International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2025 - Staff Profile

This week the EPA is marking International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February by acknowledging some of the EPA's #womeninscience.

This day celebrates the work of women in science and that of their colleagues around the world.

For this year's 10th Anniversary, the UN’s focus is on 'Charting Progress to Shape the Future: The Best is Yet to Come'.

Clara Nitschke is a Senior GIS Analyst in the EPA’s Water Science Branch.

• How long have you been with the EPA, and what initially drew you to the agency?

I’ve been at the EPA for 1.5 years now and was looking to apply spatial sciences with a focus on the environment.

• What field did you study, and how did it shape your career?

I studied a bachelor of Applied Geographical Information Systems, majoring in Ocean and Climate science followed by post-graduate study in climate change adaptation.

• What sparked your passion for pursuing a career in science?

I’ve always had an interest in earth sciences and environmental protection, then by attending the Australian Science and Mathematics School I was inspired and encouraged to continue in science.

• What do you find most rewarding or meaningful about your role in advancing environmental protection or science?

Improving public access and understanding of scientific information to make a positive impact on environmental issues at a community level.

• What aspects of your work do you find most interesting and engaging?

Being able to use GIS in a multitude of ways to support informed data-driven decision making for the environment and engagement with the community.

• From your perspective, what’s the most exciting or enjoyable part of your job (e.g., site visits, field research, lab work)?

Publishing a new spatial tool, such as webpage with interactive maps reporting on a site assessment or an application that helps people search for relevant information via location. Seeing these being used and providing benefit to people is always wonderful.

• Are there any surprising or lesser-known facts about your career or your field of work that you’d like to share?

Working in spatial science is a lot more than just making maps, the biggest misconception being that ‘everything has been mapped already’. There is such an incredible variety of data you get to work with regarding location and this combination of historic, current, and forecasted spatial information grows every day. I also get to apply and express science in very creative ways, which is great as I love designing and styling things.