Prof Nalini Joshi Wins Eureka Prize For Mentoring Researchers

Professor Nalini Joshi AO has won the 2018 Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentorship of Young Researchers.

Who is Nalini Joshi?

Professor Joshi is a mathematician and a Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellow. She is a Professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sydney. She is the first woman in the School to hold this position. For 14 years, she was the only woman to serve in the department. The department got another woman in the department only in July this year.

It’s looking mighty fine this morning #Eureka18 pic.twitter.com/fIlU8QF5Cx

— Nalini Joshi (@monsoon0) August 29, 2018

Joshi is also a past-president of the Australian Mathematical Society, besides being a member of the School's Applied Mathematics Research Group.

With SAGE she's a mentor to several young women

In 2015, Joshi co-founded and co-chaired the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) program. SAGE works to increase retention of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields using Athena SWAN principles. She is serving as a member of the SAGE Expert Advisory Group since 2016, 

Professor Nalini Joshi AO @Sydney_Uni wins the 2018 @UTSEngage Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers. Learn more: https://t.co/9NRtBEbCaV #Eureka18 #EurekaPrizes pic.twitter.com/5ZZuDxl0wL

— AM Eureka Prizes (@eurekaprizes) August 29, 2018

She earned her Bachelor of Science with honours in 1981 at the University of Sydney. The professor also holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University. She has also been honoured with an AO. The AO (Order of Australia) is an order of chivalry established to recognise Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or meritorious service. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales (FRSN).

An amazing result as four of our scientists won #Eureka18 Prizes last night - the ‘Oscars of science’!
Huge congratulations to Nalini Joshi, Thomas Maschmeyer, Liz New and Tony Weiss! https://t.co/9Rv74YYVYT pic.twitter.com/rzit2lMrK1

— Sydney Science (@Sydney_Science) August 29, 2018

The International Mathematical Union elected her has the Vice-President in July 2018. Prof Joshi, in an interview to AMSI Higher ED, spoke about getting recognition as a Woman of Influence. She believes her passion for maths can help her lift others and help them embrace the subject.

“I hope that this recognition will enable me to spread my message about mathematics more widely in Australia and elsewhere,” she told Indian Link. “I would like to tell everyone how human mathematics is. It is not an esoteric and elitist pursuit, but a beautiful creation of the human mind, which has turned out to be useful in all walks of life,” she said.