Person

Praeger, Cheryl Elisabeth (1948 - )

AC FAA

Born
7 September 1948
Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Occupation
Mathematician and University Administrator

Summary

Cheryl Praeger was Winthrop Professor of Mathematics at the University of Western Australia from 2009 to 2017. She has published widely in the fields of algebra, group theory and combinatorics, devising new theories and algorithms. Her research has led to significant new directions for mathematicians and transformed the teaching of algebra. Praeger has held executive office in a number of Australian and international mathematical organisations, and been involved in the teaching of mathematics at secondary school level. In 2017 the Australian Mathematics Trust inaugurated the Cheryl Praeger Medal to be awarded to top performing girls in Australian Mathematics Competition.

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Details

Chronology

1970
Education - Bachelor of Science with Honours (BSc (Hons)) completed at the University of Queensland
1972
Education - Master of Science (MSc) completed at the University of Queensland
1972
Education - Master of Science (MSc) completed at Oxford
1973 - 1975
Career position - Research Fellow in the Department of Mathematics at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Australian National University
1974
Education - Doctor of Philosophy (Dphil) completed in Oxford
1976 - 1981
Career position - Lecturer in Mathematics at the University of Western Australia
1982 - 1983
Career position - Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia
1983 - 2009
Career position - Professor of Mathematics at the University of Western Australia
1984
Career position - Director of the Combinatorial Mathematics Society of Australasia
1984 - 1987
Career position - Member (part-time), Commonwealth Schools Commission
1987 - 2004
Career position - Member, London Mathematical Society
1988
Career position - Director of Data Analysis Australia Pty. Ltd.
1989
Education - Doctor of Science (DSc) received from the University of Western Australia
1989 - 1992
Career position - Member, Australian Science and Technology Council
1992 -
Career position - Member of the Board, Australian Mathematics Trust
1992
Career position - Director of the Combinatorial Mathematics Society of Australasia
1992 - 1994
Career position - President of the Australian Mathematical Society
1992 - 1994
Career position - Head of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Western Australia
1993
Award - Honorary DSc, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand
1994 - 1995
Career position - Chair, Advisory Council, National Strategy Research of Mathematical Sciences
1994 - 1995
Career position - Member, Consultative Council, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University
1994 - 1997
Career position - Member, Research Advisory Council, School of Mathematical Science, Australian National University
1996 -
Career position - Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
1996 - 1998
Career position - Dean, Postgraduate Research Studies, University of Western Australia
1996 - 2001
Career position - Deputy Chair, Australian Mathematics Olympiad Committee
1996 - 2005
Career position - Honorary Research Affiliate, Australian National University
1997 - 2005
Career position - Member, Senate, University of Western Australia
1999
Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to mathematics, particularly in the areas of research and education and through professional organisations
1999 - 2003
Career position - Member of Council, Australian Academy of Science
2000 - 2012
Career position - Member, International Advisory Board, New Zealand Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
2001 -
Career position - Chair, Australian Mathematics Olympiad Committee
2001
Award - Centenary Medal for service to Australian society and science in mathematics
2001 - 2004
Career position - Joint Editor-in-Chief, Journal of algebraic combinatorics
2002 -
Career position - Foundation Board Member, Australian Mathematics Trust
2003 - 2006
Career position - Deputy Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, University of Western Australia
2004 -
Award - Honorary Member, London Mathematics Society
2005
Award - DHC honorary doctorate, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
2007 -
Career position - Editor-in-Chief, Australian Mathematical Society Lecture Series
2007
Award - ARC Professorial Fellow, University of Western Australia
2007 - 2014
Career position - Member-at-Large, Executive Committee, International Mathematical Union
2008 - 2012
Career position - Member, International Commission for Mathematical Instruction
2009 -
Career position - Director, Centre for Mathematics of Symmetry and Computation, University of Western Australia
2009
Award - Western Australia Scientist of the Year
2009 - 2010
Career position - Member, Australian Council of Heads of Mathematical Sciences
2009 - 2012
Award - ARC Federation Fellow
2009 - 2017
Career position - Winthrop Professor of Mathematics, University of Western Australia
2010
Award - B. H. Neumann Award for Excellence in Mathematics Enrichment (jointly), Australian Mathematics Trust
2010 - 2012
Career position - Member, International Science Council Coordination Committee
2011
Award - Moyal Medal and Lecture, Macquarie University
2011
Award - Euler Medal, Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications
2011 - 2013
Career position - Member, Australian Research Council College of Experts
2011 - 2013
Career position - Chair, Advisory Board, Centre for Industry and Applied Mathematics, University of South Australia
2013 -
Award - Fellow, American Mathematics Society
2013 -
Award - Honorary Life Member, Australian Mathematical Society
2013
Award - Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal, Australian Academy of Science
2013 - 2016
Career position - Vice-President, International Commission for Mathematical Instruction
2014
Award - George Szekeres Medal, Australian Mathematical Society
2014 - 2018
Career position - Member, Advisory Committee for International Matters, Australian Academy of Science
2014 - 2018
Career position - Foreign Secretary, Australian Academy of Science
2014 - 2018
Career position - Member of Council, Australian Academy of Science
2015 -
Award - Honorary Member, London Mathematical Society
2015
Award - Mehdi Bezhad Prize, Iranian Mathematical Society
2015
Award - Inducted into Western Australian Science Hall of Fame
2015
Award - Hon DSc, St Andrews University, Scotland
2017
Career position - Emeritus Professor, University of Western Australia
2017
Award - Australian Mathematics Trust named Cheryl Praeger Medal to be awarded to top performing girls in Australian Mathematics Competition
2019
Award - Prime Minister's Prize for Science, Commonwealth of Australia
2021
Award - Companion of the Order of Australia (AO) for eminent service to mathematics, and to tertiary education, as aleading academic and researcher, to international organisations, and as a champion of women in STEM careers
2021
Award - Inaugural Ruby Scott-Payne Medal and Lecture, Australian Academy of Science
2023
Award - Fellow, International Science Council

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

Private hands (Praeger, C.E.)

  • Cheryl Elisabeth Praeger - Records, 1973 - 1987; Private hands (Praeger, C.E.). Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

  • McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Books

  • Bhathal, Ragbir, Profiles, Australian women scientists (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1999), 191 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Praeger, C. E.; and Ward, L. A., 'Women in Mathematics Special Interest Group of the Australian Mathematical Society' in Fifty years of women in mathematics, Beery, J. L.; Greenwald, S. J.; and Kessel, C., eds (Springer, 2022), pp. 1029-49. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82658-1_88. Details

Journal Articles

  • Anon, 'Our leading lady [Cheryl Praeger]', Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society, 45 (1) (2021), 21-2. Details
  • Praeger, Cheryl E., 'Bernhard Hermann Neumann AC. 15 October 1909 - 21 October 2002', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 56 (2010), 285-316. Details
  • Praeger, Cheryl E., 'Bernhard Hermann Neumann 1909-2002', Historical Records of Australian Science, 21 (2) (2010), 253-82, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR09021. Details
  • Praeger, Cheryl E., 'J. P. O. (Phil) Silberstein 1920 - 2016', Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society, 43 (2) (2016), 112-3. Details
  • Praeger, Cheryl E.; and Saxon, Stephen A., 'Wendy Robertson 1927 - 2016', Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society, 44 (1) (2017), 29-32. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023

EOAS ID: biogs/P001444b.htm

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