Dr Marcus Zipper (1995) believes his job at CSIRO offers the best of both worlds: a commercial role in an organisation that focuses on R&D and science.
Marcus is Strategic Business Development and Marketing Manager at CSIRO Minerals, a role that allows him to use both his science/engineering background and his commercial and business expertise.
‘By acting as a bridge between the R&D at CSIRO and our key external stakeholders and customers, including industry, government, CRCs and so on, I can have an impact that will provide benefit to Australia and Australian industry,’ Marcus says.
Originally Marcus had enrolled in mechanical engineering at Monash.
‘I enjoyed materials science in second year so much that I changed my whole double degree to focus on materials science and materials engineering instead,’ he says.
‘I learnt a lot from my fourth-year major project. Most of the lecturers were excellent: friendly, approachable and knowledgeable in their field.
‘As it was a medium-size group of students, we formed a close working group—some of the people I am still friends with today, or I maintain professional contact with them.’
After completing his PhD in materials engineering, Marcus worked as a research fellow with the Cooperative Research Centre for Polymers.
‘This, in many ways, was an extension of the skills and capabilities I had developed during my BSc/BE and PhD, and allowed me to continue in an active role in the materials field’, Marcus says.
‘CSIRO Minerals focuses on minerals processing and metals production, and whilst slightly upstream from what I did in materials engineering still has a strong association and link with materials engineering.
‘I believe that I am still, and probably always will be, attracted to areas that have a materials-oriented focus,’ Marcus says.
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