Dr Helen Brand

Dr Helen Brand is Senior Scientist on the Powder Diffraction Beamline at ANSTO’s Australian Synchrotron. The Australian Synchrotron is a particle accelerator which speeds up electrons to almost the speed of light, and bends them using magnets to produce light called synchrotron light. Helen uses this synchrotron light to determine the properties and crystal structure of powders. Each crystal has its own unique characteristics, like a fingerprint, and Helen’s equipment detects these fingerprints.

Helen’s background is in planetary science, and she now uses this background to research jarosite, an oxidised iron-sulfate mineral, on Mars.

What do you do?

I work on a beamline at the Australian synchrotron (#sciencedonut), helping scientists from all around Australia and New Zealand to do experiments to try and learn more about the structure of their materials and how that structure changes when you do something to it - poke it with a stick, for example.

It involves a lot more cable ties and duct tape than you probably imagine.

I also get a small amount of time to do my own research so I love to investigate planetary materials using the synchrotron instruments. Most recently I was excited to buy some Mars rocks!

What are the best parts about your job? What are the hardest parts?

The best bits are learning new science everyday, getting to do a totally different experiment each day and meeting new scientists and helping them do their experiments. That and buying tiny bits of Mars.

The hardest parts are when I get called in at 2am because something has broken. And/or when my colleagues do bolts up too tight.

Why did you choose this career pathway?

Luck? Opportunity?

I had no idea what I wanted to do when I applied to university so chose a general science degree where I could choose almost any modules as I thought I liked geology and astrophysics but wasn’t totally sure. Turned out I loved planets so I transferred to planetary geology when I realised the courses I had chosen were actually a separate degree.

During my PhD I collected data on icy planetary things at the neutron source in the UK and I remember walking into the giant shed of science and being awed by the enormity of it all. So from then I had an inkling that I thought major facilities were a cool place to hang out in and when a job came up I thought I would give it a go.

How did you get to your current role?

As I was coming to the end of my PhD, I didn’t know what to do so I applied for a postdoc in an “exotic” location – Melbourne. My mother was horrified when I got it and hadn’t even told her I had applied…

Then I was in the right place at the right time to apply for a job at the Synchrotron. I was a user at the beamline I work on now and had proved myself to be at least partially experimentally competent, which helped.

How well did your degree prepare you for your career path?

Someone once told me that geologists are trained to solve a problem with an incomplete dataset, and often making an experiment work on a beamline is like that: trying to figure out how to get the data that will allow the users to answer their scientific question without being an expert in the particular area of science.

I feel like my degree, being spread through physics and earth sciences, gave me a flavour of both that has really helped me grasp concepts in materials, engineering, physics, chemistry and beyond.

Oh and image manipulation for publication figures from my photogeological mapping days – never underestimate the importance of pixels.

What advice would you give to students in your study area trying to decide on a career path?

You can do anything. Give it a go, and if you don’t like it, try something else.