Back in November 2006, I was a newly graduated physiotherapist. While all my friends were off finding jobs in hospitals and sports medicine clinics, I inexplicably enrolled in a Bachelor of Science. You see, during the final year of my physio studies, a friend of mine – who also happens to be an oceanographer – suggested that I read Tim Flannery’s best-seller, The Weather Makers. Ever since reading that book, I’ve been fascinated by the workings of the climate system.
After finishing my undergraduate studies for a second time, I worked at CSIRO for a few years developing regional climate projections for Australia and Pacific island nations. I then completed a PhD at the University of Melbourne looking at Southern Hemisphere planetary waves (the winds in the upper atmosphere), before taking up postdoctoral positions at CSIRO and then UNSW to study anthropogenic changes in the global energy and water cycles.
Throughout these climate research roles, I developed and maintained a strong interest data science education and open/reproducible research. I’ve been an instructor, lesson author and regional coordinator with The Carpentries for many years, co-authored the textbook Research Software Engineering with Python, and maintain the PyAOS online community resource for Python users in atmosphere and ocean science. I’m currently putting these skills to use working as a climate data scientist with the CSIRO Climate Science Centre.
It’s impossible to study climate change and not feel compelled to support political candidates fully committed to addressing the problem, so I’m also a very active volunteer with the Tasmanian Greens, having been elected to number of senior positions in the party.