Science, Technology and Engineering

Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Dr Grant Cairns

Who am I?

Hi! My name is Grant. I'm 54. I studied electrical engineering at the University of Queensland, before doing a doctorate in differential geometry in Montpellier, France, under the direction of Pierre Molino. I spent two years as an assistant at the University of Geneva, and a one year postdoc at the University of Waterloo, Canada, before coming to La Trobe in 1988. My interests/time/energy are pretty evenly divided up between my family and my work.

As far as work goes: there is nothing else I'd rather be doing. I love doing research in maths. I love all kinds of maths. I am addicted to maths books, and seldom read anything else, including newspapers. I enjoy teaching, and giving and attending seminars. I particularly like doing joint research with other maths enthusiasts, and so I find having postgrad students around is a lot of fun.

I was fortunate to hold an ARC Discovery grant in 2003-2005. I was Head of Department for the 3 years 2005-2007, and in 2007 I won a Carrick national teaching citation for `fostering mathematics students’ development and encouraging their active engagement in mathematics, through high-level reading groups, seminars, enquiry driven research projects and joint publication’.

Here are some photos showing with my sons Desmond (aged 15) and Maxwell (aged 13) growing up, and myself in various stages of deterioration. My beloved wife Romana took most of the photos, but does appear in one.