SIEF Newsletter December 2023
Generation STEM is a 10-year initiative, which began in 2017, to attract, support, and retain NSW students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Managed by CSIRO, the program is made possible by the NSW Government’s $25 million endowment to SIEF.
Generation STEM is delivering several programs including Deadly in Generation STEM. Deadly in Generation STEM aims to increase engagement and retention of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students in STEM educational pathways, STEM employment and/or future education through culture and on Country.
Deadly in Generation STEM unites science, culture, and growth
Embracing the challenge of stepping beyond one's comfort zone defined this year's Deadly in Generation STEM Camp. Over 4 exciting days in October, 17 Aboriginal students from Year 8 to 10, representing several schools in NSW’s Illawarra region, gathered to learn about how STEM connects with culture. The days were packed. From astronomy and coding drones to bush medicine, dancing, and bush regeneration, the camp fuelled student’s curiosity while bridging the gap between Indigenous knowledge and local STEM opportunities. With the guidance of Cultural Knowledge Holders, local STEM experts, and mentors, the students engaged in hands-on activities centred around the theme of 'Caring for Country'.
For Mitchell, a participating student, a highlight was learning how to code the drones. Science is his favourite subject at school. But from his camp experience, he’s also learned that Indigenous people were the first scientists in Australia and that their knowledge has carried through time and is used today. The students left with memories, new connections, artefacts reflecting their journeys, and the knowledge that STEM skills are reflected in their every day.
See the CSIRO website to read the full story about the camp.
Australia is set to benefit from an injection of new equipment into the Australian innovation system from SIEF’s Medium Equipment Program (MEP). MEP (supported by a Gift to SIEF from CSIRO) is designed to address a gap in funding for equipment in the medium range, and aims to enhance capability and capacity and encourage collaboration – national, international and with industry. Two rounds of the MEP have been run since our last newsletter.
Seven new equipment systems were approved for funding through MEP Rounds 4 and 5, including the Revio High Fidelity sequencing system. The Revio allows for high throughput, high quality, high fidelity (HiFi) sequencing of DNA, RNA and epigenetic markers. The purchase of this machine establishes for Australia a sovereign, sustainable, strategic, highly secured and world-class HiFi sequencing capability. Sequencing capability will be increased by six times, filling a gap in the national genomics infrastructure. The purchase of this machine is a highly collaborative project involving CSIRO, Queensland University of Technology, Australian National University, Canberra Clinical Genomics, University of Sydney, Macquire University, Charles Sturt University, University of Canberra, ACT Health and Bioplatforms Australia.
The machine has already been used to generate fundamental data for agricultural, environmental, conservation, biosecurity and health related species.
Further information about the Revio HiFi sequencer and its benefits for agricultural, medical, and environmental sciences can be found on the CSIRO website and at the Applied Genomics Website.
For further information on what has been funded by the Medium Equipment Program and the other equipment that has been funded visit the SIEF website.