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Elizabeth-Kate Gulland. BSc(CSc) (Hons)
Spatial Sciences Cooperative Research Centre |
E-K has been Programmer, Lecturer, website designer and maintainer, Research Assistant - all in the few short years since she graduated.
In 2006 she received the Curtin Excellence and Innovation in Teaching Award (EIT - Citation Category) (Spatial Sciences Team)
Citation: For fostering and supporting teaching staff in the development and promotion of online and interactive learning resources to engage students in their learning.
In 2004, she received the New Teacher of the Year award, Curtin Division of Resources & Environment
And in 2003 she received the Curtin Excellent & Innovation in Teaching Award (Spacial Sciences Team).
And if that were not enough, E-K also has a very active social life as fencer (sabre not fence posts), player of the double bass, and a horse rider!
Did computing prepare her for this? Maybe, maybe not, but it did not hurt!
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Valerie Maxville. BSc(CS)(Hons)
Education Program Leader for iVEC |
My career in computing began with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (Graphics) from Curtin, receiving First Class Honours with a project on Facial Animation. During my degree, part-time tutoring convinced me that my future was in academia, but I have also spent time in systems administration, IT support, image processing, web development and marketing as I explore my interests and challenge myself in different roles. I am now the Education Program Leader for iVEC – which provides cyber-infrastructure for the Universities and CSIRO and supports eResearch in Western Australia.
One of the attractions of a computing career was the opportunity to travel. With a high-quality degree from Curtin, you really can go anywhere. I have based myself in Perth, but have been able to travel to the USA, Fiji, Thailand, Canada and Israel for research and work. I am completing my PhD in Software Engineering, which keeps me on track for an academic career, and I have been teaching part-time or full-time for most of the years since I graduated. My real-world experience informs my research and teaching, and I can also take the theory into the field when I am in industry.
I believe it’s important to give back to the community that provides us opportunities, so I am an active member of the IEEE and the Australian Computer Society. Originally I organised seminars and events – helping professional development, information sharing and networking between computing professionals. Through this I realised that our industry is strongly impacted by government policy, and that we need to build an integrated system including industry, education, research, government and the wider community for the industry to grow. I now chair the ICT Industry Collaboration Centre of Western Australia (ICTICC) that brings together industry and professional associations to determine the needs of the industry and to implement initiatives. In my time with ICTICC, we have run the ICTWA Conference, organised ICT Week 2007, developed the ICTWA Portal and Careers pages, facilitated a day of ICT Careers presentations at GO3 Conference and Expo and provided a “Careers in Computing” booth at the Careers and Education Expo (2006,7,8) and at GO3.
Much of what is needed to grow the ICT industry in Western Australia requires coordination and interaction between industry, government and academia. I am passionate about the local industry and its potential, which drives me to get involved in making change happen. I have been selected for the ICT Skills Leadership Group, the Information Industries Forum, the TIAC ICT Subcommittee and am the ICT representative on the Creative and Leisure Industries Training Council. In 2008 I represented the ICT industry on the WA Mission to Israel, organised by the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce. I was also invited to the Federal Government’s Digital Economy Forum as a representative of the WA ICT industry.
I continue to be grateful for the quality of the course and the staff at the Curtin School of Computing. It is easy to move confidently when you have a strong foundation. Among the staff I found mentors and role-models: people with passion for their research and teaching that inspired me into academia. As students, we were encouraged to think, question and continuously improve – which provided a recipe for an interesting and rewarding career. |
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George Mutale. BSc (CS) (Hons)
University of Western Australia |
Currently George is a Senior Analyst Programmer, Web Developer/System Administrator at UWA. There he helps maintain UWA's online presence through the maintenance of the official content management systems and related applications. He is also Linux Systems administration and involved in Configuration and Change Management.
Through his studies here in CS at Curtin, and through continuous life-long-learning, George has a wealth of knowledge, skills and experience in
PHP,
Java,
Perl,
ASP,
C/C++,
Python,
Visual Basic 6,
Programming Frameworks such as Symfony and CodeCharge,
Linux system administration,
Requirements Gathering, Analysis and Design,
Databases such as MySQL and Microsoft Access,
GUI Toolkits,
Content Management Systems,
J2EE technology such as XML-RPC, TCP/IP, JDBC, JSP, Java Server Faces and Tomcat, and
Programming tools such as NetBeans, Eclipse, CVS, Zend Studio (IDE) and Aptana Studio. |
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Simon Beard. PhD (Curtin), BSc Hons(Computer Science) Curtin
ISA, Technology Park, Western Australia |
Simon completed his PhD in the area of Human Computer Interfaces.
His research draws upon areas such as:
- Metaphors and HCI.
- Chatterbots, interface agents and talking heads.
- Search engines, vortals, and portals.
- Technologies and standards such as XML and MPEG-7.
