Suzy Jackson - RF Design Engineer & PhD student
Tell us about yourself.
I'm originally from Melbourne, but spent much of my childhood in Canberra. I'm the youngest of four kids. I had a pretty standard suburban upbringing. Some of my earliest memories are of helping my oldest brother while he disassembled things.
Where did you go to school and how did you get into astronomy?
I was keen to move out of home after Year 12, so I went to TAFE in Canberra and did an associate diploma in electronics, while working as a trainee technician. I worked as an electronics technician for a few years.
I studied telecoms engineering part-time at UTS. I chose UTS because they had a timetable that is kind to part-time students, and because I reckoned my career prospects were better in Sydney than in Canberra.
When I finished my degree, I felt lost without something to study, so signed up for a PhD in electronics at Macquarie Uni, which I'm currently working on part-time. I chose Macquarie because they are doing research into RF-CMOS. This research involves using the processes for making computer chips to make radio receivers instead. By adapting computer and mobile phone technology, we're able to make bigger (and cheaper) telescopes than before.
What has been your career path so far?
My first job was as a "check out chick" at Kmart, while doing year 12. Soon after I started my associate diploma, I started working as a trainee with the Department of Defence. My job included installing telephones, fixing computers, and designing electronic circuit boards, and building things.
I next worked at the Orroral satellite laser ranging observatory, south of Canberra, where we bounced a laser beam off orbiting satellites to work out where we were. We could measure the distance between the observatory and a satellite 6,000km away to a precision of 7mm. My job was to maintain the laser and detector systems, and to design electronics to improve the accuracy of our results.
Orroral observatory closed down in 1997, so I moved to Sydney to study at UTS. I accepted a six-month "work experience" placement in the receiver group at the ATNF helping design electronics for our telescopes, and have been working for the ATNF ever since.
What does a typical work day involve?
Engineering is a pretty varied job. I spend a fair amount of time designing electronics on a computer, using different simulation and CAD tools. I get plenty of time in the lab as well, building my creations and getting them working. Occasionally I visit the observatories to install the latest gizmo, or else to help their technicians and engineers to debug previous equipment that's playing up.
What is the most interesting thing about being an engineer?
Electronics design is almost like painting, or sculpture. You take a pretty vague set of requirements for a piece of equipment that's needed, and you're free to create; to invest a little part of yourself in the final product. After a period of time drawing all the details, and agonising over different obscure design choices, you get to see your art made real.
Each new project is a learning exercise, where I build on the skills I learnt previously. There's always a new challenge.
What are you working on now?
My latest "baby" is a tiny receiver chip, measuring just 3mm to a side, which incorporates much of the electronics in a radiotelescope receiver. One day (I hope) chips like mine will allow us to make bigger telescopes than we've ever done.
Are there any downsides or frustrations in your work?
Leading edge design work has risks as well as rewards. Sometimes things don't work. Sometimes I apply power to my latest wonderful creation, only to see it vanish in a puff of black smoke because I've made some rookie mistake. Thankfully, that's pretty rare. Sometimes the pressure to "deliver the goods" conflicts with my desires to properly explore design possibilities, so I have to do things in a way I'm not completely happy with.
What motivated you to choose a career in science and Engineering?
Were you a natural at it in school?
Engineering chose me, rather than the other way around. I liked pulling things apart as a kid, but wasn't necessarily very good at putting them back together. In high school I found physics really fascinating, but wasn't terribly good at maths. I originally wanted to study physics at uni. I couldn't see myself living at home through a degree, so wanted a career where I could be self-supporting sooner. My dad worked as an electronics technician, and encouraged me to go to TAFE instead.
I really enjoyed working as a technician, but always found myself redesigning things I was supposed to fix. I figured that the best way to ensure I did more of the designing and less of the fixing was to go back to school and study engineering.
Now, most of the way through a PhD in electronics, I still find physics fascinating, and I'm still not terribly good at maths.
What do you see your career ten years from now?
I see my career continuing to evolve as it has done for the last fifteen years. I'll have to give up uni at some point. I see myself leading big engineering projects, and putting my creative energies into yet bigger (or certainly more complicated) pieces of gear.
In ten years time, the biggest radio-astronomy project will be the SKA. I hope to have a really big role in its development and construction.
What do you do when not at work?
I'm a cycling nut. I love riding bicycles, whether it's to and from work, riding around Sydney on the weekend, or racing. It's my dream to someday ride Paris-Brest-Paris, a 1200km ride that's held once every four years. I also like to collect old racing bikes and restore them.
I like having a few pots on the boil at once, so if I get bored of something I've got other activities to turn to. I'm currently learning to play the guitar, and building my own stereo amplifier for my loungeroom.
What advice or suggestions would you make to young people
considering a career in science or engineering?
Do it! Don't let mundane things get in the way of your dreams. There's always a way to get where you want to be, as long as you're persistent and patient.
Even if you find you're unable to pursue your dreams straight away, be it because of money, or grades, or whatever, take a path that gets you a little closer, and try again when your experience or finances allow.
My need to support myself financially has dictated a lot of my choices since high-school. That's meant that I've done most of my study part-time. It's taken a while, but I'll get there eventually.