At the moment this is a very short web-page containing a selection of miscellaneous comments about the NSW ANZIAM branch. The full title of the branch is: the NSW branch of the division of applied mathematics of the Australian Mathematical Society.
The Sydney and Victorian branches of ANZIAM are the oldest branches of ANZIAM. Both were holding meetings as early as November 1973 (Braddock 1983, page 21), operating before ANZIAM was formed as a division of the Australian Mathematical Society, and were noted as being `active' at the 1974 ANZIAM conference (Braddock 1983, appendix E). The division of Applied Mathematics itself was formed following a ballot of members of the Australian Mathematical Society in 1974. It was formally setup and launched at the 1975 ANZIAM conference (Braddock 1983, page 21 & appendix E).
Contradictory, Braddock (Braddock 1983, page 22) notes that the "Sydney and Victorian Branches started in 1974/5". The constitution of the Sydney branch was adopted in May 1977 (constitution). In March 2002, by electronic ballot, the name of the branch was changed to NSW (constitution) 1.
When ANZIAM is organised from within NSW it is not usually organised by the branch but by a group principally from one university. However, in 1979 ANZIAM was organised by the Sydney Branch of the division of applied mathematics.
| Year | Main organising group |
|---|---|
| 1972 | University of Wollongong |
| 1973 | Newcastle University |
| 1976 | CSIRO |
| 1977 | University of New South Wales |
| 1979 | Sydney Branch |
| 1982 | University of Wollongong |
Todate, I have not tracked down any concrete information about the
`early days' of the branch. Ian Sloan
(email) told me that
I was significantly involved with ANZIAM
itself (or rather its predecessor) from around 1976, but not directly with
the NSW branch. I did attend some annual meetings, though, from memory of
which I would say that the branch was for many years close to inactive.
There was no activity in the Sydney Branch in 1999. At the ANZIAM AGM in 2000 Charlie Macaskill stated that "he had taken on board the advice that a `Careers Evening' type event should be arranged and a website set up" (Minutes, 2000) 2. He also suggested that the name of the branch be amended to the NSW Branch sometime in the future. 2. I believe that there was no branch activity throughout 2000 because at ANZIAM 2001 (3-7 February, Barossa Valley) it was announced that the Sydney branch of ANZIAM would be reactivated with a meeting at `The Entrance' (de Mestre, appendix B).
Neville de Mestre (Bond University, Queensland) re-launched the NSW ANZIAM branch by organising the 2001 branch meeting at the The Entrance RSL on the NSW Central Coast. (3-4 November). One of the reasons for choosing this location was Neville hoped that it would entice academics to attend from Newcastle (de Mestre, 2009). The meeting program does not include a delegate list, but there were at least 183 attendees (BOU 1, CSIRO 1, DSTO 1, MQU 1, UNC 2, USN 7, UoW 3, UTS 1, UNSW 1). There were fourteen talks, including four from students. Although not the fewest number of student presentations, there were identical numbers in 2003, 2004 and 2006, this is the lowest number of student talks as a percentage. The student prize was awarded to Raseelo Moitsheki (UoW).
In 2002 the branch had a very successful meeting at Bannisters Point. There were 33 registered delegates, although only 30 attended the meeting (Sexton 2002) - the figure of thirty remained a record until the 2011 branch meeting. The registered delegates included 20 (!) from Sydney University, 7 from the University of Wollongong and 3 from the Australian Defence Force Academy. There was one delegate each from Canon, DSTO and the University of New South Wales. The number of presentations at this meeting would not be surpassed until the 2008 branch meeting. The winner of the best student presentation was Alex Antic (UoW) who was given a $100 prize. At this distance in time (19.12.11) I do not remember how the best student presentation was determined. It was something along the lines of "write the names of the two best speakers onto a piece of paper". I also do not remember if only non-students voted or if everyone voted.
Geoff Aldis brought a computer projector, but the delegates were informed
that
"There is no guarantee that it will work, so bring slides for
backup".
(The program does not say who was providing the laptop).
The meeting was held in the very uncharacteristic month of May!
2003 meeting. The nationalistic editors of the Gazette removed the final paragraph from the report (Nelson 2003).
