Walk around CQU Melbourne International Campus for a couple of days and you’ll keep bumping into a little Indian lady. She may be glaring at the floor-indicators of the lifts, or you might catch a passing grin and a bright eye as she scoots past you on the stairs. The lifts are far too slow for her, anyway.

About yay-high, with a long plait of dark hair streaming out behind as she runs around, fixing problems and leaving people dizzy as she multi-tasks ten issues simultaneously. You’ve just met the latest doctor in CQU’s ranks – Pramila Gupta, Head of MIC’s Informatics & Communication Faculty.

Dr Gupta has held a number of roles commencing with CMS as a lecturer on the 2 March 1998. Promotion in 2001 to Acting Faculty Co-ordinator was followed by the formalised position of Sub-Dean in 2002. This lady has made a name for herself as both a dedicated member of staff and a committed and astute scholar with leanings toward academic research.

After successfully submitting her doctoral dissertation through Swinburne University of Technology entitled Natural-Language-Related Theoretical Foundations for the Conceptual Modelling Process, Sub-Dean Gupta has just had two of her research papers, The Conceptual Modelling Process and the Notion of Concept and UML Modelling Support for Early Reuse Decisions in Component-Based Development published through Idea Group Publishing.

Conceptual modelling (for those of us ignorant of such things) is an important aspect of information analysis, an activity that should be performed at an early stage in the design of every computer-based information system. The aim of the research described in Pramila’s thesis was to overcome some of the shortcomings in current approaches to conceptual modelling.

Information analysis deals with the informational content of the interactions that occur between human users and computerised information systems. The results of the work can be used to compare, evaluate and improve conceptual modelling techniques. This in turn should assist software developers to provide the accurate handling of information that is essential in a world increasingly reliant on complex information systems.

Dr Gupta is also keen to write a book in the area of her doctoral research, as well as publishing more academic treatises. Apart from being a bit of a whiz with conceptual modelling, Pramila is also a bit of a hero with the students. You’ll often see her at the head of a small entourage as she progresses determinedly from lecture room to lab. Speaking personally, Pramila credits the blessings and the support of her family, colleagues and students as part of her success. Her message to students is quite simple – with hard work and determination, anything is possible. And Pramila practices what she preaches.

No wonder the lifts are always far too slow.