Here is my creative side quest, Paint and Science…

The nuts and bolts

My CV

About me

👋 I’m a mathematician, science communicator, and advocate for gender and neurodivergence representation in STEM.

🐟 As a fisheries scientist, my job is to figure out how many fish are in the ocean. I develop population models for wild fish species in Queensland waters to ensure fishing levels are sustainable. You could say I’m a mathemafishian.

👩‍🏫 For a decade I worked in education: as a high school teacher, as a university STEM lecturer and class tutor, and as a private tutor and mentor to female and non-binary high school students.

🎤 I fill my spare time with science communication via presentations, videos, panels, mentoring and more. I’ve done some cool things with my scicom, like travelling to outback Queensland, appearing in Vogue magazine and performing stand up comedy.

🏆I’ve been honoured with some awards including the Queensland Women in STEM Prize (Highly Commended) (2022) and the UniSC Alumni of the Year (Rising Star) (2022). In 2024 I was named a Superstar of STEM by Science & Technology Australia as part of the 2025-26 cohort.

🧠 I have ADHD and ASD. I am very open about the challenges and triumphs that come with being a neurodivergent woman in STEM and am proud to advocate for those who can’t be so open.

🥰 I’m passionate about making STEM exciting, engaging and accessible to the public, and promoting non-traditional STEM career pathways.

My Google Scholar profile contains an up-to-date listing of my published scientific work.

I led the development of an R package called SSAND to streamline the production of stock assessment model outputs.

R 90%
LaTeX, RTex, Rnw, Overleaf 80%
Git, GitHub 70%
Interpesonal skills 100%
Team work 100%
Leadership 90%

Awards & Achievements

Work History

Senior Fisheries Scientist

Department of Primary Industries (Queensland)

Jan 2020–Present

Author on twelve published stock assessments for species off the east coast of Queensland. This work involved population modelling and statistical analysis that contributed to fishery harvest strategies, stock-status workshops and quota setting processes. I provide high level technical advice and support to fishery managers to assist with interpretation of outcomes from the stock assessment program.

Occasionally fill-in as Acting Manager, Stock Assessment for periods ranging from 1 to 6 weeks. In this role I manage, direct and coordinate delivery of a routine annual stock assessment program to support development of harvest strategies and other fishery reform proposals for Queensland’s fisheries, among other duties.

Built, documented and maintained a streamlined system for conducting stock assessments; from project set up and data delivery, to report generation. This incorporates technologies such as R, Rtex/Rnw, LaTeX, Overleaf, Git and SQL, to produce fully reproducible and accurate assessments. I provide support to staff to use and innovate these systems.

Collaborate with staff in my team, and other teams, on projects that aid in the delivery of Fisheries Queensland objectives. Provide advice to staff on using Git, Stock Synthesis, Rtex, and other streamlining technologies to complete stock assessments, data requests and report revisions.

Provide high level technical advice and support to fishery managers to assist with interpretation of outcomes from the stock assessment program.

Mentor staff members who benefit from my experience and guidance, in the areas of stock assessment, streamlining, dashboard development, copy editing and professional development.

University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs

2012–2021

Duties include preparing and delivering lessons; providing training on software (Excel, MATLAB, Stella); providing feedback to students on progress and assessment; liaising with Course Coordinators about content and student progress. 

Courses taught: Calculus & Algebra, Physics, Introduction to Mathematics, Numerical Analysis, Applied Systems Modelling, Science Research Methods, Applied Mathematics. 

Topics taught include: infectious disease modelling, predator-prey (Lotka-Volterra) systems, cohort modelling, chaotic systems, Monte-Carlo modelling and Markov chains, rheological modelling, weather and climate modelling, solving non-linear equations, solving systems of linear equations, function approximate with Taylor polynomials, interpolation, numerical differentiation, solving ordinary and partial differential equations.

