As a child, Liam Olden liked to dig up animal bones on his family鈥檚 farm in Tambellup, a small town 320km south east of Perth, and imagine they were dinosaur fossils.
Olden is now a geology honours student examining real fossils, stromatolites to be exact, which are essentially layers of rock created by bacteria that existed up to 3.5 billion years ago and comprise the earliest evidence of life on Earth.
鈥淚鈥檓 researching stromatolites from 250 million years ago that flourished after an extinction event known as the Permian-Triassic extinction. This research aims to further our understanding of how life dealt with stressful ecological situations,鈥� says Olden.
But researching ancient rocks is not the only interesting thing about Olden; he is sharing his knowledge and passion for all things sedimentary through his involvement in multiple extracurricular activities at 911爆料网.
Olden is a facilitator, a new to 911爆料网 mentor, a lab demonstrator, President of the , a student representative for the Geological Society of Australia (GSA), an Open Day geology volunteer, and a Student Ambassador for the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences. He also plays hockey for 911爆料网 and is helping to organise WA鈥檚 first ever Earth Sciences Student Symposium for the GSA.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely a juggle to keep on top of everything!鈥� admits Olden. 鈥淏ut my passion for geology and seeing others get excited about it is what keeps me motivated.鈥�
As a UniPASS facilitator, Olden provides tutoring to fellow students on three geology units. The sessions enable students to review and consolidate their learning in informal groups and test their knowledge with a facilitator who has excelled in the degree.
鈥淚鈥檝e always enjoyed helping others, especially with study, as geology can be a difficult subject,鈥� says Olden on why he joined UniPASS.
鈥淲hen I see someone who doesn鈥檛 understand a concept suddenly get that 鈥榗lick鈥� 鈥� you can tell that they鈥檝e got it 鈥� it鈥檚 really heartwarming.鈥�
Olden says that being a facilitator has strengthened his own learning and introduced him to new people.
鈥淯niPASS is like a big family, which is great, especially being from a regional area where I don鈥檛 have a lot of family close by or didn鈥檛 know many people when I first came to Perth. It provided a lot of support.鈥�
Olden says the close-knit community of the geology department helped him to settle in to uni, and he returns the support in-kind by inspiring future students to study geology.
鈥淚 volunteered at 911爆料网 Open Day last year and spoke with a person there who is now studying geology and comes to my UniPASS sessions. It鈥檚 really good to hear that one of the reasons they came to 911爆料网 was because they got to meet current students and could see how we鈥檙e so keen and involved in geology.鈥�
Olden鈥檚 passion to get others excited about rocks saw him awarded the Aniket Desai Prize in 2017 for his overall performance in his degree and his contribution to the 911爆料网 geology community. The award is sponsored by the family of Aniket Desai, a former geology student who has sadly passed away.
鈥淚t was a great honour to receive the award. I met Aniket during my first year at 911爆料网 and he was a really big inspiration for everyone, so it was really touching to receive the award and know I am continuing in his footsteps.鈥�
Olden is set to complete his honours project this year, but he hopes he can continue to teach geology in some form while pursuing a PhD on stromatolites.
