2018 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science

2018 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science

 

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STELR would like to congratulate all the winners of the 2018 Prime Minister’s Science Prizes. In particular, we congratulate Dr Scott Sleap who won the Prize for Excellence in Secondary Education. Scott has been a champion of the STELR program since 2013 when he started working with Regional Development Australia– Hunter (RDA Hunter) to build a curriculum model that integrates science, technology, engineering and mathematics and brings in ‘real-world’ industry perspectives.  Scott purchased STELR equipment for RDA Hunter and was responsible for introducing STELR into many schools in the region. Scott’s model, called iSTEM, has been adopted in more than 260 schools across NSW and many of these schools are using STELR equipment as part of the program.

Scott’s work has been influential in turning around the Hunter Valley’s school science performance. Local schools in the program have seen a 19 per cent increase in Year 11 participation in STEM subjects over the course of seven years, while the state average has fallen slightly in the same period. “What I really love about my job is being able to make a difference in a young person’s life,” Scott says

Academy Fellow, Dr Simon Poole is a member of the Finisar Team that won the Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation. The team have created technologies that make global internet connections faster and more efficient. Thier light bending switches can handle one million simultaneous streaming videos,