Missing paragraph was
The conference dinner was started half-an-hour early so that the delegates could watch as much of the Rugby World Cup Final as possible. A partisan crowd at the RSL club enjoyed an excellent game and although many were disappointed by the result it seemed to this observer that the outcome was most agreeable.
ANZIAM 2004. Professor Hill commented that $500 was sought for 2004
activities. The $500 was paid.
"... the chair asked for comment on the requests from various Branches
for membership lists.
A/Professor Weber suggested an automated list server, on the
ANZIAM website, might allow all that was required. Professor Taylor and
Dr Clarke agreed to bring a proposal to the Executive Committee as soon as
possible.
Minutes of the Twenty-Ninth General Meeting of ANZIAM (02/02/2004)
as reported at the Twenty-Seventh General Meeting of ANZIAM
(01/02/2005, item 2).
ANZIAM 2005. $500 requested, but it appears that nothing was paid.
There was no branch activity in 2006 and at the 2007 ANZIAM no request
was made for funding due to sufficient existing funds.
In the "Report on NSW ANZIAM 2006" presented at the ANZIAM meeting in
February 2007 it was announced
"An email list of NSW ANZIAM members is to be generated.
In the first instance this is to be used to solicit nominations
for a new NSW ANZIAM committee."
The road to email nirvana was paved with good intentions...
In 2007 the NSW and ACT branches organised a joint meeting at the University of Wollongong (10th December). There were 15 delegates (ADFA 7, UoW 7, USN 1). There were ten talks, including six from students. The prize for the best student talk was given to Mr Alex Badran (UoW), who had just completed the second-year of his undergraduate degree! Alex talked about a research problem in financial mathematics that he had investigated during an elective.
In 2008 the NSW and ACT branches organised a joint meeting at the Coachhouse Marina Resort in Batemans Bay (21-22 November). There were 22 delegates (ADFA 5, CSIRO 1, ANU 9, misc 1, UoW 6). There were eighteen talks, including ten from students. It was recognised at the meeting that the standard of student talks was very high. The prize for the best student talk was shared between Mr Aaron Thornton (UoW) and Ms Chin Foon Khoo (ANU). Ms Roslyn Hickson (ADFA) was highly commended for her talk. The winners each received a cheque for $100 whilst Ms Hickson received a cheque for $50. All three also received certificates.
Dr Bob Anderssen was unable to attend the first day of the meeting, he attended a meeting in Ballarat. Flying back to Canberra on the Friday his plane was delayed by 90 minutes. He got up in the early hours of Saturday morning, drove through thunderous rain and arrived for the start of the first session. He arrived before some of the delegates staying locally! He gave the final presentation of the meeting on "Modelling Gene Silencing".
The report that appeared in the Gazette (Nelson, 2009b) included two photographs. The first shows the winners of the best student talk. The second shows Dr Bob Anderssen (winner of the ``The Most Heroic Attendee''), Associate Professor Harvinder Sidhu (ACT organiser) and Professor Brain Gray. Three photographs taken at the meeting are available on the NSW ANZIAM image gallery. (The photographs on the LHS and RHS of the image gallery correspond to the two photographs that appeared in the Gazette article).
In 2009 the NSW and ACT branches organised a joint meeting at the Coachhouse Marina Resort in Batemans Bay (4-5 December). The organising committee for the mini-meeting comprised Dr M.I. Nelson (UoW) and Dr H.S. Sidhu (UNSW@ADFA). Thirteen delegates from NSW (UoW 12, misc 1) and ten from the ACT (UNSW@ADFA 5, CSIRO 1, ANU 3, Geosciences Australia 1) attended the meeting. There were eighteen talks, including thirteen from students. The students presentations were all of a high calibre. The prize for the best student talk was given to Mr Alex Badran, an honours student from UoW. This was the second time that Alex had won the prize, and he was not yet a postgraduate student! Mr Ahmed Msmali (UoW) and Mr Thiansiri Luangwilai (UNSW at ADFA) were highly commended for their talk. Alex received $200 (cash). All three will also receive certificates.
The report that appeared in the Gazette (Nelson, 2009b) included one photograph. This showed all the attendees of the conference except for one - the photographer! For a bonus mark. Identify the photographer. Two photographs taken at the meeting are available on the NSW ANZIAM image gallery. (The photograph on the RHS shows Bob Anderssen, the chair of the student prize committee, shaking the hand of Alex Badran, winner of the best student talk. The photograph on the RHS shows the delegates minus the photographer).
In 2010 the NSW and ACT branches organised a joint meeting at the Berry Village Boutique Motel in Berry (3-4 December). The organising committee for the mini-meeting comprised Dr M.I. Nelson (UoW), Dr H.S. Sidhu (UNSW@ADFA) and Dr N. Thamwattana (UoW). Twelve delegates from NSW (UoW 11, USN 1) and six from the ACT (UNSW@ADFA 5, ANU 1) attended the meeting. There were thirteen talks, including ten from students. The opening presentation was given by the President of ANZIAM and the closing presentation by the Secretary of ANZIAM. The students presentations were all of a high calibre. The prize for the best student talk was given to Mr Thiansiri Luangwilai, a PhD student from UNSW@ADFA. Thiansiri was highly commended at last year's meeting. Mr Thien Tran-Duc and Ms Fainida Rahmat (both UoW) were highly commended for their talks. Thiansiri received $100 (cash) and the two highly commendeds $50 each. All three will also receive certificates.
The report that appeared in the Gazette (Thamwattana & Nelson, 2011) included one photograph. This showed all the attendees of the conference except for one - the photographer! For a bonus mark. Identify the photographer. winners of the best student talk. The photograph that appeared in the Gazette is also available on the NSW ANZIAM image gallery.
The only problem that the organising committee experience was regard to publicising the meeting. In previous years the meeting was advertises through the Australian Mathematical Society (AUST-MS) email list. In 2010 the Secretary of the AUST-MS declined to forward our email notice to the AUST-MS email list on the grounds that this list was reserved for matters of ``national interest''.
In 2011 the NSW and ACT branches organised a joint meeting at the Murramarang Beachfront Nature Resort in South Durras (24-25 November). The organising committee for the mini-meeting comprised Dr M.I. Nelson (UoW) and Dr H.S. Sidhu (UNSW@ADFA), There were thirteen delegates from NSW (UoW 6, USN 4, UNSW 3), sixteen from the ACT (UNSW@ADFA 10, ANU 6) and two international delegates (Germany and Japan). This was the largest meeting in the period 1999-2011, as although the 2002 meeting had two more registered delegates only thirty people attended the meeting.
There were sixteen talks, including ten from students. The students presentations were all of a high calibre. The prize for the best student talk was given to Ms Hamizah Mohd Safuan, a PhD student from UNSW, Canberra. Mr Luke Sciberras (UoW) and Mr Matthias Wong (ANU) were highly commended for their talks Hamizah received $100 (cash) and the two highly commendeds $50 each. All three will also receive certificates.The 2011 AGM marked the end of the `Wollongong era' with the election of Associate Professor John Murray (UNSW) as the branch President. Thus ended the University of Wollongong run of branch presidents going over the era 2004-2011. Finally, no-one present at the 2011 meeting attended the 2001 meeting.
One photographs taken at the meeting is available on the NSW ANZIAM image gallery.
