Debbie Liew – Class of 1996

I attended Wantirna College from Year 7 to 12 (1991-1996) achieving a TER of 93.0 for VCE. In year 7, I was a student that studied English as a second language and enjoyed Home Economics, History and Geography. For VCE studies I focused on STEM subjects of Chemistry, Physic, Specialist Maths and Chinese.

I went on to study chemical engineering at the University of Melbourne. After graduation, I worked in a number of industries, first in zinc/gold mining with Pasminco in Tasmania (2001) as a metallurgy vacation student, then I did a stint at the BHP Olympic Dam uranium/copper mine in SA (2006) in the Radiation lab, then in petroleum with Shell (2007) in corporate HSE.

I joined Origin Energy in the LPG business in 2011 and have now moved into their power generation business where I oversees emergency management and enterprise risk management for Origin’s power plants across Australia including Australia’s largest renewable battery energy storage system (BESS), next to the coal fired Eraring power station in NSW.

I have a passion for STEM and want to encourage young women (and men) to pursue STEM as it offers a range of diverse and interesting subjects and career paths now and into the future.