The former Parkes High School student is a post-graduate nuclear physicist specialising in radiation detectors, who is currently based in Italy at the Polytecnico de Milan.

Mr Cassell has also worked at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland as part of his research in detecting stray hadron beam radiation.

The video-link was organised by Mr Cassell's former maths head teacher and current xsel technology officer Jay Quince.

"Chris talked to our students about radiation, the atom, nuclear physics, safety and life as a scientist," he said.

"He managed to convey the importance of following your passion in life and that's an important message for our students because many of them are interested in pursuing university studies in science and engineering.

"It was good for them to see that it really is possible to move from a country community like Parkes or Dubbo and ultimately work as part of the world scientific community.

"Chris is a tremendous role model for our students because he has travelled throughout the world to complete research and present the results of that research."

After completing his Higher School Certificate at Parkes High School in 2007 Mr Cassell studied at the University of Wollongong, completing a degree in nuclear physics.

He has spent the past two years researching and developing radiation testing equipment in Milan and is currently studying for his PhD in physics.

"Our students and staff were very impressed with his presentation, even though we had to schedule the link quite late at night here to match in with early morning in Milan," Mr Quince said.

"The main aim of the activity was to raise awareness of science, technology, engineering and mathematics as prospective careers for students."