UNI SPK
UNISPEAK ISSUE 1 MAY 2014
DO your Thing
ONE THING AT A TIME. That’s how you achieve big things. The future has twists and turns and cul-de-sacs. This is true whether you’re taking it easy or plan to march across the next four years in a straight line. No plan, however good, happens all at once. One thing at a time. Enjoy the journey.
UNI SPK UNISPEAK / ISSUE 1 MAY 2014
Contributors 82 04 89 1 3 5 1 0 4 6 $ 5 $5 7 3 9 35 4 9 1
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Alice Matthews
Justin Cain
Chloe Leach
Jess Dobson
Audi Li
Communications and arts student, D-Days host. Temporarily between international adventures.
Medical student who knows that to fix big problems you sometimes have to focus on what’s in front of you.
Advertising and marketing student and PR fan, turned happy accidents into helping kids.
Was surprised to discover she likes research, three years later landed in a PhD.
Mathematics and finance student who enjoys looking under the hood of big money numbers.
Buzz Tilley
James Cowin Engineering graduate who found more than he bargained for in a Queensland coal mine.
Thinks changing your mind is just fine when you’re headed for bigger and better things.
Cover photos UOW marketing and law student, Sam Keys-Asgill.
Leonie Wilkinson Mathematics and finance graduate working for a major firm in Sydney. Believes in making maths real.
THE NEXT 200 METRES What you experience this year—whether that’s stress or exhilaration—will teach you what you need to know for your next step into the ‘real world’. WORDS by ALICE MATTHEWS Bachelor of Arts – Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies
It’s Alice here, also known as ‘that chick who spoke at D-Days’. I hope you’re enjoying your final year of High School relatively stress-free. We are all edging closer to the finish line. I’ll be graduating at the end of the year too and, as I’m sure you can relate, it’s hard to imagine what life is going to be like at the end of all this. By a lucky chance, I’ll get to finish my last year as an intern in Paris, working with other journalists to defend global press freedom. That was never on the cards when I started studying, but I always hoped that the things I learned here would one day help make a difference.
A lot of you won’t have a clue what kinds of surprises await you. But I can tell you: there will be many. If you don’t remember my little metaphor about a road, I’ll revisit it: all you’ve got to do is keep lighting up the next two hundred metres, and trust that more light will be shed as you move forward. I wish you all the best of luck with the HSC. I feel so excited for what’s ahead for you all. Remember to Freak Out and Let It Go. Soon you’ll be sharing what you know and what you do with others, and maybe making this world a better place.
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DISCOVERY DAYS 2014
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DOC The UOW Graduate School of Medicine draws people from all walks. They’re united in their mission to heal, but their motivations are another matter. We talk to two doctors-in-training to see what made them take up the stethoscope.
WORDS by JUSTIN CAIN Bachelor of Science (Exercise Science) Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery student
I knew I wanted to study medicine in my first or second week of uni, in one of my first undergraduate anatomy labs. Our lab demonstrator was a UOW medical student and I was in awe of her knowledge, how she could answer every question put to her. It made me want to be that good. I’ve always been interested in health. My aunty is one of the relatively few Aboriginal female doctors in Australia. She has been a big role model for me. It’s easy for me to put faces to the health problems they talk about in statistics. Growing up on the South Coast and in country NSW, having this big family, I’ve seen these problems firsthand. For me, “Closing the Gap” was just putting a name on something that was very much a part of my family’s dynamic already.
For now, though, I need to focus on completing my medical degree. Indigenous health issues are so big, and there’s so much work to do. Work ethic has never been a problem in my family, though. I think we all get that from my grandparents: they grew up in hard times, when being Aboriginal wasn’t exactly popular. So now I think it’s important to have young Indigenous people take up careers in medicine. Part of that is empathy—you need doctors who understand the people they’re treating. Not everything is biomedical. The bigger purpose is to have role models. For anyone, it’s good to have someone to look to, to see that it’s possible, that you can have a bigger purpose in your life.