University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs

2008–2014

Providing personalized campus tours to individuals or groups (of up to 100 people); Delivering presentations to groups to promote the university and its programs; Represent the university at various functions, locally and across the state; Run workshops with prospective students to assist with career planning; Answer questions from the public at the university’s booth at career fairs; Training new ambassadors using formal training materials, personal experiences and demonstrations.

Chancellor State College

2013

Subjects taught: Year 11 Mathematics B; Year 10 Science A; Year 10 Mathematics; Year 10 Extension Mathematics; Year 11 My Journey; Year 11 Form Class.

Education

Volunteer Experience

I am passionate about communicating the joy of STEM to a range of audiences, and work hard to be a role model for up-and-coming STEM practitioners. I’ve engaged with the community through countless panels, presentations and workshops through a variety of platforms.

Take a look at my portfolio for my higlights!

Notable STEM engagement activities include:

  • participating in the 2023-24 fleet of Flying Scientists program, run by the Queensland Office of the Chief Scientist and Wonder of Science (UQ) to engage rural Queenslanders in science. This saw me run a stall at World Science Festival Ipswich and travel to Charleville on a four day tour with the Queensland Chief Scientist, engaging with hundreds of local children and inspiring a passion for STEM. 
  • hundreds of presentations and countless conversations about pathways into STEM through my work as a student ambassador
  • represeting DAF as an advisor for the UNIQ You career advice program for school aged girls
  • providing mentorship for the Queensland Museum STEM Inventors Challenge
  • filmed segments for a children’s science television show (Food Investigators) which will be airing on ABC Me
  • was a panellist on Bris Science’s live Science Comedy Spectacular
  • participation in a panel at the Education Queensland 2022 STEM Teacher symposium discussing the importance of teaching sustainability in the high school curriculum
  • winning an award for my engagement with my pen pal through the Letters to a Pre-Scientist program in 2023. I spent the year exchanging letters with a grade 8 girl in the United States. Teachers were asked  to identify STEM pen pals who went above and beyond to cultivate a great relationship with their pre-scientist and inspire them to explore a future in STEM, and they picked me
  • presenting at the 2022 Australian Society for Fish Biology Conference
  • presenting at a Women in STEM seminar and providing advice to school-aged girls exploring careers in STEM
  • delivering workshops for and judging USC’s Maths Modelling Challenge, multiple times
  • delivering a hands-on interactive workshop on fractal geometry to grade 8 students as part of the `Maths Explains Our World’ program;
  • delivering advice on career pathways at the 2023 UQ Marine Society Industry Night
  • presenting my STEM journey to grade 10 students through a STEM Connect program
  • presenting at USC Moreton Bay to Year 9 girls interested in mathematics
  • presenting my research journey to university mathematics students at a Maths Teachers’ Hub of the Sunshine Coast seminar
  • presenting to commencing science faculty students on career options
  • writing for university students about ‘a day in the life of an applied mathematician’
  • multiple presentations about my career in fisheries science (to grade 7, 11 and 12 students)
  • volunteered as a mentor for school aged students in which we visited various primary industry sites, and students were shown industrial applications of science
  • volunteered as a judge for three Science Investigation Awards run by the Primary Industries Centre for Science Education

Up-and-coming science communication work in 2024 includes a guest presentation at the Queensland Museum STEM Girl Power Initiative and participation in the StemPals letter writing program.

In 2014, I founded the USC Quadball League and volunteered as the club’s president, building it up to one of the largest clubs in the country. Within this role I coordinated an internal league with up to six teams and worked to improve the standard of our representative team. I was a founder of the Queensland Association of Quadball and a Director of Quadball Australia (Treasurer). I also delivered a seminar on club development and management at Quidcamp 2015, the national quidditch conference. Volunteering in these roles has improved my skills in data management, event management, HR management, and public speaking. I managed the flow of over $200000, contributed to the growth of the sport across the nation and took on many projects to improve the productivity of the not-for-profit organisation, with a focus on transparency, professionalism and communication.