ANU Science celebrates International Girls in ICT Day 2021
The Australian National University (ANU) is proud to celebrate International Girls in ICT Day 2021 (#GirlsinICT).
While girls across the world tend to outperform boys in reading and writing skills, they continue to be under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
International Girls in ICT Day is held annually on 22 April, celebrated by the United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
It aims to inspire a global movement to increase the representation of girls and women in technology. This year marks the 10 year anniversary, with the 2021 theme of connected girls, creating brighter futures.
To celebrate International Girls in ICT Day, we're showcasing just a few of the outstanding women in our community who are studying and working in information and communication technologies and related fields.
Bettina Hill, Bachelor of Science (Advanced) alumna
I really enjoy mathematics that is linked to the real world.
Bettina ended up using her mathematical know-how to understand the different shapes of leaves.
Leaves are so varied. I used a technique called persistent homology to identifying their holes and components, to see if we could use statistics to separate out different types of leaves.
Chaitanya, PhD student, Mathematical Sciences Institute.
Maths is actually a booming field at the moment. It has such a broad scope and there are so many opportunities in it. It’s not going anywhere, except up. It’s a great, exciting, creative field to be working in.
Susanne von Caemmerer, Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Pure Mathematics in '76, PhD in Plant Physiology in '81.
Throughout my PhD at ANU, I always felt that I was participating in cutting-edge research at the Research School of Biological Sciences, then part of the Institute of Advanced Sciences – that excitement has never left me, after almost four decades of being part of ANU
Paige, Bachelor of Software Engineering/Arts '20 (ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science)
When I tell people I’m studying software engineering, they expect that I spend hours alone writing and rewriting code - but this is not the case at all! It’s engaging, interesting, fascinating, challenging and involves a lot more collaboration and teamwork than I first expected.
Tina, Bachelor of Advanced Computing (Honours)/Bachelor of Science
There’s actually a lot of humanity in computer science, which you don’t realise until you look beneath it. Computer science has completely revolutionised how the world is run today, and this isn’t going to stop anytime soon.
Elena, CEO/Founder GippsTech, PhD Computer Science ‘14 (ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science)
Computer science allows you to create things that people can use. It was more creative and real than any other subjects. My PhD at ANU taught me how to approach solving big complex problems, which was extremely valuable both in my work in developing innovative products at Google and in starting my own company.
Yaya, Bachelor of Software Engineering (Honours) ‘20 (ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science)
My degree allowed me to gain essential systems and design thinking skills, and gave me the confidence to explore both engineering and computer science. I've discovered through my internship at Google and courses at ANU that teamwork is a huge fundamental component of software development.
An Ran Chen, Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) '15
There’s a level of sophistication that really draws me to maths. Especially the idea that we have these structures and truths in mathematics, and you’re looking at this going ‘this cannot be true’. But then you’re actually like ‘this is true because I just proved it!’
Eloise, ANU mathematics alumna
In doing maths you’re not closing any doors, rather you’re opening up many more. The skills I’ve learnt through maths could be applied to a whole range of jobs, and an employer would say, ‘You’ve got maths skills yeah you might just be the person I need’.