CTOR WORDS by BUZZ TILLEY Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery student
Plan A was always physiotherapy. I graduated in Sydney, and was working in the hospital system at Dubbo. My career was pretty great: I was making good money, working good hours, and I loved the town I was working in. I ended up working the emergency department, the ED. An ED physiotherapist is a different kind of role, where if a patient presents with a broken bone, they may not see a doctor: the physio sees the patient from start to finish, orders X-rays, that sort of thing. A lot of diagnosis—the medical investigation—is done in the ED. I think that’s where I got addicted to diagnosis. I liked to understand the whole situation so you can find out what’s wrong with a patient. Seeing the doctors working, I realised I had the capability to do what they were doing.
That really fed straight into medicine. I wanted to be as useful as possible, never to have someone come to me with a problem I couldn’t help with. I felt that would be a cop-out, if I was capable of more. As a physiotherapist, I knew I wasn’t responsible for people’s lives. I think that had an influence on my decision of what to study. As a 17-year-old I wasn’t ready to make that call. As a 25-year-old, maybe I was. In the end, we’re all malleable, and it’s a good thing, being able to change your mind. If you can’t change your mind, it implies you’re sure you were right from the start—few people are. Someone who thinks like that sounds like a dangerous doctor to me.
SOMETHING WE CAN ALL RELATE TO
Chloe Leach wasn’t sold on going to university until Discovery Day at UOW. She didn’t know what degree to do until she got some good advice on her strengths and talents. Now in her final year she’s a public relations intern for 40RTYK (“Forty-K”), a social business using technology and clever thinking to help impoverished Indians educate and employ themselves. She’ll use skills she learned in subjects she didn’t have to take to help recruit for an organisation she didn’t know existed in high school. Chloe is all about making the most of happy accidents. WORDS By CHLOE LEACH Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies (Advertising and Marketing)
I thought uni meant more study, more school, and I didn’t think that’s what I wanted at the end of Year 12. I changed my mindset completely after coming to UOW Discovery Days. Once I’d decided I wanted to go to UOW, I was one hundred per cent set on it. I applied for Early Admission and that really motivated me, got me through the HSC, I think. I had to take one Public Relations subject as part of my degree, and I loved it. It’s so dynamic and human, you really have to think on your feet. It isn’t even my major, but I’ve now taken every single subject available. In one class we had a group assessment, where the task was to create a communications plan for 40RTYK. My group had the best plan, and the prize was the offer of an internship with the company.
Now in the role I’ll help organise fundraising, communications, events management—everything I’ve learned in my PR classes. 40RTYK’s work is wonderful: trying to create a longterm sustainable solution for education in Indian slums. Part of that is the Globe program, where students travel to India and use their skills to help locals set up business initiatives. I’m still not sure where I want to end up, but that’s okay, sometimes that’s what your last year is about: figuring out what you really want to do. You just need to make the most of the opportunities that come to you.
FINDING THE RIGHT FIT
It’s not always obvious what you should do next, or how something will end. James Cowin and Jess Dobson are proof of that. Both grew up in the waters of coastal New South Wales and considered studying marine biology. James loved fishing, and now lives three hours from the coast in a mining camp. Jess hated high school science, and is now completing a PhD in biomechanics. We talk with them about their work, and how where you start doesn’t decide where you end up. WORDS by JESS DOBSON
WORDS by JAMES COWIN
Bachelor of Science Honours (Exercise Science) Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Bachelor of Engineering (Scholar) Honours (Civil Engineering, Mining Engineering) Graduate Engineer, Leighton Contractors, Mining Division
When I was in high school, I wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me I’d be doing research in a PhD.
I work at a major coal mine project in Central Queensland.
