Lieutenant Hall was one of the first Australians to graduate Nuclear Power School in the United States. He will become one of the first Australians to operate a nuclear reactor on a conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarine.
Lieutenant Hall’s love of STEM started in school studying chemistry and physics.
“I found when I was doing labs in these subjects it would often lead me to having more questions than answers – this curiosity lead me to choose to study a STEM degree at university,” said Lieutenant Hall.
Graduating from the Australian Defence Force Academy where he studied at Bachelor of Science (majoring in Physics) Lieutenant Hall worked on a variety of ships and submarines in his career in the Royal Australian Navy.
Lieutenant Hall’s experience working on submarines and his STEM studies led him to the Nuclear Power School in the United States where he will return to sea on a US Navy nuclear-powered submarine.
“My time here in the USA will prepare me to come back to Australia and be part of our national transition to operating these nuclear-powered submarines. We need people to start developing not only the submarine capability, but also the supporting industry. The AUKUS partnership means we will need highly trained shipyard workers, nuclear engineers, technicians, and scientists,” said Lieutenant Hall.
For anyone considering studying STEM he had this advice: “Nuclear–powered submarines are an amazing opportunity for anyone pursuing a STEM career and looking for a challenge. You’ll become an expert on both the highly complex and technical reactor, and also in the covert world of submarine operations. There is no parallel to this kind of challenge and career in the civilian world.”