Outreach
The Future
Young Woman's Achievements Earn Opportunity at ANU
Outreach at Work
Sally Male
Ruth
Mills has won an Australian National University (ANU) Undergraduate
Scholarship commencing in 2004, to undertake study leading to a Bachelor of
Philosophy (Honours) (Science). ANU offers up to 27 such scholarships each
year. The scholarships are worth $9300 per annum for the minimum duration of
the course, including the Honours year. The PhB is a new course. It was first
offered in 2003. Ruth explained that it is a course intended for students with
an ambition to do research. Every student has an academic supervisor and to
qualify for the degree students must complete course requirements with a High
Distinction average and must achieve first class Honours.
Ruth has excelled in Mathematics and Physics and hopes to continue her study in these disciplines. She has enrolled in the following units for first semester at ANU: 1st Year Honours Mathematics, 1st Year Advanced Physics, 2nd Year Quantum Mechanics, 2nd Year Vector Calculus and Differential Equations. Her track record is outstanding. In her final year at school, among multiple certificates of Distinction, High Distinction and Excellence in Mathematics, Science, Chemistry and German, she won:
top in the State in the Russian Academy of Sciences “Tournament of the Towns Mathematics Competition”,
the University of Western Australia (UWA) “Phill Schultz Award” for the top Mathematics students in Western Australia based on results in the Australian Mathematics Competition for Westpac Awards (in which Ruth was a prize winner for 6 consecutive years) and the Australian Mathematics Olympiad (in which Ruth won a Bronze Certificate in 2003), and
a General Exhibition, awarded to each of the top 40 students in the WA Tertiary Entrance Ranking.
Which factors motivated Ruth towards Mathematics and Physics?
Family and Teachers
Ruth said, “Mum was a positive influence. She always liked Mathematics and taught me not to be afraid of it.” Ruth’s mother said that her own motivation might have come from her father and grandfather, who were both Electrical Engineers. Ruth noted that her Principal when she was in Year 7 encouraged her to be involved in extension Mathematics through UWA. Ruth attended St Hilda’s Anglican Girls’ School on academic and music scholarships and she said that her Physics teacher, Chris Bostock , was most inspiring. He gave her extra Physics challenges, and set up a web site on which Physics students asked questions and received responses. This was particularly useful during examination periods because students did not need to visit the school to ask questions and they obtained responses quickly.
University Outreach Initiatives
Ruth was selected to attend the National Mathematics Summer School at ANU in January 2003. “We heard talks from role models who used Maths in various applications.” Ruth was one of 6 girls in a group of 12 students invited to return to the Summer School in January 2004. In July 2003 she won a scholarship to attend the Professor Harry Messel Science Summer School at the University of Sydney.
Ruth’s
Reflections after One Week
in Her Course at ANU
Ruth has enjoyed an orientation camp for PhB students, where she met 6 girls in the group of 27 first year students. Ruth said that she was interested by the presentations from senior students, about their advanced studies units.