2012. First meeting to have a web-page? Ran by John Murray at UNSW,
| Year | Chair | Secretary | Treasurer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Charlie Macaskill (?) | ||
| 2002 | Jane Sexton (?) | ||
| 2003 | Charlie Macaskill | Jane Sexton | Peter Buchan |
| 2004 | Tim Marchant | Jane Sexton | Peter Buchan |
| 2005 | Tim Marchant | Peter Buchan | |
| 2006 | Tim Marchant | Peter Buchan | |
| 2007 | Mark Nelson | Peter Buchan | |
| 2008 | Mark Nelson | Grant Cox | William Bertram |
| 2009 | Grant Cox | Mark Nelson | Charlie Macaskill |
| 2010 | Grant Cox | Mark Nelson | Charlie Macaskill |
| 2011 | Natalie Thamwattana | Mark Nelson | Charlie Macaskill |
| 2012 | John Murray | Mark Nelson | Charlie Macaskill |
| 2013 | John Murray | Mark Nelson | Martin Wechselberger |
| Ordinary committee members | |
|---|---|
| Year | Members |
| 2004 | Ian Benn, Barrie Fraser, Mark Nelson. |
| 2009 | Natalie Thamwattana |
| 2010 | Natalie Thamwattana |
| 2011 | Grant Cox, Mary Myerscough |
| 2012 | Natalie Thamwattana |
| 2013 | Timothy Ling |
| Year | Location | Date | Delegates | Presentations | Misc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | No meeting organised | ||||
| 2000 | No meeting organised | ||||
| 2001 | Tuggerah Lake Memorial Club, The Entrance | 3-4/11/2001 | 18B1 | 14 (4) | |
| 2002 | Bannisters Point, Mollymook | 25-26/05/2002 | 33 | 15 (9) | |
| 2003 | Mittagong | 22-23/11/2003 | 18 | 9 (4) | ACT |
| 2004 | Vincentia Golf Club, Jervis Bay | 26-27/11/2004 | c. 25 | 10 (4) | ACT |
| 2005 | No meeting organised | ||||
| 2006 | Vincentia Golf Club, Jervis Bay | 8-9/12/2006 | c. 25 | 9 (4) | ACT |
| 2007 | University of Wollongong | 10/12/2007 | 15 | 10 (6) | ACT |
| 2008 | Coachhouse Marina Resort, Batemans Bay | 21-22/11/2008 | 22 | 18 (10) | ACT |
| 2009 | Coachhouse Marina Resort, Batemans Bay | 4-5/12/2009 | 23 | 18 (13) | ACT |
| 2010 | Berry Village Boutique Motel, Berry | 3-4/12/2010 | 18 | 14 (10) | ACT |
| 2011 | Murramarang Beachfront Nature Resort, South Durras | 24-25/11/2011 | 31 | 16 (10) | ACT |
| 2012 | University of New South Wales | 24-25/11/2011 | 42 | 26 (16) | ACT. http://conferences.science.unsw.edu.au/ANZIAMNSW2012/program.php |
| Year | Winner(s) | Institution | Highly Commended | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | No meeting | |||
| 2000 | No meeting | |||
| 2001 | Raseelo Moitsheki P1 | University of Wollongong | ||
| 2002 | Alex Antic | University of Wollongong | William Bertram | University of Sydney |
| Tim Schaerf | University of Sydney | |||
| 2003 | Bronwyn Bradshaw | University of Wollongong | ||
| 2004 | Paul-James White | University of Wollongong | ||
| 2005 | No meeting | |||
| 2006 | Barry Cox | University of Wollongong | ||
| 2007 | Alex Bardan | University of Wollongong | ||
| Roslyn Hickson | UNSW@ADFA | |||
| 2008 | Aaron Thornton | University of Wollongong | Roslyn Hickson | UNSW@ADFA |
| Chin Foon Khoo | Australian National University | |||
| 2009 | Alex Badran | University of Wollongong | Ahmed Msmali | University of Wollongong |
| Thiansiri Luangwilai | UNSW@ADFA | |||
| 2010 | Thiansiri Luangwilai | UNSW@ADFA | Thien Tran-Duc | University of Wollongong |
| Fainida Rahmat | University of Wollongong | |||
| 2011 | Ms Hamizah Mohd Safuan | UNSW, Canberra | Luke Sciberras | University of Wollongong |
| Mr Matthias Wong | Australian National University | |||
| 2011 | Ms Lucia-Marie Billie Ganendran | UNSW, Canberra | Mr Stephen Maher | University of New South Wales |
| Mr Wilson Wee | UNSW, Canberra |
| Year | Committee | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | ??? | ||
| 2002 | no committee - see text! | ||
| 2003 | Bob Anderssen (CSIRO) | ||
| 2009 | Bob Anderssen (CISRO) | Brian Gray (retired) | Jonathan Griffin (Geosciences Australia) |
| 2010 | Geoff Mercer (ANU) | ||
| 2011 | Songping Zhu (UoW) | Harvinder Sidhu (UNSW, Canberra) | |
| 2012 | Roslyn Hickson (Newcastle) | Jason Sharples (UNSW, Canberra) | Annette Worthy (Wollongong) |
| Year | Speaker | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | No meeting organised | |
| 2000 | No meeting organised | |
| 2001 | Dr John Croucher | Macquarie |
| 2002 | No invited speaker | |
| 2003 | Dr Bob Anderssen | CSIRO |
| 2004 | ??? | ??? |
| 2005 | No meeting organised | |
| 2006 | Professor Venkat Subramanian | Tennessee Tech University, USA |
| 2007 | Dr Miccal Matthews | University of Wollongong |
| 2008 | No invited speaker | |
| 2009 | No invited speaker | |
| 2010 | No invited speaker | |
| 2011 | No invited speaker | |
| 2012 | A/P Andrew Francis | University of Western Sydney |
| A/P Geoff Mercer | Australian National University | |
| Professor Natashia Boland | University of Newcastle | |
| Year | Award | Winner | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Most Heroic Attendee | Dr Bob Anderssen | CSIRO |
I thought it would be interesting to keep a record of how much money the branch has asked for from ANZIAM, and how much money ANZIAM has given the branch.
