b'Education matters Education mattersto go to University I put science firstSO: I have been quite lucky I never because I had been doing science for sostayed at a job long enough to get bored, long and the teacher helping with myor to not enjoy the work I was doing I enrolment was upset that I was planningalways left a workplace happy, having to put English first A few months later Ilearned something, and then looked at found out that I got my first preference an opportunity as another step Every Monash Science time I left something, I stepped up Some say that if women stay in one place, they more easily go to the top I have never It is the richness of storytelling inbelieved that would be the case for me geoscience that I really enjoy I have always got to the point where I sort of thought: I have learned enough Marina PervukhinaI did not know whether to be happyhere now, and I have to go to where I Associate Editor for Educationthat I got my first preference or to beneed to make a change I think that in Marina.Pervukhina@csiro.au sad because I was not going to be doingterms of getting into this position, it what I wanted In any case, I decided tocame because of the previous changes I stick it out I went to Monash Universityhad made Having had a background in to sign up for my course, and I thinkgovernment, academia, and industryall Passionate about mineralI chose geology because the personvery deliberate changes made by me To exploration I spoke with was a geologist It wassum up, after completing my undergrad simply because of this face-to-faceand Masters at Monash University, I went In this issue of Preview we continue ato work for seven years for the Geological series of interviews on educational needsinteraction I think I was lucky because geology is magical; it has somethingSurvey of Western Australia, and then in the field of geoscience with leadersdecided to go back to university and working in government and industryother sciences do not have Even then, people sometimes described it as notdo my PhD And at that point, I realised Our special guest today is Dr Sandrathat I needed to learn something about Occhipinti, Research Director in Minerala real science, you know, even before the sit-com, Big Bang Theory It is theeconomic geology, I had not thought Resources Business Unit at CSIRO very much about that before then, and richness of storytelling in geoscience MP: Can you please say a few wordsthat I really enjoy We never know all thethat is when this journey to CSIRO really about yourself? Why did you decide toanswers, which made me realise that Ibegan getting this research piece become a geoscientist? needed to learn more and more about itunder my belt and that journey of the as I progressed through my career application of geoscience to benefit back SO: For me, it was just a lucky accident Iinto the economyhad intended to study English literatureMP: And now, you are in a very senior and drama at university I spent highposition as a Research Program DirectorI received my PhD from Curtin University school doing science, but I always keptin the Mineral Resources Business Unit inAt the time Curtin had a small geology up with drama as well, and I enjoyed itCSIRO So, please tell readers a little bitdepartment It was a great culture I had But when I considered my preferencesmore about your journey my first son when I was doing my PhDAfter my PhD I went to work for Fugro Airborne Surveys, taking my first steps into the minerals industry That is where I learned how to complete geological interpretations from geophysical data And it was like a baptism of fire, I would have to say It was a great culture, great environmental work, and really close teams We could walk into the rooms where geophysicists were and get help whenever we needed it I learned how to play around with the data a little bit It was great After a couple of years I had the opportunity to work for AngloGold Ashanti as a project generation geologist in their global group Much earlier on in my career, I thought that would be my final destinationit was what I always aimed to do I stayed with AngloGold Ashanti for about six years, and then I moved across to UWA as a mineral systems geologist and stayed there for five years Having already reached Dr Sandra Occhipinti with colleagues in the field that lofty goal of project generation, I 27 PREVIEW OCTOBER 2022'