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Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Western Australia

Professor Cheryl Praeger is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, former president of the Australian Mathematical Society (1992–1994), and was appointed as a member of the Order of Australia in 1999 for her service to mathematics in Australia, especially through research and professional associations.

In 2003 she received the Centenary Medal of the Australian Government. She was awarded an honorary DSc by the Prince of Songkla University in 1993, by the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 2005, by Yazd University in 2015 and by the University of Saint Andrews in 2015.

In 2007 she was awarded an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship, and she was the inaugural Director of the Centre for the Mathematics of Symmetry and Computation at UWA (2009-2013).

She was named WA Scientist of the Year in 2009.

In 2011 she was awarded the Moyal Medal by Macquarie University, in 2013 the Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal by the Australian Academy of Science, and in 2014 the George Szekeres Medal by the Australian Mathematical Society.

In 2012 she became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. In 2013 she was appointed an Honorary Life Member of the Australian Mathematical Society. In 2014 she was elected an Honorary Member of the London Mathematical Society.

In 2015 she was inducted into both the Western Australian Women's Hall of Fame and the Western Australian Science Hall of Fame. Also in 2015 she was awarded the Mehdi Behzad Prize of the Iranian Mathematical Society, for mathematics education and service to mathematics. She was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College Oxford in 2015-16.

Praeger's research has focussed on the theory of group actions and their applications in Algebraic Graph Theory and for Combinatorial Designs; and algorithms for group computation including questions in statistical group theory and algorithmic complexity.

Praeger has also held memberships with the Combinatorial Mathematics Society of Australasia, Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications, Australian Mathematics Trust (Board member since 1992; Chair of the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee), American Mathematical Society, the London Mathematical Society, and she was Chair of the Australian Council of Heads of Mathematical Sciences.

Her past affiliations have not been limited to academia. She was a core member of the Curriculum Development Council of the Commonwealth Schools Commission, an inaugural member of the Prime Minister's Science Council, a member of the WA Science Advisory Committee, and member of the WISET Advisory Committee to the Federal Minister for Science on participation of women in Science, Engineering, and Technology, UWA Academy of Young Mathematicians Lecturer, the Western Australian School Mathematics Enrichment Course Tutor, and Data Analysis Australia Pty Ltd. She has also served on the Australian Federation of University Women (Western Australian Branch) and the Nedlands Primary School Council.

Experience

  • –present
    Professor of Mathematics, University of Western Australia

Education

  • 1973 
    University of Oxford, DPhil

Honours

Member, Order of Australia; Centenary Medal; Certificate of Merit Royal Humane Society of NSW