Gerringong’s Liam Watts is one of 35 first-year undergraduates to be awarded a technology scholarship aimed to help strengthen Australia’s pool of local talent and grow the cohort of future tech leaders and innovators.
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The Westpac's Young Technologist Scholarship is offered in partnership with the UOW and valued at up to $25,000, which will provide Mitchell with the financial support as well as real-world work experience, development, and networking opportunities to fast-track his growth in the tech field.
“Receiving a scholarship like this is a massive help, it means I don’t have to worry about my finances as much, so I can focus more on university,” Mr Watts said.
Mr Watts said he started programming at a young age and thoroughly enjoyed it.
“So many people think programming is some impossible thing that you have to be a genius to do, but really it’s quite easy to get started and very rewarding,” he said.
“As for what I enjoy about programming – I love using logic to solve problems, figuring out how a problem works and then translating that solution to code is very satisfying.
“Another thing I like about the tech industry is that it’s constantly innovating, I’ll be constantly learning and using the latest advancements in my work.”
I think AI has the potential to greatly improve our society, so advancing it is a worthwhile goal to me.
- Liam Watts
Mr Watts said he was particularly interested in pursuing a career which involved artificial intelligence.
“Machine learning in particular is very interesting to me because it has the potential to drive the next major stage of automation,” he said.
“I definitely want to work in something to do with machine learning, though I’m unsure at the moment whether I would prefer to work in industry or do research.
“The overall goal of my career is to contribute to artificial intelligence and help advance it in some way. I think AI has the potential to greatly improve our society, so advancing it is a worthwhile goal to me.”
Susan Bannigan, CEO of Westpac Bicentennial Foundation, said the Westpac Young Technologists Scholarship attracted young people from all walks of life.
“Collectively these 35 young innovators have an incredible capacity to create meaningful change,” she said.
“Amongst them we have an award winning app designer passionate about increasing the number of women in technology; a young man with cerebral palsy who is looking at ways to use technology to make life easier for those who have a disability; and a bilingual first generation Australian student who wants to use to technology to help people living in rural hardship.”
The Westpac Young Technologists Scholarship is one of five scholarships offered through Westpac Bicentennial Foundation.
The foundation awarded its 300th scholar this year.