Research shows that children begin to identify themselves as potential scientists as early as kindergarten, with gendered stereotypes about science, technology, engineering, and maths emerging from early childhood. At QUT, we are running a new outreach program called “Zoomed-In Science” that connects STEM researchers with primary school classrooms in remote/rural areas via online sessions through Microsoft Teams. The program seeks to not only dispel common stereotypes surrounding STEM research, but also improve student engagement with the subject matter.Students get the chance to meet and interact with actual scientists from QUT in their own labs through live and interactive online presentations that involve experiments, educational talks, two-way discussions and free Q&A time. Based on feedback from teachers, this program is responsible for substantial improvements in student engagement with the Australian Curriculum as well as breaking down gender stereotypes surrounding who can work in STEM related fields at an early stage.The online nature of the program not only showcases our real place of work, but also allows us to seamlessly present to schools across Brisbane and Queensland without travel expenses or risk to student safety. This scalable program shows significant potential for improving student engagement in STEM Australian Curriculum units in both metropolitan and rural areas.

In this role I investigate the mechanisms and mechanical properties of flexible crystals as well as crystalline supramolecular systems based on halogen bonding.