The 19-year-old former St John’s Evangelist Catholic High School student grew up in Huskisson and developed a strong interest in astronomy and nuclear physics in year 10.

“They only felt like hobbies though, not something that I could actually study usefully and make a career out of,” Lillian said. 

“Growing up in Huskisson and schooling in Nowra, far away from cities and major universities really made it feel like science didn’t exist in Australia. It felt like if I ever wanted to do big science, I’d have to study and work overseas.”

Her mindset changed however after a chance to attend the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF), a two week program open to year 11 students held in Canberra at the ANU. 

The NYSF is sponsored through Rotary and with only 400 places available, Lillian began approaching local Rotary clubs to seek sponsorship.

“I stuck with the South Nowra Rotary Club, and I couldn’t be more grateful, they had my back the whole way and I can’t recommend enough how valuable it is to make ties with a Rotary group,” she said.

“Since meeting the guys from South Nowra Rotary club I’ve also had so many other opportunities to get involved with the local community that I never really had an interest in before attending the forum, so meeting South Nowra Rotary has been a really valuable experience.”

Lillian said attending the NYSF has alerted her to the opportunities available in the science field.

“There is so much real, big, useful science being done in Australia, that you just can’t always see from a small town,” she said`

“The NYSF fulfilled my mission completely, which was to see if there were actually science jobs in Australia,” she said.

“Basically every industry you can think of uses science, which seems blatantly obvious now, but was not so obvious to year a 10 student from the small town of Huskisson.”

While she said seeing science in action and making new friends was a highlight of her time at the NYSF, Lillian also made some valuable connections at the Science Dinner. 

“I was lucky enough to be seated at the CSIRO table, where I met a woman who was interested in hearing about what I wanted to study,” she said.

“After telling her my interest was in nuclear science we got on to talking about her involvement with ANSTO, Australia’s only nuclear reactor facility.”

While she’d had no luck in her previous contacts with ANTSO about undertaking work experience as a high school student, her new connection opened up a new field for Lillian.

“I was taken very seriously at this dinner and after sending out several emails to as many ANSTO contacts as she possibly could, she got a reply from a scientist at ANSTO that was keen to make the work experience happen,” she said.

“I kept in contact with him, and after emailing back and forth for months, about a year after the forum we made it happen.

“In December of last year, I got to spend the two best weeks of my life so far in my dream job, before I’d even gotten my HSC results.

“I got to work under the scientist I’d been emailing, who is an instrument scientist on QUOKKA, a small angle neutron scattering instrument that can be used to produce diffraction patterns of samples which can then be used to determine properties of the sample which cannot be determined any other way. I was extremely lucky to work with this scientist and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity which no one my age has ever gotten before.”

Lillian worked independently on a project of her own, including reading through relevant papers and designing and creating a budget for the possible implementation of a device for the QUOKKA instrument.

“The work I had done may possibly be used for real at ANSTO which is a big dream for me, to make a real impact on science at ANSTO,” she said.

“As well as working on my project, my time at ANSTO was occupied with meeting other amazing scientists and asking them questions about how they got to where they are now, building my professional network, learning how a big science institute works and just hanging out with scientists in the amazing scientific environment  of instruments that use the nuclear reactor. I even got to load some samples into QUOKKA, I believe I am the youngest to ever do so.”

A year and a half on my the NYSF, Lillian is now studying science at UNSW, preparing to become a scientist. 

“I’m hopefully about to get a second round at ANSTO, with the end goal of landing myself a job there one day, after I finish my degree,” she said.

“People tell me it was my determination and passion that got me here, but without the opportunity of the NYSF I would never have gotten my foot in the door at ANSTO.

“I just want students around our small little South Coast towns to know that the opportunities are really out there if you want them, and they are endless.

“As a year 10 or 11 student, it is so very worth talking to your science teachers about the NYSF or any other similar programs that may be available. It’s vital that preparations for applications are well organised and made as soon as possible, as there is a lot of stuff you need to get together and a lot of people you’ll need to talk to such as your local Rotary.”

Lillian encouraged any students looking to attend NYSF in 2017 to apply by May 31.

“Otherwise, it really doesn’t hurt to start talking to teachers and your local rotary about applying for the 2018 program asap,” she said.

“Definitely check out the NYSF website.”

For more information see https://www.nysf.edu.au/