Chanelle Carter Memorial Fund

The Chanelle Carter Memorial Fund, sponsored by Alcoa Australia, was established at The University of Western Australia in 2011. Chanelle was a UWA chemistry graduate who worked at Alcoa Australia. Her life was tragically cut short in 2010. Alcoa Australia established the Chanelle Carter Memorial Fund to honour her zest, energy and passion. Chanelle’s parents, Yve and Mike Carter in particular were very keen that the fund was used to support young women in science. They wanted their daughter’s memorial to potentially make a difference. The Chanelle Carter Memorial Fund therefore offers six Year 10 girls from South West schools the opportunity to visit and participate in a range of science-focused activities at The University of Western Australia.

In 2011, the inaugural year of the fund, the project was coordinated by Associate Professor Jan Dook and Charmaine White from the SPICE project and Dr Joanne Castelli from the LPS faculty office. Three Year 10 girls from Newton Moore SHS and three from Pinjarra SHS, together with accompanying teachers were invited to be guests of the Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences at The University of Western Australia, from Sunday 14 August to Thursday 18 August. These dates encompassed the UWA Expo and National Science Week. Teachers were able to attend SPICE PD sessions during the visit.

In 2012, six Year 10 students from Collie and Australind Senior High Schools participated in the program with visits to UWA from 12 to 18 August.

The program included visits to UWA Open Day; a filming and podcasting session; workshops on geology, marine science, DNA extraction, herpetology; radioastronomy; forensic science; and a visit to the Alcoa site at Kwinana.