Visions of the future: Quantum Computing, Carbon Capture and Flying Cars
You are warmly invited to this very special Strathcona Centre for Learning Futures event: Quantum Computing, Carbon Capture and Flying Cars. The talk will feature three guest speakers; Mithuna Yoganathan, Rebecca Phillips and Aidan Biggar.
About THE GUEST SPEAKERS
Mithuna Yoganathan
Quantum computers have been hyped to be the next big thing in computing, but will we really all have quantum computers in the future? If so, when? In this talk Mithuna will explain why the buzz around quantum computers might be missing the point. Quantum computers do hold a lot of promise- but probably not for running your laptop faster.
Mithuna is from Melbourne and did her PhD research at the University of Cambridge in the UK. Her research was about whether certain kinds of computational problems could be run faster on a quantum computer.
Rebecca Phillips ('17)
Increasing carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere is a concern for many of us and affects or will affect us all in one way or another. Rebecca will introduce carbon capture and conversion as a technology that is expected to play an important role in future efforts to fight climate change. She will outline the approach a Monash student team is using to try and develop such technology and how being involved in student teams can be an enriching experience at university.
Rebecca attended Strathcona, graduating in 2017. She is now in her final year of studying Environmental Engineering and a Diploma of Chinese at Monash University. She is currently involved in the Monash Carbon Capture and Conversion (MC3) team. Their proposed solution of turning algae to biochar won funding in the XPrize student award competition, supporting their progress until the final submission in 2025.
Aidan Biggar
Aidan will speak about what we can achieve with aerospace technology, where he thinks the future of the industry is going, and why he thinks we direly need more women to enter the field! He’ll share his background of living in the US and Australia and what it was like to work in Silicon Valley before moving back to Victoria where he joined a small start-up. Aidan believes there almost always exist opportunities to work in your desired industry!
Aidan was born in New Zealand before moving to France and ultimately settling in Australia. He graduated from Melbourne High School in 2013, before moving to California for university. He studied mechanical engineering at Stanford University and then worked for two years as a flight test engineer for the flying car company Kitty Hawk. His current role has him leading the flight test team at Swoop Aero, a drone start-up in Port Melbourne which focuses on delivering vaccines to hard-to-reach regions of the world.
Location
Strathcona Girls Grammar
34 Scott Street, Canterbury VIC 3126