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Links QUT Alumni Magazine Issue Two 2015 linksQUT Alumni Magazine—Issue two 2015 Mission to Mars Our Alumnus of the Year leading the voyage to the Red Planet linksQUT Alumni Magazine—Issue two 2015 Cover story 2 Our Outstanding Alumnus and her mission to Mars News 1 Outstanding Alumni Award winners 6 News roundup 8 Technology to transform our lives 10 Creating futures 12 Fuel for thought 14 Real-world graduates 16 Research update 18 Roll up for Robotronica 6 20 Investors out of their depth Alumni update Editorial Janne Rayner | Ken Gideon | Rose Trapnell 21 Alumni news with Alumni Manager Coordinator: Rob Kidd Ken Gideon Kate Haggman | Shannon Hore Sandra Hutchinson | Mechelle McMahon Debra Nowland | Amanda Weaver Last word Niki Widdowson 25 A message from Vice-Chancellor p 07 3138 2361 e [email protected] Professor Peter Coaldrake Photography Design Erika Fish Ernesto Bello Sonja de Sterke 8 12 Download the full issue free for your iPad Delve further into stories, view short videos from experts and learn more about QUT Links is published by QUT’s Marketing and QUT research through the Communication Department in cooperation with QUT’s Alumni iPad version. Search for and Development Office. Editorial material is gathered from a QUT Links Alumni Magazine. range of sources and does not necessarily reflect the opinions 20 and policies of QUT. Outstanding Alumni Awards frogsPutting faith in Red Frogs’ founder Andrew Gourley shows why you should sometimes take lollies from strangers. Special Excellence Award “Understanding budgets and costings for Innovation in Youth Support is essential when working in non-profit and Education organisations,” the skateboarding community outreach pastor said. Andrew Gourley has turned a humble lolly into an iconic brand known for “My accounting degree has given me the “The idea of using Red Frogs was just to helping young people during alcohol- knowledge I need to ensure Red Frogs be an icebreaker but it really took off. We fuelled events. Australia is financially sustainable over have gone from handing out about 80kg the long term.” of Red Frogs to over 20 tonnes per year.” As founder and visionary leader of Red Frogs Australia, Mr Gourley’s positive Red Frogs is the largest chaplaincy In addition to attending Schoolies Week, impact in fighting the culture of binge service for young people in Australia and the Red Frogs program has expanded drinking among young people has been has established a comprehensive drug to include educating high school and recognised in this year’s Outstanding and alcohol harm prevention program, university students on responsible Alumni Awards. that has seen its introduction across the drinking and substance awareness. world in Poland, New Zealand, Canada, Graduating in 1992 with a Bachelor of “Looking back over the past 18 years Germany, South Africa, the United Business (Accounting), Mr Gourley has there has been a huge cultural shift in Kingdom, Fiji and Indonesia. used his nous with numbers to support the way Year 12 students celebrate. We his passion for helping others. “I started Red Frogs in 1997 after seeing are seeing a lot more students acting a need to help young people during responsibly and not drinking as hard as Schoolies celebrations,” he said. they used to,” Mr Gourley said. Links QUT Alumni Magazine—Issue two 2015 1 “If there ever was life on Mars, it’s likely that it was microbial… and very early in Martian history.” Out of this WORLD QUT-trained astrobiologist Dr Abigail Allwood has led missions for NASA – but her biggest journey is still to come. Alumnus of the Year Science and Engineering Faculty If anyone can answer one of humanity’s PIXL Arm-Mounted Sensor Head most burning questions – are we alone? – it is probably Dr Abigail Allwood. She is a co-leader for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission and the first Australian and first female to lead a Mars mission. The next rover robot to visit the Red Planet will search for signs of past life – and Dr Allwood will play a key role in any discovery. She is the mission’s principal investigator for her Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), one of seven sophisticated scientific instruments to be packed on the rover. 