Meet some of our mentors…
Robert Bredin
Robert Bredin is the Head Teacher Science at Quakers Hill High School.
One of his extra jobs is liaising with local primary schools to ensure a
smooth transition to high school for Year 6 students. The MyScience
project has brought both jobs together. He has encouraged the involvement
of four of his staff and ten of his Year 10 students all of whom have
thoroughly enjoyed working in the primary schools. This year he was
awarded his Masters of Education. His hobbies include science fiction and
wearing really strange ties and most importantly, he LOVES teaching
science.
Renaye Cole
Renaye graduated from UTS with a B.Sc in Environmental Biology and worked as an environmental Officer at the Dept of Water Resources (renamed Dept of Land and Water Conservation). Her job involved planning projects, completing field work, some lab work and report writing. She was employed in a section that was seeking to determine the coditions of waterbodies based on the macroinvertebrates present and other data collected in the field.
From 1997 to the present, Renaye became a stay-at-home mum to Emma, Cameron and Piper. She has been involved in various types of classroom support from reading groups to costume making and various
other tasks in between.
In 4th grade Renaye told her mother that she wanted to be a scientist and a mum. She is happy that she has achieved both. MyScience has been a great way for her to use her knowledge and experience and at the same time help out at her children’s school. It is wonderful seeing kids getting excited about science.
Gregor Erdmann
Ever since primary school Gregor has had an interest in all things mechanical, chemical and scientific. He studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of NSW and upon graduating, joined IBM. Still maintaining his fascination with the physical sciences, he has come to expand his interests to include philosophy, physiology and psychology.
Through IBM, Gregor has been able to participate in various charity and mentoring programs. In the Philippines, he helped in the construction of houses for disaster struck villages and he installed nine computers that were donated by IBM to the computer centre servicing these villages. Gregor is currently working on an education program based on the TryScience web site for kids visiting the centre.
Gregor has a variety of other regular pursuits and interests. Photography has been his long-term passion, and he hopes that it will become a more professional part of his life.
John O’Byrne
John O’Byrne (BSc, PhD, Grad.Cert.Ed.Stud.[Higher Ed.] Sydney) is a Senior Lecturer and Director of First Year Studies in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney. He has worked in Australia and the US exploring his interests in how to achieve high resolution using ground-based optical telescopes. He is a Secretary of the Astronomical Society of Australia, the society of professional astronomers in Australia.
Apart from lecturing in Physics to undergraduate students and developing new teaching approaches for them, he has for many years conducted astronomy courses for adults, including tours to observatories in NSW. He is also a frequent speaker to the public, schools groups, local astronomy societies and at university events.
He has been an author or Consultant Editor for several popular science and astronomy books, for both adults and children, most recently, “The Illustrated Atlas of the Universe”.
