Multiplying factors

There is a strong touch of symmetry in Alfred Deakin Medallist Grace Jefferson's career trajectory. A former student at Geelong's Sacred Heart College, Ms Jefferson has returned to her old school as a maths teacher - and she has reintroduced specialist maths to the Year 12 curriculum.

"I wanted to push myself by doing a doctorate, to see what I could achieve," she said, "but I love teaching and I really want to encourage girls to study maths and understand the opportunities it can offer."

Ms Jefferson is one of two Alfred Deakin Medallists for PhD research in the latest round of graduations. Recipients are assessed across a range of research criteria, such as international recognition, impact (in terms of actual and potential adoption), and acknowledgement from within the profession.

She undertook her PhD within Deakin’s School of Information Technology, focussing on the use of symbolic computing to solve differential equations. She developed and wrote code to automate the calculation process, using a computer algebra system called Maple.

Ms Jefferson wrote two programs that can be applied to any physical system that has varying rates of change, such as a tornado or whirlpool, for instance.

"The programs could be applied in almost any discipline, whether it be chemistry or biology, such as in the study of the spread of disease, or in physics or astrophysics. I wanted to make it easy for someone who is not an applied mathematician to be able to solve these types of equations," she said.

The programs are currently being used by researchers around the world and have been published in "Computer Physics Communications."

Back in the school classroom - the maths may not be quite so complicated - but Ms Jefferson is enjoying the challenge of instilling a love of maths in her students.