| Year | $ requested | $ given |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | $500 | ??? |
| 2005 | $500 | $0 |
| 2006 | $0 | $0 |
| 2007 | $0 | $0 |
| 2008 | $600 | $600 |
| 2009 | $1500 | $1500 |
| 2010 | $2000 | |
| 2013 | $3000 | $2200 |
| Year | Full Fee | ANZIAM | Student | Former ANZIAM | Accompanying |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Member | Chair | Person | ||
| 2002 | ??? (conference dinner was $45) | ||||
| 2001 | $30 | $20 | $20 | -- | $30 |
| 2008 | $50 | ?? | $25 | -- | $30 |
| 2009 | $50 | $25 | $20 | $20 | $30 |
| 2010 | $50 | $25 | $0/25 * | $25 | $35 |
| 2011 | $150 | $100 | $90 | $90 | $40 |
| 2012 | $60 | $30 | $0/30 * | $60 | $60 |
| ADFA | Australian Defence Force Academy |
| ANU | Australian National University |
| BOU | Bond University |
| CSIRO | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation |
| DSTO | Defence Science and Technology Organisation |
| MQU | Macquarie University |
| UNC | University of Newcastle |
| UNSW | University of New South Wales |
| UNSW at ADFA | University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy |
| UNSW, Canberra | University of New South Wales, Canberra |
| UoW | University of Wollongong |
| USN | University of Sydney |
| UTS | University of Technology, Sydney |
Dr Grant Cox informed me that there was a branch meeting in 2001 and Dr Bronwyn Hajek supplied me with a copy of the program. Neville de Mestre (email) filled in many of the missing details. Raseelo (Joel) Moitsheki (email) claimed the prize for the best student prize at the meeting.
This shows the sources that I have used to write this document.
Contains the branch report that is tabled at the AGM and is unlikely to contain anything else.
The branch is supposed to submit a report each year to the ANZIAM executive, which is printed for both the executive meeting and for the ANZIAM AGM. Reports appeared in: 2005-2009. Reports did no appear in: 2001. I've listed the reports that appeared under the names of the author's elsewhere in this bibliography.
It is sometimes useful to read the minutes of the previous general meeting. This is usually item 2 on the agenda. For instance, the minutes of the 2000 meeting (distributed at the 2001 general meeting) contain a report of what was said by Dr Charlie Macaskill about branch activities in 1999.
A detailed reading of the Gazette might reveal a treasure trove of information about the branch. Due to lack of time I have just looked through the index of each issue. That this is problematic is illustrated by the branch report for the 2003 meeting which was printed in the "News" section rather than as an indexed article. (I knew that the 2003 branch meeting report appeared in the Gazette because I wrote it!)
You can download this document from the ANZIAM web-page at http://www.anziam.org.au/myfiles/uploads/AMC-1966-1984.pdf.
The information on NSW ANZIAM in this book came from Braddock's article
This article is available on the web at: http://www.austms.org.au/Publ/Gazette/2010/May10/CommsANZIAM.pdf .
The financial statement should appear as part of the branch submission to the AGM, but this does not always happen.
You can download this document from the ANZIAM web page at http://www.anziam.org.au/myfiles/uploads/AnziamHistory.doc .