A.U. is a Research, Development, and Engineering Consultancy operating in the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales. Co-founders Stuart Warren and Salome Hussein are a couple of nerds who get an abnormal amount of fresh air and sun (but still not enough). Between the jargon of their technical disciplines, the volunteer organizations they lend time to, and the community groups they play outside with, they have a lot of acronyms to keep track of… someone has hopefully started a spreadsheet*. While ‘acronyms.au‘ has the self-referential, acronymic flair of ‘GNU’s not Unix’, we have aspirations to one day acquire ‘au.au’ for ourselves.
Salomé got her PhD in Physics from the University of Auckland, developing an efficient means to deliver pollen to kiwifruit blossoms from a robotic vehicle. Before that, she was a chemist studying self-organised chemical reactions at extreme conditions – like those of hydrothermal vents thought to be the origin of life on earth. Both projects involved improvised prototypes, hands-on development with cross-disciplinary teams, and regularly communicating Big Ideas to stakeholders or general public. New Zealand impressed upon her the ethos of “Number 8 Fencing Wire” solutions, and she can Macguyver most things (when Stuart is not looking).
Since moving to Australia, Salomé has worked as a Climate Data Scientist, modelling extreme weather events and their effect on the built environment. Through that, she has become acquainted with large datasets, radar processing, and various machine learning and AI techniques for processing everything from storm damage to news articles.
Stuart studied Electrical Engineering at UTS before embarking on careers from mining to automotive, sending him everywhere from the UK to Cobar, NSW. He is a lethal combination of technical expertise, hands-on pragmatism, collegiality, and professionalism. Stu has experience with myriad mechatronic and embedded technologies: ESP32, I2C/SPI/UART, IoT, RPi – yes, more acronyms. He’s had senior roles at CiSRA and UTS Rapido, and is currently conducting Business Development for the Connectivity Innovation Network alongside his work for A.U.
Stuart is leader in charge at 1st North Sydney scouts and training coordinator for Bush Search and Rescue (BSAR). His retirement plan is to become a member of the BSAR “Rock Squad.”
