TERM 2 — 2022
Ever wondered what inspires someone to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM)?
Join us as we give students across Australia the chance to interact with the country’s brightest minds who are shaping the future through STEM. The series will showcase the diverse and dynamic journey’s that these inspiring individuals have taken in their career journey’s.
Each speaker is a young researcher or academic who has worked in both the tertiary education and industry sectors. The series will encourage students to keep an open mind about the subjects they choose to take in high school and the diverse journey’s their education can lead them on later in life.
Each session includes a time for open questions from the audience so students can explore the ideas that fascinated them about each scientist. Students will also be challenged with extension activities to be undertaken after the events to deepen their appreciation for the ground breaking work of these scientists and engineers.
This virtual series is organised by ATSE’s STEM education in schools initiative STELR:
Week 2: Can you see what I see?
Week 3: Can you sense we have chemistry?
Week 4: Healthy from the inside out
Week 5: How to change your brain
Week 6: Keep those muscles in shape
Week 7: Answers for the worst of times
Week 8: Good information or bad?
See all our recorded Term 1 Shape Your Future webinars here, or on YouTube.
Tuesday 3 May 2022 — 11:30am-12:30pm (AEST)
WEEK 2
Can you see what I see?
Improving vision health
Lauren has a strong interest in vision restoration and investigates inherited diseases in the retina. She has worked on a number of projects that aim to slow down vision loss or restore some sense of sight to people who are blind.
Jennifer is dedicated to preventing blindness from glaucoma. She is developing an effective and safe method to control scarring after glaucoma surgery.
Join us to hear about how Lauren and Jennifer are using science to help more people keep good sight in old age.
A/Prof Lauren Ayton | University of Melbourne
Twitter: @aipolsci @DrLaurenAyton @UniMelb
Dr Jennifer Fan Gaskin | Royal Vic Eye & Ear Hospital, Centre for Eye Research Australia
Twitter: @EyeResearchAus #SuperstarsOfSTEM
Thursday 12 May 2022 — 2:00pm-3:00pm (AEST)
WEEK 3
Can you sense we have chemistry?
Using smart materials to solve real-world problems
Wenyue works with light-responsive materials to solve real-world problems. She uses smart antibacterial agents to combat antibiotic resistance, and wearable colorimetric sensor technologies to detect things such as UV.
Join us to hear about Wenyue’s journey to working with smart materials that will benefit us all.
Dr Wenyue Zou | Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Twitter: @Dr_WenyueZOU #SuperstarsofSTEM @RMIT_NBRL @RMIT
Tuesday 17 May 2022 — 11:30am-12:30pm (AEST)
WEEK 4
Healthy from the inside out
Getting healthier
Katherine’s research is focussed on dietary patterns, cardiometabolic health and nutrition. She also looks into people’s eating behaviours and habits.
David focuses on age-related changes in skeletal muscle quality and obesity. He explores their effect on risk for falls, fracture and disability in older adults, and ways to prevent them. Join us to hear about how Katherine and David are helping us all be healthier from the inside out.
Dr Katherine Livingstone | Deakin University, The Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition
Twitter: @aipolsci @Deakin @DeakinIPAN @Katmlivingstone
A/Prof David Scott | Deakin University, The Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition
Twitter: @aipolsci @Deakin @DeakinIPAN @DavidScottPhD
Thursday 26 May 2022 — 11:30am-12:30pm (AEST)
WEEK 5
How to change your brain
Using worm brains to understand our own
Yee Lian explores how learning and gaining new memories can change chemical signals between brain cells. She uses worm brains to understand these chemical changes, hoping that we can translate it to the much bigger human brain. This may change the way we manage and treat conditions like neurodegeneration and chronic pain.
Join us to hear about Yee Lian’s journey to becoming a neuroscientist.
Dr Yee Lian Chew | Flinders University
Twitter: @wormychew #SuperstarsOfSTEM @FlindersSTEM @Flinders
Tuesday 31 May 2022 — 2:00pm-3:00pm (AEST)
WEEK 6
Keep those muscles in shape
Using muscle retention therapies
Kate is investigating conditions and causes of muscle wasting such as cancer, ageing, injury and muscular diseases like muscular dystrophy. She aims to identify and test new therapies that will improve the life of affected patients.
Join us to hear about Kate’s journey to become a researcher who looks at reducing muscular damage.
Dr Kate Murphy | University of Melbourne
Twitter: @unimelb @UniMelbCMR @aipolsci
Thursday 9 June 2022 — 11:00am-12:00pm (AEST)
WEEK 7
Answers for the worst of times
Understand how Dr Maiken Ueland uses scent to find and rescue victims of mass disasters.
Maiken is currently working on creating better methods to find victims of mass disasters like floods, fires, explosions and earthquakes. This research is more necessary than ever, as these events increasing worldwide due to climate change and conflicts. She uses her knowledge in odour detection to locate disaster victims with the help of electronic nose technology and sophisticated analytical instrumentation. She also uses her knowledge in odour analysis in the investigation of wildlife crime and conservation.
Join us to hear about Maiken’s journey to being an emerging leader in the field of forensic taphonomy.
Dr Maiken Ueland | UTS
Twitter: @MaikenLand @UTSEngage @UTS_Science @aipolsci
Thursday 16 June 2022 — 2:00pm-3:00pm (AEST)
WEEK 8
Good information or bad?
Find out how Dr Dana McKay is helping you avoid getting bad information.
Dana studies how people find, use, manage, and abuse information. She wants to make good, useful information easier to find, while helping people avoid misinformation. She also wants to help people to make choices about their own information. Dana is currently working on three major projects: understanding how online information affects what we think, understanding how technology fits in respectful relationships and trying to bring the experience of browsing in a shop or library online.
Join us to hear about Dana’s journey to becoming an information and computer scientist.
Dr Dana McKay | RMIT
Twitter: @DanaChatter @RMIT
