When Mae Noble was working on coral reef ecology in the sunny Caribbean, she probably didn’t foresee a future where she’d be snorkeling in the freezing Murray-Darling Basin, looking for endangered crayfish.

Juliet Kirby wants more girls to share in the glow of pride—and plasma—she experiences as a physics student at ANU. Juliet Kirby can talk about physics until she’s purple in the face.

“I have a background in straight science so it was really interesting for me to do some forest management courses, looking at how you balance the ecologically best option with what’s applicable in the real world."

“I never want to leave Mount Stromlo! It’s really serene and quiet, so you get a lot of work done.

Mark studied forest science with honours in biology, a degree which he says gave him “a diverse set of skills to take with me to my workplace.

Chaitanya is currently working on her PhD at the Mathematical Sciences Institute at ANU. She’s looking at ways of modelling gravitational wave signatures and investigating how the process can be made more efficient.

Lachlan Arthur had the pick of any university but he chose ANU and the PhB program. No longer does Lachlan plan to return to country South Australia and work as a GP, but he instead hopes to make a global impact as a physician-researcher.

My Masters isn’t directly related to my work; it’s more about being challenged and studying something I’m interested in. But nuclear knowledge, related to mining, storage and defence for example, is going to be more and more in demand in Australia over the next five to twenty years, and it’s important to have people who can understand the concepts and communicate them.

"From my first day on the mountain I was made to feel like I belong. The astronomers are wonderfully friendly, supportive and knowledgeable."