Cheryl Praeger
| Cheryl Praeger | |
|---|---|
Cheryl Praeger (left) with Peter Neumann, Oberwolfach, 2007
|
|
| Born |
7 September 1948 Toowoomba, Queensland |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Fields | group theory, algebraic graph theory and combinatorial designs |
| Institutions | University of Western Australia |
| Alma mater | University of Queensland, University of Oxford |
| Doctoral advisor | Peter M. Neumann |
|
Website www |
|
Cheryl Elisabeth Praeger, AM, FAA, (born 7 September 1948, Toowoomba, Queensland) is an Australian mathematician. Praeger received BSc (1969) and MSc degrees from the University of Queensland (1974), and doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1973 under direction of Peter M. Neumann. She has published widely and has advised 20 PhD students (as of May 2008). She is currently a professor of mathematics at the University of Western Australia. She is best known for her works in group theory, algebraic graph theory and combinatorial designs.
Praeger completed her high school education at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. After graduating high school, Praeger went to the government vocational guidance section to inquire about how she could further study mathematics. The vocational guidance officer she spoke with tried to discourage her from studying mathematics further, suggesting she become a teacher or a nurse because two other girls who came to him wanting to study math weren't able to pass their courses. He reluctantly showed her an engineering course description, but she felt it didn't have enough mathematics. So she left without getting much information that day, but did continue on to receive her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Queensland.
Having met several women on the mathematics staff during her undergraduate studies, the prospect of becoming a mathematician didn't seem strange to her. During her first and second years she did honours studies in mathematics and physics, choosing to continue in mathematics after her second year. After completing her education at University of Queensland she was offered a research scholarship at ANU but chose instead to take the Commonwealth Scholarship to the University of Oxford and attended St Anne's College. At that point she knew she wanted to study algebra.
...
Wikipedia