I haven’t yet decided what I will do. There are so many opportunities! Postgraduate study is one option I’m considering. It would be possible to continue research in this area of intercultural development and international student mobility at the university and undertake a PhD. There are also some interesting Masters degrees abroad that I will be applying for, my first choice at the moment is a Masters in the Psychology of Excellence in Business and Education offered in Munich, Germany. Otherwise, I may go straight into the workforce, and gain some practical experience. Whatever happens next year, the experience gained during this Honours year will prove invaluable".
Florian W. Dux
"I am a current PhD student in the School of Earth and Environmental science and finished my Honours Degree in October last year (2008).
"For my honours project I studied the "Palaeohydrology from the chemistry of carbonate-secreting organisms", this involved the close study of naturally occurring carbonate secreting organisms (Ostracods and Charophytes) as well as controlled growth experiments of these organisms over several months. Finally geochemical analysis of the cultured and natural specimens was conducted by isotopic analysis and trace element analysis to investigate the effects of ambient temperature and salinity on the distribution and uptake into the organisms.
"I thoroughly enjoyed my time I spent on this project, although it can be very difficult at times and I did come very close to breaking point. I Have found it has benefited me greatly, in providing a closing point for my undergraduate degree allowing me to apply all I have theoretically leaned by providing an individual opportunity to use my skills in my own unique research.
"Also it has allowed me to further my research into a PhD i am currently undertaking in "Applications of ‘Clumped’ isotope mass spectrometry in carbonate geochemistry". I have only just started my work however I am confident that I have the experience from my previous Honours project to help me though."
Sophie McIntosh
"I completed my Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (Hons) as a mature student. My first semester was also undertaken as an International student, as my Australian permanent residency had not been granted at that time. My main reason for completing the Honours program was that I was interested in challenging myself to study a chosen topic of interest in depth throughout the year. I also wanted to keep my options open for pursuing further study and research in the future, despite wanting to build up my professional experience first. This has already proved to be beneficial, as I am currently undertaking work as a research assistant, in addition to working in childcare centres.
"My Honours project involved completing two case studies of children's home and school literacies. The collection of observations and interviews and analysis of various texts and artefacts allowed me to ascertain the continuities and discontinuities between the children's home and school literacy experiences and practices.
"Throughout the year, I felt I developed rapidly as a student researcher and learned much about the theoretical and practical aspects of conducting a research study. I also matured as a teacher, as my personal beliefs and philosophy developed and evolved through my reading, data collection and conversations. Both of these processes were greatly assisted by the support and guidance of my supervisors, Dr Pauline Jones, Dr Caroline Jones and Associate Professor Pauline Harris, and the Honours co-ordinator, Lisa Kervin".
Lewis Mitchell completed his Honours thesis in 2007, in which he studied problems related to the generation of electricity by water waves, using the so-called Oscillating Water Column (OWC) technique (one OWC device has been built at Port Kembla by Oceanlinx, Australia).
He won the University Medal for this work and subsequently published his results, jointly with his supervisor Professor Song-Ping Zhu, in a top international journal in this area (Wave Motion).
His work led to gaining an Australian Postgraduate Award to study for a PhD at the University of Sydney, as well as a successful trip to Lisbon, Portugal to present at the Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering conference in 2008.
Kathleen Cusack
"In 2007, I received a Faculty of Arts Honours Scholarship and an Endeavour Student Exchange Scholarship to undertake my Honours year in Japan whilst completing a twelve-month exchange to Doshisha University in Kyoto. Supervised by Dr Helen Kilpatrick, I wrote my thesis on the Kure women who gave birth to children fathered by Australian personnel during the period of military occupation in that region. I collated and translated local post-war newspapers to examine the experiences of these women with respect to the prevalent social attitudes towards women involved in relationships with foreign servicemen and the construct of the feminine role.
"Undertaking my Honours year whilst in Japan was perhaps the most challenging experience I have been confronted with but it was also the most rewarding.
"I graduated with 1st Class Honours in July 2008 and the Japan Foundation of Sydney will publish an abbreviated version of my thesis in the New Voices journal in early 2009.
"I hope to undertake further post-graduate study in late 2009 but I will first be undertaking a three-month volunteer project in Cambodia."
Glen Wheeler completed Honours in Pure Mathematics in 2006, with a thesis supervised by Assoc. Professor Graham Williams and Assoc. Professor Rod Nilsen.
