St Andrew’s College Captain, Samuel Rieger is one of 12 students in the State to receive the Peter Doherty Outstanding Senior Student Award for Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
This year marks the 16th year of the awards named after Professor Peter Doherty, a Brisbane-born Nobel Prize-winning scientist.
Winning students had to demonstrate outstanding contributions to STEM which Samuel did through multiple activities including a virtual reef project with scientists from the Queensland University of Technology. “The research was conducted in the area of Social and Statistical Science using photographic evidence of the Great Barrier Reef and software to map the frequency of coral and other marine distributions,” Samuel explains.
“This research is ongoing and aims to lead to a greater understanding of the Reef’s populations for conservation and sustainability work.”
While Samuel said he was “surprised” and “excited” after receiving word a few months ago via email informing him of the win, he said the hard part was not being able to tell anyone until the Education Minister announced the winners at an awards night on 9 August.
“On the night of the awards, I felt very humbled to be amongst the other students from all around Queensland who have done so many amazing things in the area of STEM,” he said.
“My STEM journey began from an early age at school and I absolutely love it, especially Technology and Coding. My Secondary school teachers have all inspired me and I look up to entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.”
Along with the Award, Samuel received $5,000 which he plans to use to support his university studies while he pursues his goal of a double degree in Mathematics and Information Technology focusing on statistical maths and computer science.