I didn’t actually know I was going to go down this path until I did a research topics subject in third year. Before my PhD, in my Honours year, I joined a project looking to see if Nike running shoes mimicked barefoot walking, to help older people who have a lot of mobility issues. My main interest is gait biomechanics, figuring out what’s wrong with someone based on how they move, so it fit really well. My supervisors suggested I should go on to do more research. I liked the idea, especially having that responsibility and the flexibility to work on my own time. I actually really loved reading academic journal articles when I was studying, they’re just so interesting. I think some people in my degree thought I was a bit weird for enjoying them so much. Now I’m researching coal miners’ boots on a research project that came from the coal industry. The highest priority is protection, so the boots have to be steel-capped. They end up very heavy. Most of the miners are on their feet for eight hours a day, doing demanding work. They find the boots uncomfortable and unsuitable, and they have a very high incidence of lower limb injury: sprains, strains and so on. I really quite like looking at work boots now, maybe even more than I like looking at sports footwear. In sport, you’re helping an athlete shave a tiny fraction of a second off their run. With miners, you’re helping their livelihoods. They’re so appreciative of any improvement you can make. Looking back, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go to uni after high school, and I hated science. I thought research was men in lab coats mixing chemicals and that was it. What I knew was that I was always curious how things worked. I always liked to have a deeper understanding of the world around us. For me that’s what biomechanics is, it’s a way of getting a better understanding of what you’re looking at, what we take for granted.
I was around mining since I was young. At that age, I was just interested in the big trucks: I was the kid who always had his Tonka trucks in the sandpit. As I grew up, though, I started to appreciate the mining industry for what it is. Now I’ve been hired through the graduate program at Leighton Contractors. For two years, I will get as much experience as I can through the great mentors I have as part of the graduate program. Leighton Contractors exposes us to all aspects of the mining industry, from management and project planning office work to production—the digging, blasting and using equipment. My role is challenging, and that appeals to me. Incorporating safety, the environment, looking after the people aspects: it’s very different to what I thought engineering would be. I thought it would be sitting down crunching numbers, designing the mines, but that’s only part of it. During school I really loved science and maths. I thought: how can I use what I like and enjoy and do something meaningful? In my Honours thesis I looked at improving the sustainability of mineral sands processing for a mine in South Australia that had come to UOW with a problem. Mineral and chemical waste from sands mining is stored in pits. If they’re not built right, they can fail, and the waste escapes. I looked at how to improve environmental safety while lowering cost and boosting productivity. It was probably one of the best things I did at uni, because it integrated all the technical skills I learned with the soft skills of project management and dealing with people. I feel like I’ve started on the right path, but it’s going to be a long process. My first big achievement was graduating uni. The next will be getting my first year of production experience. Part of that will be driving our 200-ton dumptrucks around the mine. It’s actually pretty amazing, thinking about pushing around that little truck as a kid and ending up here. Mining’s an industry that allows you to look where you want to go and make a plan. I’ve got clear work goals and I know where I want to be in the coming years.
sAFETY IN NUMBERS 82 04 89 1 3 5 1 0 4 6 $ 5 $ 5 37 9 35 4 9 1
There is a certainty + in mathematics that is hard to beat. That certainty is how pure mathematicians explain the fundamental principles of the universe. It’s how applied maths helps people build things in the everyday world. It’s also what drew student Audi and graduate Leonie to their studies.
Audi Li is a student who understands the advantage mathematicians have in finding answers. He’s discovered the joys of applying what you know to real world problems, and it’s taking him unexpected places. WORDS by AUDI LI Bachelor of Mathematics and Finance (Dean’s Scholar)
I really like how straightforward maths is: at its heart, there’s one right answer. There’s none of the equivocation you can get in other areas, and I think that’s just the way my mind works. Like a lot of kids, though, I don’t think I knew what you could do with maths in high school. I was lucky that in my economics classes I got to see how it could be applied. It gives you something more to think about, being able to see how it works in the world. At uni, having a maths background is a big advantage in finance subjects. When you understand the tools you’re using, they become much more versatile. In a finance lecture, when they’re teaching a formula, if I can quickly derive it and understand how it’s built I’m much happier.
