Students enrolled in xsel, the virtual selective school providing a selective curriculum to students across Western NSW, were told to follow their passion when they talked face-to-face with world-class scientist Chris Cassell via video-link to Milan in Italy.
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The former Parkes High School student - the son of Andrew and Lyn Cassell - is a post-graduate nuclear physicist specialising in radiation detectors, who is currently based in Italy at the Polytecnico de Milan.
Mr Cassell has also worked at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland as part of his research in detecting stray hadron beam radiation.
The video-link was organised by Mr Cassell’s former maths head teacher and current xsel technology officer, Jay Quince.
“Chris talked to our students about radiation, the atom, nuclear physics, safety and life as a scientist,” Mr Quince said.
“He managed to convey the importance of following your passion in life and that’s an important message for our students because many of them are interested in pursuing university studies in science and engineering.
“It was good for them to see that it really is possible to move from a country community like Parkes or Dubbo and ultimately work as part of the world scientific community.
“Chris is a tremendous role model for our students because he has travelled throughout the world to complete research and present the results of that research.”
After completing his Higher School Certificate at Parkes High School in 2007, Mr Cassell studied at the University of Wollongong, completing a degree in nuclear physics.
He has spent the past two years researching and developing radiation testing equipment in Milan and is currently studying for his PhD in physics.
“Our students and staff were very impressed with his presentation, even though we had to schedule the link quite late at night here to match in with early morning in Milan,” Mr Quince said.
“The main aim of the activity was to raise awareness of science, technology, engineering and mathematics as prospective careers for students.”