Chip off the old block

Media Release
October 20, 2009

Chip off the old block

When Beverley Rogers graduates from the University of Waikato on Friday [23 October] with a Bachelor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences with first-class honours, it will be a very special occasion for her grandfather, who’ll be in the audience.

A mathematician, Dr John Turner was the foundation dean of the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences -- and the four-year BCMS degree was his brainchild. “Grandfather was the driving force in my mathematical learning,” says Rogers, who’s a straight A student. “He’s very proud of teaching me the quadratic formula when I was 11 or 12.”

But that’s not her only family connection. Her father Bill Rogers is a computer science lecturer, although she points out that she managed to escape all his lectures by arranging a two-semester student exchange to the University of Calgary in Canada. “My Dad lectures in computer graphics, so I did all my graphics papers while I was in Canada.”

With dad and grandfather at Waikato, Rogers says she didn’t really consider going to university anywhere else. “Plus Waikato has the reputation of being the best computer science department in New Zealand.”

On top of her university studies, Rogers also was a member of the Waikato team which won the Microsoft Imagine Cup in 2007 with Gary’s Lab, an interactive 3D physics lab. “It was an incredible experience,” she says. “I got to work with a really enthusiastic group of programmers, and we got to go to South Korea for the final and Microsoft paid for everything.”

Rogers is currently putting her computer graphics and multimedia major to good use at the WaikatoLink Hothouse, where she’s working full-time creating iPhone applications. “I’ve done a couple of quirky games, including a free game called Red Baron which turns your iPhone into a toy plane that makes engine noises as you move it around,” she says. “It’s designed to liven up board meetings!”

Graduation for the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences takes place at Founders Theatre in Hamilton at 2pm on Friday 23 October.

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