I did a summer research project through UOW working on ‘Modelling the interaction between aromatic rings for applications in high pressure liquid chromatography columns’—it was pretty far from what I’m studying! It was, however, very interesting, because it gave me a whole new way to see how to use maths, another perspective into a highly specific application. I think anything that exposes you to new ways to use what you know is a good thing. I’d like to say everything is based on mathematics. Well, it is, really: it’s behind so much of what we do, so understanding it sets you apart, particularly in the world of finance. It’s too early in my degree to know exactly where I’m going, but I know this is the direction I want to head.
Macquarie Capital is a part of a global group with over $431B (that’s 4.31 × 1011) of assets under management. They’re part of an industry filled with mathematicians helping make things happen. UOW graduate Leonie Wilkinson is one of them. WORDS by LEONIE WILKINSON Bachelor of Mathematics and Finance / Associate Director, Macquarie Capital
I always liked maths, loved the sureness of it. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it, though. I considered several things including engineering, but went with my first love. Fundamentally, we think about financial decisions and transactions in terms of what investment returns will be, and if those returns are commensurate with the risk involved. But people talk about investment banking as if it’s just people pushing money around. Capital markets are actually an important way of making things happen, helping people pursue projects.
A lot of what I do is working with clients, understanding their needs and goals and linking investors with project specialists. Working as an Associate Director is faster paced than what I imagined about finance, and much more interesting. I remember thinking “it’ll be lovely working in an office”. As it turns out, a lot of what I do involves real estate assets and construction, so it’s not unusual for me to have a hardhat on at a work site! It’s one of my favourite parts of the job: ironic, since I chose not to do engineering.
When I finished uni and was writing to firms to apply for graduate positions, I remember saying: I want to make things happen. I think that’s what I’m doing. One of the things I’m proudest of in this role is when I helped a client get the funds to redevelop two of their shopping centres. Without that transaction, without those funds, the redevelopment would have been impossible. The deal they made created 3,450 construction jobs, and 3,000 retail jobs. That’s having a real effect, helping create jobs. That’s making things happen.
coming soon & things to do Year 12 Languages Study Day 13 June 2014 This free workshop includes listening, writing and speaking activities, and study tips to help you do your best. Register at lha.uow.edu.au/hsi/hscstudydays
ICT CAREERS CONFERENCE: BIG DAY IN 15 May 2014 Learn about careers in ICT from some of the biggest players in the industry at the Big Day In. Book a place at eis.uow.edu.au/future-students/events
WE’RE HERE TO HELP uniadvice@uow.edu.au 1300 367 869 facebook.com/uowfuture If you have questions about our programs (such as Early Admission) and degrees, how to apply or events including Open Day, give us a call, send us an email or ask a question on the UOW FaceBook page.
We’re in the season of careers markets and open days when you’ll have the opportunity to talk to reps from universities, colleges and businesses about your future career direction—and it pays to come prepared. If you want to be informed, you have to ask the right questions.
Things to look for: Is it catered? Is it on campus or off campus? What kind of student community activities can you get involved in?
1 / What degrees do you offer that relate to my interests, HSC subjects, and career ambitions?
PARENTS NEWSLETTER Your parents can have their HSC questions answered before they’ve even asked with the UOW Parents newsletter. Put their minds at ease: send them to sign up at bit.ly/uow2014enews
TELL YOUR FRIENDS If one of your classmates didn’t get to UOW DDays this year, let them know they can sign up to get the same information on courses, events and how to apply that we’ll send you. They’ll also get their own UniSpeak and invitations to UOW events, including Open Day in August. Anyone can sign up at bit.ly/yr12-update
Which ones are available to students starting their degree? Check for academic, regional and accommodation scholarships.
Do any of their degrees offer international study options? Which countries are available?
Wednesday June 11
Our free, hour-long tours are conducted by current UOW students, and run at 10 am and 3 pm every Friday throughout the year except public holidays. We’re always ready to welcome you at UOW! Make a booking at uow.edu.au/future/events
8 / What scholarships are available?
ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
We think there are some essential questions that any keen student will want to ask: here are our Top Ten things to ask a university rep.
COME SEE US EVERY FRIDAY
Ask about: the hours per week; types of assessments; full-time and part-time study options. Where are the lectures and tutorials held?
