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My First Decade as a Climate Change Scientist
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I have been involved in climate
change research since the tender age of 19. Unlike many of my colleagues, I was
not a ‘weather weeny’ as a kid. Perhaps this is because there
was not a lot of weather going on in Swan Hill, the small rural town on the
banks of the Murray River in north-west Victoria in which I grew up. The Mallee
region is flat and dry and most of my memories have a background of blue skies.
Of course the sheep and wheat farmers in this region are very dependent on the
weather.
It was during the first year of a science degree at Macquarie University that I
first came across meteorology. A product of primary school teacher parents, I
planned to enter university and become a chemistry teacher, but I was curious to
explore other options along the way. During my first year I took a class called
The Planet Earth and was hooked. Soon I had switched into a Bachelor of
Technology in Atmospheric Science. The degree was designed with advice from the
Bureau of Meteorology and its combination of maths (which my mind seemed wired
for) and geography (which I found more interesting) was very appealing. And I
would not have to take any more chemistry labs; I had realized during first year
chemistry that they were not for me.
The degree program included summer work experience placements, and my first
summer placement was spent at the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre in
Melbourne. There I was introduced to the world of Unix, data, scientific
programming and climate models. My supervisor spent a lot of time with me
explaining the physics and mathematics behind these models of the atmosphere and
ocean. He was a very inspiring teacher and instilled in me a desire to learn
more. I returned the following summer and then again for Honours. Trying to
understand the general circulation of the atmosphere and how it may respond to
increases in carbon dioxide and other human-induced changes was, and continues
to be, a fascinating question to me. After finishing Honours, the next step was
not particularly clear to me. I had always wanted to travel and, having
graduated, was free to do so. Thinking that combining career and travel could
work well, I applied for a Commonwealth scholarship to go to the University of
Reading, one of the top universities for meteorology in the U.K. My scholarship
application was unsuccessful but through the application process I had asked the
advice of a professor at Monash. He kindly emailed his ‘mates in the States’ to
see if there were opportunities for me there. Suddenly I was off to Boulder,
Colorado to work at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). I had
never left Australia before and was thrilled to be heading overseas to work in a
new country.
This month I am celebrating 10 years working in the climate change research
section at NCAR. My first stop on a round-the-world trip turned into 6.5 years
in Boulder. My 2nd year there I enrolled in a PhD program at the University of
Colorado, but a year into the program, the 5-year sentence seemed too daunting.
Could I really stay in the States that long? I stopped after two years with a
Masters and started working full-time as an associate scientist at NCAR. I
returned home to Australia in 2003, continuing to work for NCAR remotely while
being hosted by the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre. This arrangement has
worked well for all parties, and I feel extremely privileged to be able to live
in Australia but continue working in a position that suits me well.
Throughout my career I have had very supportive supervisors who have encouraged
me to work independently on my own projects while also working as a support
scientist. I became interested in women’s issues when I realized that many of my
female colleagues were also choosing non-tenure track paths for their careers.
Perhaps there was more to my decision to drop out of the PhD program than purely
personal reasons? Could it be that we were all looking ahead at the hard slog to
get tenure and finding it was not particularly appealing? Could there be ways to
make it more appealing to women? I’m hoping that we as a community will continue
to try and find answers to these questions.
For me, the most fulfilling part of a career in science has been the
cross-cultural experiences it has given me. Working and
being educated in another country, travelling to international conferences,
collaboration and friendship with nationals of many countries, all make for a
very enriching work life. The long hours and constant self motivation can
sometimes be wearing, but the freedom to be able to work on whatever interests
me is something to be cherished. After more than a decade in climate change
research, I’ve decided that it’s time to get the proper qualifications and have
recently enrolled part-time in a PhD program at the University of Melbourne.