- Welcome to our virtual open day for the Faculty of Science
here at Monash University.
I'm Professor Jordan Nash.
I'm the Dean of the Faculty of Science.
And I want to take this opportunity
to thank you for coming
to join us, to hear a little bit about our faculty.
We're sorry, we can't bring you here personally right now,
due to circumstances,
but we want to give you as much information as we can
to help you make a decision about
where you might come to university
and hopefully convince you to come study with us.
First thing we're going to do
is show you a little bit about
the science campus precinct to give you a feeling
of what you might see if you were actually
to come and join us here today.
We've got one of the most exciting
and well-equipped science precincts in the nation
where we're able to,
we have researchers doing some
of the top research around the world,
doing incredible things in labs
that we've spent invested over $150 million
in the university during the past decade in science.
So let's have a look at what you can see
when you come to the campus.
And after that, we'll talk about what you can do
when you study science.
(upbeat music)
- Welcome to the Monash Science precint,
I'm Justyna and I'm studying a double degree
in Science and Arts majoring in Genetics.
- And I'm Dylan studying a Bachelor of Science,
majoring in Chemistry.
Come with us and we'll show you around.
- One of the first things you notice
when you step onto the campus are
the incredible state-of-the-art buildings.
(upbeat music)
This is the new Horizon Center,
which is home to the physics and astronomy research lab.
(upbeat music)
- And this is the Green Clinical Features building
home of all things, chemistry.
(upbeat music)
We work in small lab groups
to do lots of really cool experiments like this titration.
Each group of 16 has it's very own
teaching assistant such as Winston.
So you can ask lots of different questions.
(upbeat music)
- Jack Marshall Reserve is Australia's only
on campus teaching wetland and Bushland complex,
where students can undertake a wide range of field
investigations and experiments,
and then analyze their results
in the onsite biological sciences lab.
(upbeat music)
- The Monash collaborative teaching model moves
away from large lecture this towards
an active learning approach.
Students work in small groups to solve problems
and participate in hands on activities.
The support of not just the lecturer,
the teaching assistants as well.
This is the physics and astronomy
collaborative learning environment.
And this is the Maths Learning Center
where you can get help with your studies
or challenge yourself further.
PASS or Peer Assisted Study Sessions
is an academic mentoring program.
These weekly study groups are really popular
with first year students and a great way
to make new friends.
(upbeat music)
- And if you're feeling a bit peckish,
grab a bite to eat at the campus center
before heading up to your next lecture.
(upbeat music)
In here is the South One Lake theatre,
where Dr. Rowan Brookes is giving a lecture.
on scientific communication.
Let's sneak in for a look.
(upbeat music)
- Art made signs here in our world-leading 2D and 3D
virtual reality environment, the Cave2.
Right now we're looking at a tractography
of white matter in the human brain.
- To help students visualize earth science concept in 3D,
the Augmented Reality Sandbox projects,
an overlay of scientific information onto the sand,
which has sculpted and augmented in real time.
As the students move the sand around.
Outside the Monash Earth Science is a unique hands-on,
outdoor teaching space
for geology, physical geography and atmospheric sciences.
It's the first of its kind in Australia
and comprises of almost 500 rock specimens
from across Victoria.
- When it's time to put your feet up
take a break at the Science Student Lounge.
It's open 24/7 and a great place
to work on group assignments together.
- This is the Hangrave-Andrew Library.
We can search for scientific information.
or find a quiet space to study.
- And if you ever need advice,
help is always on hand at Science Student Services,
where you can discuss your course options
with one of our friendly advisors.
(upbeat music)
- That was just a quick sneak peek
at the Monash Science Precint.
- If you'd like to find out more information
about visiting us here at Monash,
come to our open day
or visit us at monash.edu/science.
Or on Facebook or Instagram.
(upbeat music)
- So I hope that view of the campus got your self
a little bit excited about what you could do
when you come here to study.
Now, you may often be asking yourself
when you're thinking about what to do
at university about
why should you study science?
And I think 2020 has shown us
really key things
about why science is so important.
2020 has been a year where so many unexpected
and really incredible things have happened
that have required us to solve difficult problems,
almost nobody saw coming.