9 / Are there international exchange options?
Choosing a Career Live Chat Talk live with UOW Careers experts about where UOW study can take you, or which careers are ‘the next big thing’. Find out more and register at uow.edu.au/future/events
7 / What is the workload for the degree like?
Degree names vary from uni to uni, and college to college. For example if you are interested in a career in business, this may be called ‘commerce’ or ‘business administration’, depending on who you’re speaking to. 2 / What assumed knowledge and recommended studies apply to the degrees I’m interested in?
10 / What are my accommodation options?
CAREERS MARKETS UOW will be visiting these careers markets near you. Stop by to get all the degree information you need to make your decision. Sutherland Shire University Information Day
Thu 1 May
Young Careers Expo
Mon 5 May
Forbes Tertiary Awareness Day
Tue 6 May
Dubbo Jobs Expo
Wed 7 May
FACTS Day (Bathurst)
Thu 8 May
Illawarra Careers Market
Tue 13 – Wed 14 May
Northern Beaches Careers Market
Thu 15 – Fri 16 May
Tamworth Careers Market
Wed 21 May
Newcastle Careers Market
Thu 22 May
Hunter Valley Careers Market
Fri 23 May
Ask if you can transfer from one degree to another (e.g. business to law) or ask about college or TAFE programs which will make you eligible to apply to your chosen uni. Ask about bonus entry point schemes too.
The HSC and Careers Expo
Thu 29 May – Sun 1 Jun
CBD Combined Careers Market
Mon 2 Jun
Smith’s Hill Careers Market
Tue 3 Jun
4 / Are there any early admission options into the course I am interested in?
Southern Highlands Careers Expo
Tue 3 Jun
Macarthur Area Careers Expo
Thu 5 Jun
Many universities offer programs like UOW’s Early Admission program, but details can vary significantly from one university to the next, so be sure to get as much information as you can.
Newington Careers Expo
Thu 12 Jun
Western Riverina Tertiary Info Day & Career Expo
Mon 16 Jun
Wagga Wagga Tertiary Awareness Day
Tue 17 Jun
Remember: at UOW, assumed knowledge isn’t a prerequisite for admission, but if you haven’t studied those subjects you may find the degree very difficult. 3 / What are my options if I don’t get the ATAR for my course? Are there any other ways to get into the course I am interested in?
5 / What are the job prospects for the career that I’m interested in? Also ask what job-seeking assistance the uni provides. 6 / Are there any compulsory job placements in the degrees I’m interested in?
Albury/ Wodonga Careers Market
Wed 18 Jun
Western Sydney Careers Expo
Thu 19 – Sun 22 Jun
Central Coast Careers Expo
Tue 24 Jun
Careers Search
Wed 16 Jul
Nepean Careers Market
Thu 17 – Fri 18 Jul
Far South Coast Careers Market
Tue 29 Jul
Canberra Careers Expo
Wed 30 – Thu 31 Jul
Are there other ways to get experience in the degree?
Featured degrees Like what you see? These are the degrees helping our people get where they need to be.
Justin & Buzz both study a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, which is graduate-entry only (you have to complete another Bachelor degree first). Justin studied a Bachelor of Science (Exercise Science) UAC: 757642 Jess is completing her PhD, having finished a Bachelor of Science Honours (Exercise Science) UAC: 757642 James studied a Bachelor of Engineering (Scholar) (Civil Engineering, Mining Engineering) UAC: 755601
Chloe is finishing her Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies (Advertising and Marketing) UAC: 753110 Audi studies Bachelor of Mathematics and Finance (Dean’s Scholar) UAC: 756520 and Leonie completed a Bachelor of Mathematics and Finance UAC: 756503 Alice is wrapping up a Bachelor of Arts – Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies UAC: 751350
The University of Wollongong attempts to ensure the information contained in this publication is correct at the time of production (May 2014); however, sections may be amended without notice by the University in response to changing circumstances or for any other reason. Check with the University at the time of application/enrolment for any updated information. UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG CRICOS: 00102E
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