Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
26 Sep 2016
Helen Gregory
Karlie wants to inspire the next generation of young innovators.
KARLIE Noon will become the first indigenous person in the state to attain a double degree in science and mathematics when she pulls on her academic gown for her University of Newcastle (UON) graduation this week.
Ms Noon, a 26-year-old Kamilaroi woman from Tamworth, will be one of more than 1000 students who will graduate at ceremonies at the Callaghan campus on Thursday and Friday.
“It’s hard to describe the impact finishing university has had back home,” Ms Noon said.
“It has helped shift perceptions and raised the expectations for the people around me. My sister has since enrolled in a Bachelor of Nursing at UON after entering through the indigenous enabling program Yapug – and my cousin is also talking to me about going to university and studying science.”
UON reached a milestone 1000 indigenous enrolments this year, which is equivalent to 3.5 per cent of its student population and the largest number at any Australian university.
Ms Noon missed most of primary school but an indigenous elder tutored her once a week in maths.
She enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts, but became interested in physics and changed degrees. “It was really challenging coming into a first year maths degree with no background but I was so determined to do it,” she said. “The Wollotuka Institute really were my support network here for anything I needed.”
Ms Noon now works for the CSIRO, but her love of learning is far from over.
A chance meeting with Monash University cultural astronomer, Dr Duane Hamacher, has encouraged her to pursue postgraduate study in indigenous astronomy.
“I had experienced indigenous astronomy from a cultural perspective, but studying it in a Western paradigm wasn’t something I knew existed,” she said. “There are a lot of similarities between indigenous knowledge and physics, which I plan to explore further.”
Ms Noon has also set her sights on obtaining her PhD. “It is the epitome of academia and at the moment there are no indigenous people with a PhD in Physics.”
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CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, is Australia’s national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world.
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