Top Australian Defence Force Academy graduates off to flying start

Four years after beginning her scholarship with the Australian Defence Force Academy, Singapore Air Force air combat officer Rouyin Ye flies home today, carrying a University Medal with her.

During a degree conferring ceremony yesterday, Lieutenant Ye and engineering graduate Ben Faulkner were awarded University Medals for their outstanding academic achievement at ADFA .

University of NSW Chancellor David Gonski presented degrees to 899 undergraduate and postgraduate students, including midshipmen and officer cadets of the Australian Defence Force.

Lieutenant Ye was left no time for pondering life beyond studies, as she flies out today and returns to work as a flight aircraft controller in the Singapore Air Force on Monday.

The experience of undertaking a Bachelor of Arts in Geography has whetted her appetite for further study and she is already considering international relations, with a mind to being promoted into a defence policy role.

Lieutenant Ye's First Class Honours research project investigated the mobility requirements and challenges of military families.

She said she developed a capacity for critical thinking which would enhance her military skills.

Flying Officer Faulkner specialised in electrical engineering and undertook his First Class Honours research on the School of Engineering's telescope where he used software coding to integrate electronic components into a commercial astronomy software package.

A permanent member of the Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer Faulkner has been posted to RAAF Base Tindal, near Katherine in the Northern Territory.

Having moved to Canberra from Mullumbimby to study at ADFA, he said he was looking forward to taking his wife and baby to a warmer climate.

While he too could see himself undertaking further study down the track, Flying Officer Faulkner said he was looking forward to getting back to serving in the air force.

He was grateful for the chance to study at ADFA, which pays servicemen and women to undertake their degrees. ''It is a very unique benefit and one we are all grateful for,'' he said.

Guest speakers at yesterday's ceremony included Lieutenant-General (retired) Henry John Coates, former Chief of the General Staff at the Department of Defence and currently a Visiting Fellow at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of UNSW, Canberra. Lieutenant-General Coates was himself awarded a UNSW Honorary Doctorate.

Karen McFadzen, vice-president of Cisco Technical Services, Asia-Pacific, Japan and Greater China, and an ADFA graduate, also addressed students. Ms McFadzen is a graduate of the Australian Defence Force Academy and Royal Military College.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au