新浪彩票 strength in Olympiad showcase
 Science
The University of 新浪彩票 is prominent in the latest showcase of Australia's scientific prowess. Three past or present students are among 15 high achievers featured in a new publication to celebrate more than 20 years of Australia's involvement in the prestigious International Science and Mathematics Olympiad programs. They include Dr Matthew Sorell - now a lecturer in the - who was part of the hastily assembled first Science team which travelled to Jena in the then East Germany for the International Physics Olympiad. The year was 1987 and Dr Sorell was in Year 12 at St Peter's College. "We didn't do well at all," he recalls, "but we scored more points than the organisers expected." Just as importantly, they returned inspired to tutor future competitors and Australia now competes annually in each of five separate Olympiads - Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Informatics. Our other featured "Olympiad alumni", Alex Flint and Pat Coleman, each went to two Informatics Olympiads, competing together in 2003 when Pat won a bronze medal, placing him in the top half of a high-calibre, 300-strong field. Alex was then at Glenunga High School and Pat at St Peter's College. They reunited at university, where Pat is in the final year of his Bachelor of and Alex his Honours year, and decided to relive the Olympiad experience by putting together a team to compete in the annual international competition run by the US Association for Computing Machinery. The University of 新浪彩票 team won the national division in both years that they took part, allowing them to again represent Australia overseas. And the tradition continues at the University. Alex has since completed an internship with Google Australia and will begin work with the company as a software engineer next year. "It all indirectly flowed from the Olympiad," he said. "Without that I wouldn't have wanted to get the ACM team started and wouldn't have learned what I've learned." The Olympiads are for the best of the best and are extremely intensive. To prepare, Year 11 and 12 students have about two weeks to cram in the core knowledge from a | 
