Alumni Update - James Rice

Kia ora! James Rice here! I was a finalist in 2014, and have been an active Alumni member since.

This past year has been great, including my graduation from the University of Canterbury in November. I now have a Bachelor of Science majoring in Physics and Chemistry! Since graduating, I've spent the last 2 months travelling around Japan and getting lost in their culture and language. Solo travel has been brilliant, and I've met so many people and gained plenty of global perspective from my new friends here.

Once I get back home to Christchurch in March, I'll be taking a year out from formal study to work and prepare applications for postgraduate study in the northern hemisphere. My current aim is to use my physics skills to work on future energy projects, then bring that knowledge and skill back to NZ with me. I'm especially interested in upcoming research on fusion energy ive heard about here in Tokyo, with an upgraded generator apparently set to come online in 2020.

As other alumni can confirm, Eureka is an amazing opportunity, and I'm sure it'll help me to find a placement overseas and achieve my goal for a brighter tomorrow! In return, I hope I can continue to help the Eureka program grow to help other young scientists like myself :)

Kia kaha,
James

Alumni Updates is an ongoing series where we will post life, education, research and career updates from Eureka Alumni around the world.