The culmination of these areas is the MetaFace project.
MetaFace is a combination of many existing technologies designed to bring a new metaphor and metaphor-enabling
framework to the Internet. The aim is to reduce complexity and make finding information easier, as interaction
is based on anthropomorphic (human-like) concepts. |
Research Interests
MPEG-4, Computer Graphics, Human-Computer Interfaces. |
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Industry Experience
1998-2001 HR Systems Administrator, Curtin University
1997-1998 Webmaster and Marketing Officer, Internet Services, Telecom Fiji
1995-1996 Information Systems Officer, Academic Computing Services, Edith Cowan University
1993-1994 Image Processor, World Geoscience Corporation |
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John Stallo. BSc Hons (Computer Science) Curtin
Microsoft, Redmond, Washington. |
After graduating from Curtin's School of Computing in 2000, John Stallo moved to Seattle to begin his career at Microsoft Corporation as a Program Manager. John works with teams of developers, testers, UI designers, and usability engineers to collaboratively design productivity features for Microsoft's Visual Studio product. Awarded with several patents for innovative software design, John enjoys the opportunity to work alongside some of the brightest minds in the software industry, the collaborative energy that comes from team work, and having a positive impact on millions of developers worldwide.
John remembers not having much experience in programming computers when he first began his studies at Curtin, but he attributes Curtin's strong emphasis on hands-on learning and the development of solid problem solving skills for preparing him to be successful in the workplace. He especially credits the experience, encouragement, and mentorship he received during his Honours project for putting him on the path to learn how to approach difficult technical challenges, explore interesting possibilities, and successfully drive projects. |
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| Marcus Phung. |
I am a Software Development Engineer (SDE or Dev) at Microsoft in
Seattle/Redmond, Washington. I'm currently working on developer tools
for the next version of Windows Workflow Foundation - basically helping
to create the designers used to create Workflows. These designers can be
used in Visual Studio, or rehosted to be used in a third-party
application. Currently I work mostly in C# and XAML (Extensible
Application Markup Language) - which is an XML based markup used by
Windows Presentation Foundation.
My job requires me to design, implement and test software to provide an
interface to the Windows Workflow Foundation framework. I work closely
with Program Managers (PMs, who write specifications and come up with
requirements) and Software Development Engineers in Test (SDETs or
Testers, who do more thorough testing of my software, especially when it
comes to integration and regression testing) to develop the features I
am working on.
Essentially I'm working on tools which are going to be used by other
developers. We are trying to push certain areas of software development
towards a more model oriented design - developing and creating software
by modelling the system through Workflows, rather than the more
traditional coding based development. I've always been interested in
changing and/or evolving how we do Software Engineering, and am enjoying
being part of a project that may affect how other people look and think
about developing software in the future.
My degree at Curtin has given me a solid grounding in all areas of
Software Engineering. Development at Microsoft is slightly different to
what you may expect. We are taught at Curtin to be able to solicit and
write requirements and specifications, design and implement software,
and then test and maintain said software. These roles are more
explicitly defined at Microsoft. The PM is responsible for the majority
of the customer interaction, and writing requirements and
specifications. As a Dev I take those specs, design the software and
implement it. Testers take the specs and my design and implementation,
and make sure that my implementation does what it's meant to do - as
well as work nicely with the other parts of the system. At Curtin we are
taught that as Software Engineers, we are required to perform all three
roles. This is true depending on the company - at Raytheon Australia, I
was required to perform all three roles, though companies like
Microsoft, Amazon and Google, seem to split the roles. However, the
grounding I received in my course at Curtin has been invaluable.
Though the roles are split, you do not function independently - I
collaborate closely (and on a daily basis) with my PMs and Testers.
Thanks to my education at Curtin, I am able to understand the
requirements of their jobs, and how it may or may not affect mine. In
many cases I am able to bounce ideas off my PMs or Testers and help
participate in the creation of a specification or automated tests. Much
of the work I did during my degree was done in teams - especially the
final year project. My job requires me very much to function as a team,
a unit. All the team work done at Curtin has built and fostered an
ability to be able to work and communicate effectively in a team. And if
I wanted to switch to a PM or Tester role, I feel confident that I would
be able to do so with relative ease. In these cases, my education at
Curtin was invaluable.
Remember, at the end of the day, getting your degree isn't about getting
all the knowledge you need to be a Software Engineer - it's about
becoming equipped with the knowledge and skills to enable you to begin
learning and advancing your career on your own. I learn new things all
the time, and without the grounding I received at Curtin, I wouldn't be
able to understand half of it, or perform my job to the best of my
ability. It's always about learning and problem solving. Understanding
what needs to be done and coming up with the best and most appropriate
way to do it; not necessarily the quickest or the cheapest - and that is
what I was taught at Curtin. |
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