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February marks the celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in STEM, and in honor of this occasion, we are thrilled to feature Jackie Bondell as our "Outreacher of the Month." Jackie is not only one of the most dedicated outreacher but also one of the most geographically distant ÂÜÀòÉç members, representing Australia. Her work in science education and outreach exemplifies the mission of making physics accessible to everyone, regardless of background or location.

Can you introduce yourself and share how you became involved in the world of scientific outreach?

I'm Jackie Bondell and I lead the Education and Outreach Programs for two research collaboratives based in Australia. One is the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Dark Matter Particle Physics and the other is the CoE for Gravitational Wave Discovery. I am also the ÂÜÀòÉç Representative for Australia and a National Astronomy Education Coordinator for Australia to the International Astronomy Union. After completing degrees in Astrophysics, I pivoted into Education and spent 14 years as a high school Physics teacher in the US. As a teacher, I did a lot of work through curriculum redesign and mentoring to support a more diverse cohort of students opting to study Physics. I also had the opportunity to teach students from all across my state and learned about the inequity in access to good educational opportunities they had based simply on living in a low-socioeconomic area. When I relocated to Australia in 2017, I started my work with the research centres and was tasked to create meaningful programs to connect the research and scientists with students, teachers, and the public. My focus has been on creating programs that specifically target traditionally underserved audiences to support access to STEM opportunities for people all across Australia.

What has been the most meaningful outreach activity you’ve organised or participated in, and why?

I developed the Dark Matter Regional Partner Schools Program in conjunction with the Dark Matter Centre. In this program, we partner with regional and rural secondary (Grades 7-12) schools over multiple years. Over the long-term engagement with the school, we work with their students over subsequent years, seeing the same students as they progress through secondary school. This program started with Stawell Secondary College in 2021, as Stawell is the town that is home to the Stawell Underground Physics Lab, which will house the SABRE experiment. Since then, has worked with over 1000 students at 7 rural schools, with more students and schools coming in each year. Also, this program has created a pipeline for rural and regional students to extend their work and connect with dark matter scientists to complete research projects for school credit. The goal of the Partner Schools Program is to not only provide programs for schools that wouldn't otherwise have access to exciting cutting-edge science, but also to investigate if there are any longitudinal impacts on students' interest in science, continuation into science past secondary school, and sense of belonging in science. To do this, we are collaborating with the University of Melbourne Faculty of Education on a research study, with the first paper hopefully coming out later this year. Stay tuned!

What inspires you the most about sharing particle physics with the public?

I love that in particle physics we are trying to answer very challenging questions about the fundamental makeup of the universe and the public are excited to discuss things that are new, unknown, invisible, and otherwise very cool. Particle physics has it all! There are so many unknowns and yet, when we learn something new, it opens up many more questions we didn't know we had! These questions push the development of new technologies and creative solutions. This creative problem-solving by diverse teams of scientists not only informs particle physics, but also in time can inform solutions to support the global population. The invention of the World Wide Web at CERN and of WiFi at CSIRO in Australia are two examples that resonate with the public.

What is the most important message you would like to convey to younger generations through your outreach efforts?

I want younger generations to know that there are a lot of ways to be part of science if they are interested! Yes, you can be a scientist! You can also be a writer, an artist, an engineer, an educator, a computer programmer... The list goes on! And science can take you all over the world by being part of big collaborations, which is always an exciting prospect. And even if they don't want to pursue science, I hope outreach efforts in Physics help the younger generation learn to ask interesting and challenging questions about the world around them.

Jackie Bondell’s commitment to equity in STEM education and outreach is truly inspiring. By developing programs that engage students from all backgrounds, she ensures that the next generation - no matter where they come from - has access to the wonders of physics. Her work exemplifies the spirit of the International Day of Women and Girls in STEM (February 11), showing the impact that passionate people can have in shaping the future of science education. Thank you, Jackie, for your dedication and contributions to outreach!