You did what? A walk through the application of Maths and Physics at the Australian Signals Directorate

Speaker: Kyla Quinn
Affiliation: Australian Signals Directorate 

Abstract 

Have you ever wondered what post-degree life looks like if you don’t want to be a researcher or an actuary? Did you know there’s a whole government organisation where mathematicians and physicists can live out their days doing, well, maths and physics. The Australian Signals Directorate is home to a cross-disciplinary team trying to do almost impossible things with data of every type imaginable. From cyber defence to signals intelligence, supporting the military to offensive cyber - everything we do is underpinned by state of the art maths, science and engineering. Come along and find out some of the more fun and interesting maths and physics graduates just like you have used at work.

Biography:

Kyla is the Technical Director for Data and Analytic Services Branch at the Australian Signals Directorate. In this role she leads the development and delivery of AI and ML capabilities, analyst facing tools and specialist data services across ASD’s mission.  She is a PhD student at ANU researching in the intersection of historical linguistics, linguistic typology, evolutionary biology and natural language processing. Kyla has a background in Manufacturing and Materials Engineering and has more recently graduated from ANU with a BA majoring in Linguistics and Indonesian. She is unfortunately married to a Maths and Astrophysics graduate from the University of Queensland and has two children who look they will follow in their father’s footsteps.