Having a submarine in the backyard and seeing her engineering designs come to life are Nicole’s favourite things about working at ASC.

In Nicole’s own words:

“I think the main drawcard for me for ASC is the submarine. It’s such a complex system. I studied aerospace engineering but there are very few systems that are as complex as a submarine. So many things have to work together to make it a full, complete system.”

“I get to see the submarines in person which is so unique. I think it’s really cool and also makes me feel like a real engineer. A lot of the time when you’re stuck behind a desk, you don’t really get that experience whereas I really enjoy getting to be in the real world.”

“My favourite days at work are when I get to do design work, which I love. There’s a lot of problem solving. But then also getting to go on the boat and talking to the trades – learning how they do things as well.”

After completing a Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace and Mechanical) at the University of Adelaide, Nicole entered ASC’s Undergraduate Program in 2019 before joining the Graduate Program in 2021.

Nicole was named ASC’s Graduate Engineer of the Year in 2023.

“ASC’s been awesome in providing support in that it’s really flexible. It provides a lot of options for further study, so we get a lot of training especially with the Graduate Program. I travelled to Western Australia for three months as part of my rotation, which I really cared about. The things I learnt there are irreplaceable.”

“Safety really matters to us because those submariners are relying on our engineering. There’s no one else to really help them down there so we’ve got to make sure our submarine is robust.”