I was born on the Gold Coast, Australia, in 1991 and grew up there until I moved to Massachusetts in 2009 to begin my journey at MIT. During my middle school years at St. Hilda's School, Gold Coast, I took a great interest in biology and firmly decided that I wanted to become a neurosurgeon. However, when I entered high school and we started doing dissections in Biology class, I realised that the Biology end of the science spectrum was not for me.

At the time, I has also become deeply interested in physics. I had an amazling inspiring physics teacher who managed to impart his enthusiasm to every student in the class by the time we graduated.

In my quest to find other academically driven people such as myself, I attended several "sience camps" in Australia including The Siemen's Science Experience (TSSE), BioFutures and The National Youth Science Forum (NYSF). During the NYSF, I had the opportunity to meet some of the most prevalent scientists in Australia and talk to them about their research. This inspired me to apply for a six-week research internship at MIT.

To my surprise, I was one of only two Australians to attend the Research Science Insitute (RSI), run by the Centre for Excellence in Education (CEE), where I undertook a small research project of my own in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department under the supervision of Emeritus Professor Driscoll.