Careers with STEM: Engineering 2021

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ENG+AGRICULTURE

+ AUTOMATION + HEALTH + ADV MAN + INNOVATION + GLOBAL PROBLEMS

t s e v r a h r e e r Ca As farmers adapt to a growing population, water shortages and rising temperatures, engineers are helping them find smarter ways to feed the world

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tech might not seem to go arm life and cutting-edge increasingly turning to together – but farmers are tellites, sensors and seeing engineers for answers. Sa tiliser and understand how much fer robots are helping them best trees are producing the feed they need, and which t that by 2033, Australian crops. Researchers predic n, and ) will be worth $100 billio agricultural tech (AgTech for ies nit s a lot of opportu create 540,000 jobs. That’ – Nadine Cranenburgh enterprising engineers!

START Y OUR CAR EER HER enginee E Bachelor

ring+Ag ricultu re Stud y

of Engine ering S University cience (Agricultu ra Bachelor of Souther of Engine n Queensl l Engineering), ering (Ho and nours) / B achelor Swinburne Bachelor University of Computer Scien of Mecha ce, tronics En gineering Bachelor , University of Engine ering, (So of Newcas ftware), U tle niversity o f Adelaide

enginee ring+Ag Jobs riculture Robotics en gineer: $5 3K–$138K Agricultu ral engine er: $56K– Project en $84K gineer: $6 1K–$126K Software engineer: $57K–$11 *Source: sa 2K* laries acco rding to pay scale.com

SHUTTERSTOCK

Did you know... • Engineers are finding ways to measure how much carbon crops trap in the soil? • They’ve also discovered an Australian seaweed that can reduce global warmingcausing methane in cow burps by 82%?

• By 2050, global food production needs to rise by 60% as the world’s population grows to nine billion? • Australian farmers export 70% of their produce to other countries? Go Aussies!

Feed the world, protect the planet Aerospace engineer Dr Anastasia Volkova is combining her passion for food and flight with business know-how to help farmers produce crops that don’t cost the Earth

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Dr Anastasia Volkova aero space engineer

fter an undergrad degree and Masters in Europe, Anastasia came to Australia to study a PhD in autonomous systems at Sydney University. There, she founded FluroSat to use drones and satellite data to help farmers grow more with less. This year, FluroSat joined forces with US AgTech startup Dagan to create software models that use satellite and sensing data to accurately measure how different farming practices can help trap more carbon in the soil. “We are not just embracing productivity. We’re minimising the cost to the planet,” Anastasia said.

(Aerospace), Bachelor of Science ity (Kyiv, Ukraine) rs ive Un ion iat Av l Nationa PhD, University of Sydney

CAREERSwithSTEM.com

Engineers can do anything

From the Ukraine to Poland and Sydney to California, Anastasia has had a truly international career. She’s als o raised millions of investment dollars for her business ventures, and is now the CEO of her third startup! The technical skills Anastasia learned at uni mean she understands what's possible. And her programm ing skills mean she can read code. She says her mum told her an engineerin g degree would give her the skills to do any thing. “That’s been true in my cas e,” Anastasia says. – Nadine Cra nenburgh

d Astronautical ce, Aeronautical an pa ros (Ae ce ien gy, Poland Sc olo of Master University of Techn Engineering), Warsaw CEO and Founder, CEO and Founder, Regrow, US Flurosat, Sydney

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