Dr Pei Yean Lee is a researcher in the Canberra Laboratory of National ICT Australia (NICTA) which is Australia's ICT Centre of Excellence. Pei Yean is one of only two female researchers in the Laboratory and is an excellent role model for students and staff.
Pei Yean is an enthusiastic advocate for encouraging youth into ICT and in 2005 developed exciting, hands-on workshops in computer vision, demonstrating her work in hyperspectral and thermal imaging for industrial applications to high school students. She also led the first all-female team that further developed this workshop into educational modules to take directly into ACT High Schools and included workshops in maths, combinatorics and geometry.
Her enthusiasm for her research carries over into showcasing her discipline to undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing postgraduate studies with NICTA.
Amongst all this outreach activity, Pei Yean still has time to do her research where she is a valuable member of NICTA's Autonomous Systems and Sensing Technology Program.
Pei Yean received a Bachelor of Engineering with first class honours from the University of Adelaide and completed her PhD at The Australian National University (ANU) six months ahead of schedule. She was an invited speaker while still a PhD student at the 16th International Symposium on Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems, Leuven, Belgium. Pei Yean supplemented her studies with an internship at AT&T and working as a tutor at the ANU. She is also named as an inventor for a recent patent application.
"Pei Yean's exemplary record of achievement and continued promotion of ICT in our heavily male dominated research environment is an example to all women," says Professor Terry Caelli, newly appointed Director of NICTA's Canberra Laboratory.
"I congratulate her on behalf of all colleagues and students at NICTA and ANU who find her dedication and love of her work in ICT infectious and encouraging." Dr Pei Yean Lee is the February 2006 WICked Woman Award Recipient and the WICked Woman of the Year