Excellent results for Mathematics supervisor

Professor Mirka Miller has attracted a lot of attention from the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences lately for all the right reasons.

Four of her former PhD students have made the Top Ten best Mathematicians list in Indonesia (pictured), while others have gone on to pursue research and teaching careers at universities all over the world.

Mirka started at the University of Newcastle in 1992 with the Faculty of Engineering. Her research was in security and algorithms but gradually moved into Graph Theory which was borderline Computer Science and Mathematics.

She said that the diversity of her publication record has helped when supervising students.

“Maintaining an active interest in several related areas is handy when looking for research topics for new PhD students,” said Mirka.

To date she has supervised more than 20 PhD students and believes the secret to success is having a good working relationship between student and supervisor and working to the different capabilities of each student.

“I try to assess each student separately, their strong and weak points and their needs to achieve the best they possibly can. Different students need different support. Add to that their different cultures and backgrounds and I find that there is no ‘one size fits all’. What I look for in prospective students is a spark and a certain way of thinking,” she explained.

Mirka has kept in touch with all her PhD students and continues to work with many of them on papers, projects, conferences, workshops and co-supervising new students.