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Reuben McCormack

Geophysicist
University of Tasmania

Science is a fascinating way to enable us to explain and understand the world around us. By knowing more about how the world around you works you are able to build and create things bigger, better and more efficiently. For an example of what human ingenuity can achieve just look at the fact that the human race went from not being able to fly to putting a man on the moon in just 66 years. It is things like this that make me want to be part of the science world.

 

Throughout my years at Latrobe High School my science teachers were passionate about getting students involved in science. I was encouraged to get involved in science camps and the Science Investigation Awards. I really enjoyed the challenge of developing my own scientific method, about topics that I was interested in. I persisted with studies of maths, physics and chemistry in college and continued to enter various science fairs with some excellent results.

 

I am a passionate bushwalker enjoying every possible opportunity I get to be in the outdoors. This led to an interest in the phenomenon of volcanos, earthquakes and mountain building but I never thought of these fields are a career option. My plan had always been to do a Bachelor of Science but it wasn’t until my first year that I started doing geology. At the time geology was just filling the requirement of a fourth subject which I took as an opportunity to get outdoors more. I have completed a double major in geophysics and physics and am now doing my honours project in geophysics. I am using data I’ve obtained from gravity and magnetic surveys in an attempt to located the subsurface position of a magnetite ore body.

 

I hope to build a career in exploration geoscience where I can travel the world and discover more about what is under the ground we walk on. I would love to do research in Antarctica and help develop new and improved exploration techniques.