Professor Julie Cairney studies materials using advanced microscopy techniques that can image matter down to atomic scale. Their microstructure can then be related to their properties, and this knowledge can be used to engineer advanced materials with desirable properties such as superalloys, steels and hard coatings. In this way her work contributes to the development of stronger, lighter materials that require less energy to produce, for applications in industries like aerospace, construction and manufacturing.

"I love working with microscopes. In a parallel to astronomy, we're able to explore the unseen world of 'inner space' with the amazing scientific instrumentation available today. I think it's incredible that we can actually detect and visualise single atoms. To give some perspective, a single human hair is approximately the width of a million Carbon 12 atoms lying side by side.

"The structure of matter at atomic scale can tell us a lot about its performance in the real world. This information can then be used to develop new engineering materials such as high-wear alloys for longer-lasting parts that can save the mining industry millions of dollars in downtime costs, high-temperature materials that will enable the next generation of renewable energy technologies, thin-strip steels that require significantly less energy to produce, and exceptionally strong alloys with nanometre-sized grains.

"The successful manufacture of these materials will provide significant environmental as well as economic benefits, and they will have high-performance applications in a range of industries including aerospace, transport, construction, manufacturing, sports products, food and chemical processing, as well as in microelectromechanical and biomedical systems.

"I've been a materials researcher since completing my PhD in 2002, and joined the staff at the University of Sydney in 2005. My research relies heavily on being able to access world-class infrastructure for materials characterisation. Here at the Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis we have an outstanding array of state-of-the-art microscopes, as good as any of their kind in the world."