I always found myself questioning the world around me and simply wanted to know why things were the way they were. As a child I was particularly interested in stars and planets and obsessed with animals. Why were birds able to fly, and more importantly why could I NOT fly?

Having always been obsessed with learning, university was my dream. My family has always been my biggest influence, by always answering the thousands of questions I had for them. Some of my science teachers inspired me by extending and fostering me in my own pathway to science. One teacher in particular was as scientist before taking up teaching, and they were able to share their stories with me and that was the greatest influence for me to take up science.

Through the Young Tassie Scientists I want to share the excitement I discovered in high school when I started my first self-directed experiments in physics and chemistry.

I currently volunteer to do research work in the University’s Chemistry department as I am still studying. I work on chemical reactions that only proceed when we shine coloured light on the mixture. This allows us to control the reaction to form certain molecules that are useful in materials, agriculture and medicine. All this is possible simple because we turn on a coloured light! And if we use a blue light we may get a different result to using a green light!

Light is everywhere and will become more important in the future. I want to show the next generation how important and cool light is! Most importantly I want to teach the science and pass on the baton to the next generation of scientists.

Science is constantly changing so it never gets boring. Just when we think we know everything about a topic something new comes up. Also science takes many types of people to work properly. It is like anything; sure it can be fun by yourself however it is even more fun with more people. There is a single enormous team of scientists in the world, working together to uncover facts about the world around us, supporting each other and sharing ideas.

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