2 Outstanding Alumni Awards Mars 2020 Mission Mission: Mars 2020 rover to search for evidence of past life on Mars Launches: July/August 2020 Travel time: 8-9 months Arrival: January/March 2021 Surface mission length: 1 Mars year (669 days) Rover: 950 kg, loaded with 7 scientific instruments. Capacity to store key samples for later recovery. Estimated cost: US$1.9 billion A Mars selfie from NASA’s Curiosity Rover. Operated remotely by her team back on Earth, it will analyse the chemistry of Martian rocks in finer detail than ever before. “We will be able to map rock chemistry at the scale of sand grains, giving us a better understanding of the processes by which the rocks formed,” said Dr Allwood, who graduated from QUT with a first-class Voyager mission scientist Dr Carolyn Porco Dr Allwood said her time at QUT had honours degree in geoscience in 2002. on television describe the moment she introduced her to the scientific method and “This detailed analysis will help us figure became the first person to see Voyager’s changed her way of thinking. out whether the environments in which the stunning close-up images of Saturn. “I learned this process of making an rocks were formed could – or did – As a pathway to space exploration, Dr observation and developing multiple support life. Allwood first studied physics at QUT. But alternate hypotheses so you remain “If there ever was life on Mars, it’s likely she soon discovered her second great love, objective and making more observations that it was microbial, because favourable geology, and switched to study geoscience. and tests until you eventually decide which conditions for life were short lived, and very hypothesis is right,” she said. “I’d never been exposed to geology in high early in Martian history.” school so I never considered it as a career “What a way to think about the world. That The Mars 2020 mission is the culmination – but I was soon hooked,” Dr Allwood said. for me is what science is – it’s not the lab of Dr Allwood’s life-long dream to explore coat, it’s not the text books, it’s not the “I knew it would be relevant for studying the Solar System. facts you’re taught – it’s the process, and other rocky planets, especially Mars.” the process we should apply to everything Her passion was ignited as a young girl in we do or think.” Rochedale, in Brisbane’s south, watching Links QUT Alumni Magazine—Issue two 2015 3 After graduating, Dr Allwood undertook a PhD at Macquarie University, studying 3.5 billion-year-old rocks in the Pilbara region to see if features within those rocks constituted evidence of life. The research led to her appointment to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and underpinned her six-year development of PIXL. Her future goals for exploring the Red Planet, however, do not include volunteering for a manned mission to Mars. “I’d go mad at being stuck in a tin can for eight months each way!” Dr Allwood said. “I used to want to go when I was young because it seemed so much more amazing than boring old Earth. “But being an astrobiologist and planetary scientist has given me a different perspective. Earth is a mind-bogglingly complex system of interactions between biosphere-atmosphere-hydrosphere- lithosphere - a delicate, beautiful web that enables life as we know it. husband and their toddler are revegetating of field observations to help the future “We have not found anything quite like it in a farm on the edge of the rainforest. scientists analysing them make some the universe. From that perspective, amazing discoveries,” she said. it is actually Mars that is mundane in the She is planning a future for her family universe, while Earth is indescribably that incorporates both barren Mars and “Then I want to go to our farm in Topaz and special.” fertile Earth. dial in to the 2020 extended mission rover ops room from the back patio.” While Dr Allwood’s eyes are set squarely “I’m looking forward to helping choose an on Mars, her heart remains in Topaz, awesome suite of samples on Mars and far north Queensland, where she, her collecting the best possible compendium Winners in their field Karni Liddell Carolyn Dawkins Faculty of Health QUT Business School Master of Social Work 2012 Bachelor of Business 2000 Karni Liddell is a counsellor, media Carolyn Dawkins is at the forefront of presenter, professional speaker and a transitioning iconic brands including champion for people with a disability. Kelloggs, L’Oreal and Colgate into the At 14, Ms Liddell set her first world digital marketplace. Today she heads swimming record and later captained the up Google’s BrandLab in New York City, Australian swimming team at the 2000 supporting Google’s Top 100 worldwide Sydney Paralympic Games. clients. Leigh Sales Dominic McGann Creative Industries Faculty Faculty of Law Bachelor of Business (Journalism) 1993 Bachelor of Laws 1983 Two-time Walkley Award-winner Leigh A native title expert, Dominic McGann Sales covered historic events including leads the largest independent law firm Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath of in Queensland as Chairman of Partners September 11 as ABC’s North American for McCullough Robertson. He is one of correspondent. Since 2011 Ms Sales has the top-ranked lawyers in Chambers Asia hosted ABC’s news and current affairs Pacific 2015 and listed in Best Lawyers program 7.30.
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