These are the skills where scientists are absolutely
essential for society
and for workplaces.
We teach you to solve problems
where there isn't an answer already.
We don't teach you to recite things that are in books,
but we teach you how to attract attack a problem.
So when you study science,
you're going to learn fundamentally,
how are you are going to look at a problem,
understand the issues and come up with a solution,
studying things maybe nobody has studied before.
That's what science is all about.
And that's why it's so important.
And these are the skills that are not just important
for employers, but also for society as a whole.
Our society faces incredible challenges.
And again in 2020 we've seen things
from bushfires climate extremes
to the pandemic, which is now engulfing us.
And these are all the types of things
that scientists can be really essential
for helping society pass through and understand.
But there are a myriad of topics where we find that
employers just the skills that scientists have.
And you can ask yourself as this slide says,
where's the science degree going to take you?
Well, you can look at this pictures here
and you can see people around the world,
traveling around the world to study the climate people,
looking across the universe to study the universe,
people looking at plants, people looking at chemicals.
These are the things that are fundamental
to the operation of a society,
to how life works to our future.
And these are the sort of issues
which you can study in science.
Now parents may be asking,
where does the science degree lead?
Because it may be really exciting to think
about studying gravitational waves,
but you may wonder what's that going to do
for my career prospects?
And I'm often asked that question,
are scientists just going to wear white lab coats
when they go into the workplace?
And the answer is no.
If you think about where scientists end up,
they end up in an incredibly wide range of careers.
You may not be able to predict where you're going to go,
but we see scientists end up
in areas as diverse as
banking,
teachers,
regulators,
government,
communication,
and people in white labs in,
in traditional research laboratories.
This slide shows you a little bit about some of the areas
where scientists show up.
And I think it's really worth knowing that these are careers
that allow you to pursue your interests,
but also bring really valuable skills to employers.
And that's what we want to get you prepared to do
with a science degree here at Monash.
We've got fantastic researchers, fantastic teachers,
great teaching facilities and great research facilities.
And all these things will be available for you.
If you come and join us at Science at Monash.
I'm now going to turn over to my colleague, Chris Thompson,
who will tell you a little bit about
how the degree is structured and what you're going
to studies will look like
when you come here to the campus.
- Okay, so I'm going to speak to you
about the different courses
that are available in the faculty of science.
And you can see the range of options here.
So first of all, we've got our flagship course,
the Bachelor of Science.
This is a three year course.
Now you do have the option of staying
for a fourth year,
which is the honors component.
But in the first instance,
if you're in this course, you'd sign up for three years.
Now, you may not have decided what you want to major
in what science that is that you want to specialize in.
It doesn't matter.
You don't have to lock that in,
in the first year of your course.
We'll worry about that later.
The first year of any of these courses
is trying a few different science subjects
and deciding which one you like the most.
Now, some students will come
to Monash enrolled in a double degree,
and you can see here on the right hand side,
you can combine your science degree
with all of these other options,
which are provided from other faculties
around the university.
Now these are a four year course, and once again,
you can stay for that extra year
and do an Honors Degree in Science.
The difference between these two is you have lots of
electives to choose from in three year course.
But in the four year course,
you're effectively doing your electives
on the other side of that degree.
Now we'll come back to that point in a few slides.
You can also see here, we've got a few specialist degrees.
We've got the Bachelor of Science,
Advanced Global Challenges and Advanced Research Courses.
These are both four year courses with that fourth year
at the end for that honors research based experience.
And in 2020, we launched
for the first time a brand new course,
which is the Bachelor of Applied Data Science.
And you can do this either as a three year course
or as a four year course.
And I'll come back to each
of these one at a time in a moment.
But first of all,
here are all of the different majors
that you can eventually
finish off in your course.
And you probably have heard of some of these things before,
because they echo some of those high school subjects
you might've studied.
Some of these things you may have
never heard of before.
So the idea is in the first year of the course,
you try some of our first year subjects.
And then you slowly start to learn
which science flavors am I most interested in?
And you can select your major
once you get into the second year of the course.
- So let's just talk about these
in a little bit more detail.
So starting with the Bachelor of Science,
you can see here,
I've separated into blue and green.
