AIG’s WA Branch Chair Suzy Urbaniak and Perth’s Kent Street Senior High School were announced as recipients of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching for 2016 in Canberra last night!

Suzy will share this year’s Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools with her school Kent Street Senior High School in Perth.

The prizes will be presented last night by the Prime Minister, the Hon Malcolm Turnbull, at a dinner in the Great Hall at Parliament House, Canberra.

Suzy is one of seven prize winners for 2016. They are:

• Rick Shine, defending Australia’s snakes and lizards, Prime Minister’s Prize for Science (The University of Sydney)
• Michael Aitken, making stock markets fair and efficient, Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation (Capital Markets CRC/Macquarie University)
• Colin Hall, creating manufacturing jobs by replacing glass with plastic, the inaugural Prize for New Innovators (The University of South Australia)
• Richard Payne, for re-engineering nature to fight for global health, Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year (The University of Sydney)
• Kerrie Wilson, conservation that works for government, ecosystems and people, Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year (The University of Queensland/ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions)
• Suzy Urbaniak—a geologist by trade—is turning students into scientists, Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools (Kent Street Senior High School, Perth)
• Gary Tilley, creating better science teachers, Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools (Seaforth Public School, Sydney/Macquarie University).

The Prime Minister’s Science Prizes for Science were introduced in 2000.  The prizes are awarded annually and are a public recognition and tribute to the contributions that our scientists, innovators and science teachers are making to Australia’s current and future scientific and commercialisation capabilities.

Suzy’s prize recognises:

• her inspirational development of a resources-focused Earth and Environmental Sciences curriculum to teach to students in Years 8-12;
• successful efforts in interesting students in the resources industry’s variety of geoscience, engineering and environmental career opportunities;
• her targeted and successful initiatives to encourage female and aboriginal students to study science; and
• her contributions to Earth Science education in WA.

Congratulations Suzy!