I grew up always enjoying science. I loved learning, and understanding how things work. As I got to highschool, I developed a love of chemistry for how logical it seemed to me.

I enjoy learning about most areas of science, but one thing that I really like is when two different areas of science come together. During my undergraduate degree I studied chemistry and physics, and I was often torn as to which area I wished to go into. Every semester I would learn something new, something amazing I thought was ‘the coolest thing ever’, and I wondered how I’d ever decide on what I wanted to do. Thankfully, in third year I was taught about x-ray crystallography.

I’m now in my honours year, doing a project on crystal engineering and x-ray crystallography. While these may sound like big scary words, it’s pretty simple. A beam of x-rays is shone through a crystal, giving a pattern that can tell you what the structure of the crystal is. When you think about it, such a simple idea stemming from basic physics being of such help to chemistry is amazing.

I want to go into research, because few things feel as good as the joy of an experiment finally working! I love discovering new things, and I want to keep learning for the rest of my life.

 

 

For further information: www.utas.edu.au/chemistry