The Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) was established in 2002 in response to a need for collaboration in the mathematical sciences to strengthen mathematics and statistics especially in the universities. The Fields Institute and the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences have influenced AMSI's structure and operations.
Contents
- Mission Statement
- Activities
- School Education Program
- Research
- Higher Education
- Industry Business and Government Program
- AMSI Intern
- Full Members
- Associate Members
- Society and Agency Members
- References
AMSI has a membership that includes most Australian universities, CSIRO, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Bureau of Meteorology and Defence Science and Technology Organisation. AMSI is located at the University of Melbourne campus.
Mission Statement
The radical improvement of mathematical sciences capacity and capability in the Australian community through:
Activities
AMSI pursues its mission through its three key program areas:
School Education Program
AMSI's School Education program was established in 2004 under the International Centre of Excellence for Education in Mathematics (ICE-EM). Through ICE-EM a sequence of high-quality mathematics texts, teacher resources and professional development for school years 5-10 were developed.
In 2009 the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations provided funding for the extension of ICE-EM activities under The Improving Mathematics Education in Schools (TIMES) project. This funded an expansion of the teach professional development program across Australia, the development of teacher resource modules for years 5-10, and Maths: Make your career count - a suite of materials to promote careers in mathematics.
In work by Frank Barrington and Peter Brown, ICE-EM collected and published data on national enrolments in mathematics at year 12 and made a careful state-by-state comparison of year 12 curricula.
In 2015 AMSI launched the Choose Maths program. Supported by the BHP Billiton Foundation, they will work with students, parents and teachers over five years through a program of professional development, awareness and reward to turn around community attitude to participation in mathematics, especially for girls and young women.
The program will address issues in the mathematics pipeline across four components in particularly women and girls participation in mathematics:
A. Mathematics-Ready Teacher Professional development: AMSI Specialists will work in 120 schools in 5 regions across Australia to enhance teacher knowledge and confidence in mathematics
B. Women in Mathematics Career Awareness Campaign: A nation-wide awareness campaign to educate and excite the public with the knowledge of the importance of mathematics and an understanding that mathematics enhances career options and is a critical choice pathway to STEM
C. Inspiring Women in Mathematics Network: A role-model network will be established to inspire school girls and young women to seek the opportunities mathematics offers
D. Annual BHP Billiton Awards for Excellence in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics: Choose Maths will reward students, teachers and schools who are highly successful in motivating, inspiring and preparing students, particularly female students, through gender-sensitive teaching of mathematics
Research
The AMSI Research Program expands and improves the mathematical sciences research base in Australia. The program promotes collaboration between member institutions and with distinguished international researchers and gives students at member institutions networking opportunities.
AMSI provides workshop sponsorship allocated through its Scientific Advisory Committee to AMSI Members. AMSI also sponsors annual AMSI Lecturers and the AustMS Mahler Lecturer.
Funding from the Department of Education, Science and Training enabled the establishment of the AMSI Access Grid Room (AGR) network. The AGR network facilitates distributed lectures, teaching and research. A national program of collaborative teaching of advanced mathematics at honours level at multiple remote sites is now established.
Higher Education
The AMSI Higher Education program comprises AMSI's Flagship events:
Industry, Business and Government Program
AMSI highlights the relevance of mathematics to industry through wide-ranging industry-linked activities including:
The activities showcase the benefits of using mathematical tools in business, industry and government.
AMSI Intern
AMSI Intern is a national program that links postgraduate students and their university supervisors across all disciplines with industry partners through short-term 4-5 month tightly focused partner research internships. The postgraduate student is supported by an academic mentor from the host university throughout the internship placement period.