He subsequently obtained an Australian Postgraduate Award to support his PhD studies in higher order geometric heat flows, supervised by Dr. James McCoy and Assoc. Graham Williams. The following year he obtained a DAAD scholarship enabling him to collaborate with leading experts in his research area in Germany and, after a successful trip, he was invited back to a conference in Germany, where he will present and continue his research.
Glen expects to finish his PhD thesis next year and is well equipped to begin a career in mathematical research as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Australia or internationally.
Rosie Welch completed her honours thesis in 2007 with the project titled: 'Keep an eye on your weight': Young peoples meanings of health, wellbeing and fitness'. The project investigated student’s responses to the Health and Physical Education component of the New Zealand National Education Monitoring Project and was supervised by Professor Jan Wright in the Faculty of Education. Rosie's project was inspired by a need to critically examine the ways popular contemporary discourses around the body, health and fitness are 'taken up' by young people to form their meanings of health, and understand their bodies.
Her honours work lead to an Australian Postgraduate Award to complete a PhD as part of an international linkage project exploring the impact of attitudes and policies relating to obesity and related health issues on school policy and practices. Her study will complement the project by exploring pre-service primary school teachers’ meanings of health from a sociocultural perspective. She describes her experience of the honours program as ‘enriching, not only for the mind but also future career directions’.
Michael McCarthy is an Honours student in the Faculty of Education. Throughout the first three years of his Bachelor of Teaching degree he reported that he learnt quite a lot about how to teach reading. However, he described very little of this knowledge related to web-based reading. The opportunity to shape a research project around an area of personal interest enabled Michael to respond to an identified professional learning need. With the enormous role the Web is going to play in students lives he decided to focus his Honours research inquiry on this.
Michael has shaped his research project on exploring Web reading strategies. This has involved him in planning and facilitating 10 workshops in a local school that involve a focus group of 6 Year 5 students. During these workshops Michael records how the students interact with various web based texts including search engines and education and entertainment-based websites. Data collection methods include field notes, transcripts, work samples and focus group interviews.
Throughout the year Michael has provided regular presentations on his work. Faculty based network meetings have provided time and opportunity for all Honours students to report to their peers, Honours coordinator and supervisors on the status of their projects. This has created a real sense of community amongst the 2008 Honours cohort. The Alumni chapter in the Faculty of Education also sponsors a $1000 research prize; which Michael was the recipient of in May 2008.
Michael’s Honours project is due for examination in October 2008. Preliminary data analysis has begun to reveal some practical strategies relating to the students search engine strategies, the students reading path and the critical evaluation skills they use. What is emerging as an overarching theme is the importance of a student meta-awareness of strategies. This allows them the flexibility to adjust their strategies as they move from text to text in the very diverse environment of the Web. Michael has begun to report on his findings through the preparation of a refereed conference paper (with his supervisors) entitled “Reading strategies Grade 5 students articulate as they make meaning with web-based texts” to be presented at the National “Digital Dialogues: Moving Media Education” conference to be held in October in Adelaide.
Reflecting upon his Honours experience, Michael describes:
“The project has been quite a lot of hard work and at times stressful and frustrating though I feel I have learnt so much that the stress and frustrations are worthwhile. When I finish my project not only will I have gained a set of knowledge that will allow me to be a better teacher, the Honours notch on my resume gives me options in that it opens up doors into academia as well as research and policy related positions with organisations such as the Department of Education and Training. I would recommend the Honours experience to anyone looking to extend themselves, interested in research or looking to broaden their options.”
Lisa Carrington completed Honours through the Faculty of Education in 2005, supervised by Professor Brian Ferry and Dr Lisa Kervin. The title of this project was ‘Using a classroom simulation to help bridge the gap between the theory of pre-service teacher education and classroom practice’. Lisa describes her Honours year as a valuable and enjoyable learning experience. Although she admits that things did not always go as planned, it was the journey of personal growth that made the experience worthwhile.
In 2006 she began her PhD investigating how pre-service teachers make use of a virtual learning environment provided by an online simulation to link knowledge from university coursework with field experiences. In particular looking at if/how experience with the online simulation contributes to the development of pre-service teachers' emerging pedagogical content knowledge. She expects to complete her doctoral thesis early 2009.