ENGINEERING+AEROSPACE
n emily ahster udent
physics phd
Time warp Emily Ahern works on atomic clocks which are super helpful in the race to space!
A
desire to s a young child with a deep used to sit ily Em , understand the world and read lf she ok next to her parents’ bo s paid off ha sity curio the encyclopedia. Emily’s where SA NA e her to in life, and soon it will tak ek e 10-we she has secured an intensiv n Laboratory in lsio pu Pro internship at the Jet California. nt at the Emily, a physics PhD stude ected by sel s University of Adelaide, wa tiv era e Research Australia’s SmartSat Coop Her work involves Centre for the internship. satellites – clocks atomic clocks for use with king hand use the that instead of using a tic of atoms to measure vibrations or oscillations e, making them time. They’re super precis ere a satellite or even perfect for working out wh any point in time. a space probe might be at ysics and laser “There’s a lot of atomic ph I do,” Emily says. physics involved in what decent “And you also need a pretty ferent programming understanding of a few dif municate with the languages because we com clock via computers.” exceptional student Emily says she wasn’t an straight physics, but at school and didn’t study a physics elective in when she ended up doing degree, she loved it. her undergraduate science
Bachelor of Science, Theoretical Physics and Experimental Physics, University of Adelaide
She loved it so much that she ended up switching to a new degre e in physics. “Unfortunately, I’d never planned to do physics, so I didn’t have the mathe matics prerequisites and I had to do a bridging course as well.” Now, Emily works alongsid e engineers building devices for satell ites and she’s excited about how fast South Austr alia’s space industry is growing. “There are ple nty of jobs opening up,” Emily says. With South Australia’s am bition to develop its satellite launching capabi lity, more careers are on the horizon. Emily says students intere sted in a career in aerospace should stick wi th physics. “It’s not something that comes eas y to most people, but struggling doesn’t mean tha t you’re not suited to it. If you’re genuinely intere sted, talk to your teachers as they are more often than not very willing to help you through .” — Charis Palmer
there are plenty of jobs opening up ”in the space industry Bachelor of Science (physics) (Honours), University of Adelaide
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PhD Student, University of Adelaide
ENGINEERING