Growing up with a physicist father, Lisa Kewley’s childhood was filled with shelves of books about science and the natural environment around her.

In high school, Lisa decided she loved astronomy.

The passion for planets, stars and beyond was sparked when she picked up a book on the topic and was amazed by the beauty of photographs of galaxies.

As someone who loved art, she was attracted to the colours and patterns and when her school ran a summer space camp, where the students were invited to gaze at the night sky through telescopes, Lisa’s plans for her own professional future began to form.

Not long after, her dad had some work colleagues who were ex-astronomers visit the family home for dinner and they shared some advice and tips about ways to put a plan to pursue studies in astronomy into action.

Prior to that, her love of art had her thinking about a career as a graphic designer but her curiosity about what lay beyond Earth inspired and intrigued her.

At that stage, the idea that girls would do intensive STEM studies was seen as surprising.

A teacher she admired and respected was delivering a class about astronomy but because she was the only girl in her high school with any interest, her school actively refused her request to be part of the class.

Instead, they told her to enrol in another class, with other female students, rather than being the lone girl in the class she was most interested in.

Luckily for Lisa, it was one of the only times she remembers being actively discouraged from following her interests, simply because she was female.

In her quest to find answers to questions, many adults in her life did motivate her to experiment and explore. She also discovered that, by being honest with family members and teachers around her about her scientific interests, she received support from adults in her life who regularly pointed her towards interesting articles, books and other sources of information they thought might help ignite her passion even more.

Lisa’s glad that changes around attitudes to girls studying STEM subjects means that, today, girls who are considering studies in STEM subjects have even more practical support.

With the opportunity to attend science camps and workshops outside of school, Lisa says that connecting with people your age who share your interests can make chasing your dreams to be a scientist even more fun and interesting.

Her love of exploring the answers to big questions has enabled her to have an exciting career in key leadership roles.

Since completing her PhD, she has worked in the United States for ten years, plus spent another ten years in working in Australia.

Being motivated and determined were both important factors in her goal to become a scientist. Today, as she steps into her prestigious new role as the Director of the Centre for Astrophysics (CfA) in the United States, where she will lead a team of around 800 astronomers, scientists, and researchers. It will be the first time an Australian – and a woman – has headed the CfA.

It’s a long way from those times spent in her childhood bedroom, playing with construction kits, and reading books about science, or magazines about astronomy.

Driven by curiosity, Lisa never felt bored and says there was always a new book to read or a new project to create. These days, with videos on YouTube providing instructions on how to build rockets, and conduct all kinds of experiments, Lisa says young girls thinking about STEM have access to incredible information at their fingertips.

The fact that girls and women can pursue exciting careers in STEM, is something Lisa is happy to celebrate and, in her last role, at the head of ASTRO 3D in Australia, she achieved a 50:50 gender balance among the team members who worked with her.

As a world-leading astrophysicist, Lisa has uncovered incredible research about the way stars and galaxies have been formed over the past 12 billion years and, with more girls considering careers in STEM, her international success is a powerful reminder that even the sky is not the limit for what women in STEM can do.

Professor Lisa Kewley has won many awards, including the James Craig Watson Medal, the Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy, and the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy.