“My background is in literature and film. It is a surprise to everyone that I now work in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. I still get to be creative in my job. Science is just a different form of creativity.
I have a very particular dress sense and my hair is three colours - pink, red and purple. Macquarie colours! I tend to wear bright clothes with bright patterns. My boots are black glitter. The dress I am wearing today has planets on it. Everyone spots me by my dresses, my Pokemon shirts or my overalls with the solar system on them – it's good to be recognisable! I have started calling myself Science Barbie. That’s my brand now. Working here makes me happy because I am free to be myself.
I may not have a science background, but I learn from the people around me every day. The work they do is so exciting and inspiring. The best part of my day is interacting with physicists, computer game designers, engineers, astronomers, mathematicians - everybody has something interesting to tell you.
My job as Faculty Outreach and Engagement lead gives me the unique opportunity to see science from an outsider’s perspective and translate it in a way that it can be easily understood by anyone.
I love the way astronomy captures the imagination of the public. Astronomy gives us beautiful images and helps us think about our place in the world.
My team and I organised the Macquarie Astronomy night coming up on 23 September. It’s the biggest event hosted by the faculty each year. It takes 200 volunteers and we are expecting over 2000 visitors. The night attracts school students, families, prospective students and locals who live around our campus. This event is so important for involving the community in university life to demonstrate that we are more than just a place for students to go, and that anyone can be included.
I love the way astronomy captures the imagination of the public. Astronomy gives us beautiful images and helps us think about our place in the world.
This year we have hired a science entertainer who will do two comedy shows at the event. There will be messy activities for younger kids and arcade games being run by the School of Computing for older kids.
People sometimes have a preconceived idea of what scientists are like but everybody I work with is so much more interesting and cooler than TV stereotypes like Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory. People think scientists might be difficult to speak to normally like he is, or always wear lab coats or that that they are all kind of awkward but that is not my experience at all."