So if you like two thirds of the course
represented here in blue
spread across the three years of the degree
is where you would study the science subjects.
Now, one third of the course is what we call electives.
Actually, you might just really,
really love science and you just want to study more science.
That's completely fine.
You can study more subjects in that elective space.
Alternatively,
you might've always thought you'd like
to study some languages or something
from the humanity side of the university,
a couple of laws subjects, for example,
you can use this elective space to choose something
from elsewhere in the universe.
We have the Bachelor of Science Advanced Research.
This is really a science course.
So for students that just want
to really specialize in science.
There's a bit of space in the course for electives,
but students in this course we'll do two science majors.
It's really about accelerated science learning.
There's research opportunities built into the course.
Peer mentoring with academics,
built into the course.
Direct entry into our PhD program.
And of course you have to get a particular rate
to be eligible.
And that's usually set around 95.
We've also got the Bachelor of Science,
Advanced Global Challenges.
Now this is a very different science course.
In fact, I'd say this is unique in Australia.
It's designed for students that are interested in science,
but really want to use that science
to confront some of the global challenges in society.
So as well as focusing on science subjects themselves,
you'll be focusing on things like leadership,
persuasive communication, entrepreneurship,
and that spread right throughout the degree.
Once again, you get these opportunities
for internships international
and travel study abroad opportunities.
And so they're clearly in nate for this course was 90.
And there's an interview process
to get into this one as well.
We've got the new course,
which is running in 2020 for the first time,
the Bachelor of Applied Data Science.
You can see here, it's split into a few different areas.
There's the data challenges component.
This is where our students are really getting
to put data science skills into practice.
Now, to be able to do that,
you have to have a good foundation in mathematics
statistics, and IT skills.
And you can see that this has also spread across
the year levels of the course.
In pink you can say the applied studies
and this is once again,
recognizing that students might have other interests.
Maybe you want to apply your new found data science skills
to something in the domain of law,
in the domain of humanities, in the domain of engineering.
So we give you that opportunity within the degree to choose
subjects from anywhere else in the university,
to think about how you might apply your data science skills.
There's a four year version of the course,
and that's effectively adding that honors year
experience at the end.
Now, while you're a student at Monash University,
there's all sorts of other things to do other than study.
It's a fantastic ecosystem of opportunities.
You can volunteer your time as a student ambassador.
That's where we use our students
to help us run the university
and lead activities for other fellow students.
You can get involved in the Peer Assisted Study sessions.
As a first year student,
you might be a participant in that program.
Whereas in later years you might become a mentor
where you get to mentor younger students,
as they're working through the first year of their course,
There's the Peer Mentoring Program,
which is a similar sort of idea.
It's not so much about study,
but about mentoring university,
students who are transitioning to tertiary studies
for the first time.
we've got the Science Future Leaders Program
available for all science students beyond first year
to learn about leadership and think about
how they're going to use their science
in society going forward.
We've got science industry week.
It's one thing to teach you lots of amazing science,
but we want to make sure you have an amazing graduate
experience when you leave Monash.
So we have our industry week where we bring industry
into the campus.
There are opportunities for you to travel overseas through
what we call our study abroad
and exchange opportunities programs.
Within the course, we have career ready units.
In fact, there were three different subjects you can choose
in the third year of the course where you can learn about
employability and get ready for your career.
This used to be a bit of an extracurricular thing,
or we believe it should be in the degree.
So now there'll be units for you to choose
as you get towards the end of your course,
where you can really start focusing on how am I going to
take all of this amazing science that I've learnt
and apply it to putting that CV together,
writing good cover letters and making sure you get a great
job when you come out the other end.
And then of course it goes without saying that university,
there are all sorts of clubs and societies
that social fabric for you to engage with.
And these could be for the arts or for sports
and all sorts of other weird and wonderful clubs
that exist at Monash University.
The idea is you turn up in the first week,
you're here and you get involved in the orientation
activities to learn about the clubs that are available.
So that wraps it up.
Welcome to Monash Science.
We look forward to having you in our classes
from week one onwards.
Don't forget to tap into the system
and learn about the opportunities available
to you at Monash.