Staff Spotlight – Solene Hegarty-Cremer

This month we get to know Solene Hegarty-Cremer. Solene was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and moved to Australia with her family when she was ten. She's been a part of the simulation team at Polymathian for more than a year now.

Let’s get to know Solene.

• Tell me about yourself.
  
• I was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I moved to Australia with my family when I was ten years old. I always loved maths, so I decided on mathematics when choosing my major at Uni. In my first year, I took a computer science course that introduced me to coding, which I ended up loving. So for the rest of my Uni career, I chose coding and simulation classes for my electives whenever possible.
  
  After finishing my undergrad degree, I went to work for Boeing, where I decided I wasn’t ready to close the book on my academic career, so I chose to go back to get my Master’s in Philosophy – Applied Mathematics. My area of study for my thesis used simulation to create a model of how bones regenerate. I loved working at the intersection of maths and science.

• How did you hear about Polymathian?
  
• I went to uni with Rob Lucas, who shared the types of complex problems Polymathian solves using mathematics and simulation. It sounded like an excellent fit for me.

• Tell us what you do at Polymathian.
• I consult with our customers to gain an understanding of their business problem and their system's processes and translate them into a simulation model. A big part of developing a simulation model is linking all process steps together to create a big picture of how all the steps interact. Simulation is similar to running a scientific experiment. You have to run the model, or experiment, and then evaluate the outcomes, which involves running multiple scenarios and then comparing the results to historical data to establish the model’s validity.

• Describe your job to a child.
• I use maths to solve complicated problems.

• Do you have any advice for young people starting their careers?
• Don’t get stressed about the choices you make! Put more emphasis on your passions instead of what school to attend or what your major should be.

• What do you like to do when you're not working?
• I enjoy spending time outdoors. I also spent time creating art, especially printmaking. I discovered a love for the lino carving technique: taking linoleum tiles and carving designs into them. I like that I can make something from the carving, like a card or print, to give as a gift but still retain the original piece of artwork (the carving).

• Do you have a specialist subject outside of work?
• Art processes – I went to art school, where I learned a lot about printing processes, jewellery making and working with metal.