Dr Samantha Sawyer's pure love of science and tendency to question everything led her to a career in STEMM. Passionate about sustainable production to keep Australian businesses globally competitive, her career has been spent working in both industry and academia. After completing her PhD she worked as a researcher in the narcotics industry managing various poppy-related research projects, and now in wine chemistry to better understand compositional and sensory characteristics of sparkling wine and ways to manipulate production. Currently Sam is a Lecturer and Research Fellow in Food Science at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (UTAS) working on shelf-stable foods and optimising food quality.