Passionate environmentalist 
I grew up in the pristine coastal town of Esperance. When I was young, Mum and I used to walk the beach and collect any rubbish we found. Sometimes we found dead seabirds with bellies full of plastic, teaching me the importance of clean ecosystems. I think this sparked my passion in environmentalism, a passion that was advanced through the talented staff at the School of Environmental Systems Engineering.
Wave energy and environmental sustainability
I work as an ocean energy engineer at Bombora Wavepower in the R&D division, developing our mWave converter. What I love most is that we’re on the cutting edge of the industry. There are hardly any books or precedent on our technology and we have to invent solutions daily and validate them using the latest tech. It’s a dynamic space and our sharp team keeps me on my toes.
I’m also really interested in the application of engineering to enable environmental and social entrepreneurship. I’ve been working hard with BloomLab's talented James Hill to develop The Entrepreneering Series which will run later this year, providing over 450 young technicals with hands-on entrepreneurial experience. I hope this will create a local entrepreneurial ecosystem to catalyse environmentally focused technical start-ups.
UWA and me
My life has changed significantly since leaving UWA. I was planning on competing in the professional windsurfing tour this year, until I snapped my ACL training in February. Luckily, I had recently started working with Bombora Wavepower in January. After requesting to work remotely for a month at our project site in Portugal in July, Bombora requested I relocate permanently. I’ve recently landed in sunny Lisbon, tudo bem!
I really loved my time at UWA. I spent more time in student clubs than in class, and I think UWA’s student club ecosystem provides a fantastic platform to explore passions, build networks and apply academic skills to real-world projects. I highly recommend committing your passion to a club – you won’t regret it.
Making a difference
To quote Arthur C. Clarke, I want to use my STEM knowledge to build conscious businesses that sustainably address environmental and social issues in a way that is indistinguishable from magic. Whilst UWA doesn’t offer classes in wizardry, augmented reality actually comes pretty close!