Source : Perth Now news
A South Fremantle engineering professor, who has committed decades of research to conserving the environment and breaking the glass ceiling for women in STEM courses, has been recognised with a King’s Birthday honour.
Emeritus Professor Carolyn Oldham began working in the University of Western Australia’s School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering 30 years ago, leading sustainability projects and water pollution research while teaching a range of engineering courses.
She began her academic appointment as the only woman among 84 male engineers, and has been advocating for better female representation and university support ever since.
Her efforts and achievements were recognised with her appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division for her significant service to tertiary education, and environmental and water science.
“I was shocked. I found it hard to believe that someone had nominated me and I was being recognised for the work I had done – I read the email and I thought it was spam,” she said. “It’s an amazing honour.”
Professor Oldham’s research focuses on water pollution and contamination, typically in environmentally degraded areas, to determine the causes and how to prevent it. She also consults with local communities to transform degraded areas into community assets, such as developing urban drainage networks into parklands or revegetating old mine sites.
“There’s a theme running through both of those, which is looking at lands and waters that we contaminate through our modern life, and asking if we can transition those lands back to something the community can benefit from,” she said.
“If you know where you want to go in the long-term, can we make changes now which keep that option open?”
Outside of her service to the environment, Professor Oldham takes pride in her commitment to progressing women’s education and representation in male-dominated fields, such as engineering.
“When I was first appointed as an academic at UWA, I was one woman with 84 men in engineering. The lack of women was unavoidable to see and feel. It was stark,” she said.
“Encouraging women to come into engineering specifically, but also STEM more broadly, was essential. I needed more women around me.
“Engineers are designing our world, and if there’s no women designing that world, we’re going to have a very skewed world.”
She has held several leadership roles including as chairwoman of UWA’s gender equity committee, developing pastoral care for students and progressing UWA learning programs.
Most recently, she has been implementing policies and programs across the university to nurture women and support them throughout their careers, from early childhood maths classes to entering the workforce.
Having retired from teaching three years ago, Professor Oldham was proud to see the increased diversity in engineering classrooms over her 30 years at UWA, which are now filled with more women and people of different backgrounds and cultures.
She remains committed to inspiring younger generations to help others and build a brighter future.
“It’s the concept of life as service, and how can we contribute to our society without thinking about ‘me, me, me’ all the time. It’s about what we can do for others,” she said.
“It’s a different way of seeing the world – how do we use our energy to be as beneficial to the most number of people. Having this award is an opportunity to ask people to reflect on that.”
