Governance & Committee

STEM ENRICHMENT ACADEMY

Governance & Committee

Flinders University with support from the Department of Industry and Science and a Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship (WiSE) grant, is able to offer our ‘STEM Enrichment Academy program for Year 9 girls only.

Building on our success from 2021, we aim to deliver hands-on activities and opportunities to engage female students across South Australia and Northern Territory in STEM.

Governance and Committee Members

The Governance and Committee members for the STEM Enrichment Academy are responsible for delivering programs to year 9 girls and their teachers in South Australia and Northern Territory. The Academy, funded through an Australian Government Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship (WISE) grant, is dedicated to equipping students and teachers with the skills, knowledge, and opportunities necessary to excel in STEM fields. The Governance Committee serves as the driving force behind the academy's mission, ensuring its effective administration and successful implementation of STEM enrichment programs. Through their dedication and expertise, they provide the guidance and strategic direction needed to empower the next generation of female scientists, engineers, and innovators.

Prof Maria Parappilly OAM

Rahul Choudhary - STEM Enrichment Academy Flinders University

Director and Chief Investigator: STEM Enrichment Academy

Professor Parappilly is a Physicist at Flinders University and a passionate advocate for advancing women in STEM. Maria also led the Australian Government WISE grant funded STEM Enrichment Academy-Phase I (2018-2021) to support increased participation of girls and women in STEM.

She received her Ph.D. in Theoretical Particle Physics from the University of Adelaide in 2006. Maria is making physics accessible, researching the effectiveness of various innovations she implements, most innovations have been evaluated, disseminated, and published and have had a global impact. Her teaching excellence and influential leadership have been recognised with numerous awards, honours, and fellowship including, being awarded a Medal of Order of Australia in 2020 for her service to science education and women, being named as The Advertiser Woman of the year- Top Innovator in 2019, being elected as a Fellow of Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) in 2018, receiving the AIP Physics Education Medal for outstanding contribution to physics education in Australia (2018), being awarded the international D2L Innovation Award in Teaching and Learning by STLHE Canada (2017), being named as the South Australian STEM Educator of the year (2015), inducting into South Australian Women's Honour Roll (2017). In 2021, The STEM Enrichment Academy-Phase I has recognised as a finalist in the STEM inclusion category of the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes.

Maria was formerly the STEM education research head at Flinders, and the Chair of the Physics Education group of the AIP. She shares her expertise on national, international physics education and course accreditation committees. Her research also shares ways to interest girls in STEM and enrichment interventions.

https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/maria.parappilly

Prof Claire Lenehan

Dean (Research) College of Science and Engineering

An award winning teacher, who has provided sustained leadership and fostered excellence in the teaching of Chemistry and Forensic Science since her appointment at Flinders in 2005. As the Forensic and Analytical Chemistry Course Coordinator (Oct 2008 - Dec 2013), she led a major redevelopment of the entire undergraduate teaching Program. She is currently responsible for teaching in Physical and Analytical Chemistry and Forensic Science across 2nd, 3rd, and honours years. Prof Lenehan is currently Research Section Head, Molecular Sciences & Technology at Flinders.

Em Prof David Day

Matthew Flinders Distinguished Emeritus Professor, College of Science & Engineering

Flinders University Research Areas include: Biochemistry and molecular biology of plants: mitochondrial metabolism and electron, transport; symbiotic nitrogen fixation; nutrient transport across plant membranes; organelle biogenesis and interactions. Other appointments include: Secretary for Science Policy, Australian Academy of Science, Visiting Fellow, Australian National University Adjunct Professor, Latrobe University. David was Deputy Vice Chancellor and Vice President (research) at Flinders form 2009 - 2015

Prof Richard Woodman

Professor in Biostatistics & Epidemiology College of Medicine and Public Health

Richard has expertise in the design and analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational studies and a broad range of biostatistical techniques. His current interests include the use of supervised machine learning algorithms in Python and latent class analysis using Mplus and Stata software, and my current epidemiological focuses include nutrition and hospital mortality. He is a recognised expert in the reporting of indicators of patient safety including Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios (HSMR’s) and is a member of the ACSQHC Patient Safety Reporting Committee tasked with defining KPI’s for patient safety.

Vanessa Lobban

Digital Communications and Project Specialist

An experienced digital and marketing professional with a background in web and digital project management, marketing automation, content creation and leading digital teams. She has worked in a range of corporate environments as well as education and government. Vanessa is passionate about education and the role it can play in changing futures for young people.

Susanne Sahlos

STEM Enrichment Phase II Project Officer

Dr Rahul Choudhary

STEM Enrichment Academy
Lecturer and Teaching Specialist

Rahul has a background in physics with a specialisation in Optics but his love for teaching led him to pursue a PhD at the Einstein-First project. He has experience in working in the industry as well as the academia.

He specialises in developing innovative hands-on learning resources for teaching science, and physics in particular. He has worked as a research associate and has also undertaken casual teaching roles at The University of Western Australia (UWA). He has also collaborated with universities and academic organisations such as Swinburne University of Technology, University of Hildesheim, University of Oslo, LIGO and OzGrav. Rahul has taught and evaluated undergraduate physics courses at UWA.

He has designed and delivered numerous teacher professional development programmes and science enrichment workshops across Australia. Rahul has worked as a curriculum developer and educator in the industry with companies such as Singular Health Limited and Fizzics Education for developing educational technology resources and active learning resources.

Expressions of interest

If you and your school are interested in participating the STEM Enrichment Academy Phase II, please complete the expression of interest form below.

Partnering with the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science

This project is supported by the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources through the Women in STEM Entrepreneurship program.