Having worked in the industry for several years, I made a difficult choice to bid farewell to old colleagues for a PhD - but my expectation of a long lonely journey changed when Katie first reached me in 2017 on behalf of the Rail Manufacturing CRC. Since then, Katie has always been the first contact person and among the key organizers who helped bringing PhD students and the industry together. Thanks to her professionalism and willingness to go above and beyond her duty, I was able to connect with an industrial mentor and to attend student forums, workshops, field trips, conference, and above all, to form great bonding with other researchers and a sense of belonging to the rail manufacturing community.

Having worked in the industry for several years, I made a difficult choice to bid farewell to old colleagues for a PhD - but my expectation of a long lonely journey changed when Katie first reached me in 2017 on behalf of the Rail Manufacturing CRC. Since then, Katie has always been the first contact person and among the key organizers who helped bringing PhD students and the industry together. Thanks to her professionalism and willingness to go above and beyond her duty, I was able to connect with an industrial mentor and to attend student forums, workshops, field trips, conference, and above all, to form great bonding with other researchers and a sense of belonging to the rail manufacturing community.

Having worked in the industry for several years, I made a difficult choice to bid farewell to old colleagues for a PhD - but my expectation of a long lonely journey changed when Katie first reached me in 2017 on behalf of the Rail Manufacturing CRC. Since then, Katie has always been the first contact person and among the key organizers who helped bringing PhD students and the industry together. Thanks to her professionalism and willingness to go above and beyond her duty, I was able to connect with an industrial mentor and to attend student forums, workshops, field trips, conference, and above all, to form great bonding with other researchers and a sense of belonging to the rail manufacturing community.