Jemma Lawrence, an alumni of the University of Newcastle, threw on her manically colourful lab coat and aimed the toroidal vortex cannon from a distance of about 12ft. The cannon shoots puffs of air that are visible if she pumps a small amount of liquid nitrogen fog into the canister that looks like a big plastic hairdryer.
When the puff hits your chest, you feel it, like a gentle focussed nudge. It's an uncanny, unexpected feeling; unfamiliar to wind. The air cannon is like a lot of toys on display that take something commonplace and make it different, but this one was Jemma's favourite.
"I love science so much," she said with genuine excitement, "This is my favourite toy but it's really hard to aim, especially when you don't fill it with smoke because you can't see where its going, but can we get back on topic because I will detour any conversation to talk about the smoke cannon."
Since graduating, Jemma has worked with SMART - the science, maths and real technology outfit that describes itself as a kind of sibling to the university's science and engineering challenge.
She was at the Callaghan campus on Saturday, August 26, with a team of students and alumni running demonstrations and experiments for families, kids and prospective students at the university's annual open day.
"It's an event for the whole family," Jemma said, "We're here for everyone, not just prospective students, but for families and for science enjoyers and maybe potential science enjoyers."
Countless aspiring graduates flooded into the Great Hall and surrounding lecture theatres from all corners of the state at the weekend to meet with lecturers and students for a sample of university life in Newcastle.
Charlie Druminson had come with her mum from Swansea, where she had just wrapped up her HSC trail exams and was gearing up for the finals later this year.
She was considering studying law and business and looking after covering the subjects at school and had planned to make a quick tour of the Callaghan campus before heading into town to see NUSpace, but by the time she ran into the Newcastle Herald, the morning had all but disappeared.
She was carrying an arm-load of course material and had already tried the sausage sizzle.
"The student ambassadors are so lovely," she said, "Everyone has been so inviting."
"I'm actually blown away," Charlie's mum, Fiona, said, "I thought we would come for an hour and then leave. We're just going to stay here now."
"I want to come to Newcastle because it's close to mum," Charlie said, "And I'm an Indigenous person and the Wollotuka Institute is here, which is a great support system.
"It's awesome, I love it."
Across the Great Hall, Coffs Harbour Christian Community School Year 12 student Niutao Llyod was chatting with the ambassadors at the teaching stand.
He travelled down for the open day and said he had been drawn to teaching because of his own teaching mentors at school and wanted to continue the tradition.
"I had friends talking about Newcastle and looked at it and became interested," he said, "My mum was a teacher and throughout school, I had fund with my teachers and I feel like I want to be the teacher that I wanted for me when I was there."
Vice Chancellor Alex Zelinsky was mingling among the prospective students and said the open day was a time when the university showed off not only its world-class teaching facilities but also the important research work that it does.
"It really is a great way for the university to be engaged with the community," Professor Zelinsky said, "The university's central mission is to provide an outstanding student experience and to serve the community and we do that by showing what people study here - what kind of jobs does study ultimately qualify you for - and also the sort of problems we are working on solving for the community.
"People and ideas come together and it's a social interaction; you can get a bite to eat, have a chat, sit somewhere quiet and work, or go to a lecture and come back."
He said the distances some prospective students had travelled was testament to the university's reputation not only in the local region, but abroad.
"We're a world-class university," he said, "We've been ranked 173 in the world and not for no reason; we're highly capable and we're a university of the region, for the region."
