Kirsten's fascination with the sky started at a very young age. In Primary School she was intrigued by the weather and dreamed of becoming a meteorologist. Her earliest memory of this passion was from one particular day in Kindy class. The teacher had all of the students sitting around in a circle and one by one each of them would stand up and tell the class what they wanted to be when they grew up. Most of the boys would say they wanted to be an astronaut or a fireman, and the girls would say vet or ballerina. When it came to Kirsten's turn, she stood up and came out with the biggest word any 4 year old knew and said, "I want to be a meteorologist!" From that moment, it was clear that Kirsten was a passionate young girl and nothing was going to stop her from achieving her goals.
She graduated from Mimosa Primary School in 2008 and commenced secondary education just next door at Davidson High School in 2009. It was at Davidson High (or Davo for short) where Kirsten's academic rigour flourished. In her first term she was elevated from the lowest maths class to the top class after she solved an algebraic equation on the board in front of her class to which the teacher said was "like poetry". However, it wasn't until year 10 when Kirsten's true passion for the stars developed. After watching the Hubble Documentary at Sydney's IMAX Theatre with her peers, Kirsten was hooked on space and astronomy and thus begun her journey to the stars.
Kirsten completed the HSC in 2014, graduating from Davidson High School with the honour of Most Outstanding Student, awarded to a student who has contributed above and beyond to the school in all areas of participation; and the Ruben F Scarf Award, awarded to the student who has received the most merit points over the entire six year period of High School.
First Primary School photo of Kirsten
Kirsten began her astrophysics career with a Bachelor of Science at the University of New South Wales in 2015. Majoring in Physics, Kirsten learnt about the fundamental workings of the Universe from the smallest atoms to the largest galaxies. She graduated from this program in 2018 and decided that more study was the next step for her, so she enrolled into the Physics Honours program at UNSW. Over 2019 Kirsten studied the evolution of the biggest and brightest galaxies in the Universe and was awarded 1st Class Honours upon completion. Prior to completing this program, Kirsten was accepted into the Scientia PhD program at UNSW and awarded a Scientia Scholarship to continue her studies of the Universe beginning in 2020.
Kirsten loves to share her passion for space and astronomy. Her career in science communication began when she was awarded an Astronomy Guide position at Sydney Observatory in 2015. In this role, Kirsten gained many new skills that have helped her become the wonderful communicator that she is today.
You can find Kirsten expressing her love for the Universe around every turn. She speaks at many large scale events such as Splendor In the Grass in 2019 as well as on television. She has appeared on multiple programs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation such as The Drum and Q and A. She is also the resident astrophysicist on Triple M's Night Shift program as well as Weekend Breakfast on 2SER.