Facing the future over breakfast

RMIT University prepared for National Science Week 2010 with some serious brain food at the annual Science Careers Breakfast in Storey Hall.

Addressing issues of sustainability and natural resource conservation, the theme for the breakfast seminar was "Facing the future - how will science meet the challenges of tomorrow?"

Bernie Hobbs (New Inventors, ABC Science) compered the event, which included presentations by three young graduates working in areas of sustainability, environmental and resource management.

RMIT graduate Amanda Wealands is an environmental engineer with Alluvium. She specialises in environmental water management, strategic evaluation and waterway rehabilitation design, and has experience in a diverse range of waterway projects in south-eastern Australia.

"I like to describe some of my approaches to environmental problems as elegant engineering solutions," Ms Wealands said. "These range from the simple to the technically advanced.

"With larger projects, there’s a challenge to achieve balance between social, economic and environmental factors and to address the bigger picture around quality of life."

Gerard Healey, a mechanical engineer at ARUP, has completed a PhD at RMIT. His studies focused on how to better foster sustainable technologies.

His career path is best described as a series of stepping stones, with an overall goal to work in sustainability. From his childhood aspirations to construction, Dr Healey has now gained experience on some very diverse projects.

"Job satisfaction becomes very important as move through your career," he said. "The ideal is to be able to follow your passion through the work you do."

Guest speaker, Ellen Sandell, a former research scientist with CSIRO, is the Victorian director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC).

She has worked in areas of ecology and species conservation as well policy development with the Victorian Government. She was the 2009 Australian Environmentalist of the year.

Each of the speakers reflected on the significant environmental impacts they had witnessed in the last decade, including increasing temperatures and diminishing water resources.

They answered questions from the young audience as part of a panel session. Questions covered topics including renewable versus nuclear energy, and suggestions on how to get involved at a personal level to tackle global warming.

More than 25 secondary schools were represented at the event, including groups travelling from Melton and Bacchus Marsh for the very early start.

Science Week at RMIT continues tonight (Wednesday) with The Stupid Species, a live show. Daniel Keogh, reporter for ABC’s Hungry Beast and Radio National’s Science Show, is on tour for National Science Week to show why human stupidity is unavoidable.

The Stupid Species is an over-18s science show involving hilarious experiments, films, animations and stories that show the science and psychology of why everyone is capable of incredible stupidity. Limited places available.

And in another event tonight, the worlds of science and literature will collide as poets Lisa Gorton, Alicia Sometimes and Adam Ford join space education guru Anne Brumfitt and RMIT’s Associate Professor of Aerospace Design, Lachlan Thompson, for The Poetry of Science at The Croft Institute.

Ms Gorton, who will next month join RMIT and the Australian Poetry Centre as poet-in-residence, said the event would explore how poetry reflects the new worlds that are brought to us through scientific endeavour.

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