SoapboxScience

Cordelia is a PhD candidate at Cranfield University, working with the Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) Centre. Her research focuses on improving the diagnosis process for aircraft maintenance through digital twins and intelligent reasoning.

You can catch Cordelia on her soapbox as part of Soapbox Science Milton Keynes on 29th June, where she will talk about how aircraft health be monitored so that they are safe, sound and reliable.

Follow Cordelia on Twitter: @liaezhil

Everyone has a story! Some stories are as dramatic as a Netflix binge-worthy series, some may inspire you to change your life, and others make you think, ‘Oh, yeah! I could totally relate to this’. Everyone has a story to tell, and thanks to Soapbox Science, I get to tell mine.

Where did it all begin?

My small town in India had three schools, about six streets, and a train station that connected us to the outside world. Although I grew up in a place with limited facilities, I dreamed big. With my dad’s bedtime stories about the universe and evolution, my mum’s encouragement to get involved in any local science events, and the timely publication of Stephen Hawking’s essays meticulously translated to Tamil (my mother tongue), I was hooked on space science and engineering as much as any kid smitten by the beauty of space. Maybe that’s why, when I was interviewed by a local newspaper, I said I would become an aeronautical engineer. I was only 15! Working in this field and advancing it has always been, and will always be, my dream.

Was the journey easy?

My dream took its first step when I was admitted to a prestigious engineering college in the big city (Madras, now called Chennai). As a small-town girl, with a really good score but not so good English, I did not know how to handle people who treated nerdy ‘village’ girls as if they were pests. And since I was always treated equally among family as well as at school, I did not anticipate my first step to be into a world where women weren’t treated the same as men.

This is the hardest truth of life that I have dealt with ever since. A decade ago, I was made to feel as if the fields of mechanical and aeronautical engineering were exclusive to men (I hope it isn’t that bad now), and many in the department treated the few girls on the course as an unwanted burden. We were ostracized and left out of group projects and industrial visits. We were ignored for the fun flying lessons. One of the guys even accused me of ‘wasting’ a place on this coveted course, which could have been occupied by a ‘guy’ who ‘deserved’ it. To him (and to the department in general), a girl will get married and be at home anyway, so she shouldn’t have chosen such a sought-after course, and in doing so, she had ‘robbed’ a guy of his ‘opportunity’.

The irony is that among the hundreds in the competition, I was the second to choose the course due to my higher grades (I scored a distinction), but the logic did not matter to them. I’m not one to shy away from challenges, so I learnt to ignore this toxic group, used the facilities that the college had to offer, and got honour scores. I have a feeling that every other girl in my class felt the same, for when the course ended, out of the 11 university rank holders from our department, half of us were girls, in spite of our numbers being significantly small.

What was the turning point?

After graduating from my bachelor’s, I felt as if I was missing something, thanks to my undergrad experience! So I undertook a master’s course in industrial engineering and met the awesome professors who inspired me and made me face life’s challenges head-on. Through my jobs in the energy and semiconductor industries, where I worked for four years, I became a fully-fledged industrial engineer identifying problems in complex processes and introducing optimised solutions. Having had this experience, I decided that it was time to move back to aeronautics through research.

What are you doing now?

I am currently working on my industry-sponsored PhD at Cranfield University with the IVHM Centre. The Centre focuses exclusively on aircraft health diagnosis and prognosis to help develop better maintenance plans. It feels like we are a bunch of aircraft doctors who are trying to make these complex machines talk to us. I am focusing on developing an application for an aircraft that works a bit like a Fitbit. By collecting and analysing data from the different parts of the aircraft, we will find ways to make it healthier and therefore safer! I am living my dream, and building the foundations to live my future dreams.

Is this a story of an individual?

Not really! Sometimes, it feels as if my entire family is pursuing this PhD with me. When I got miserable at work in industry, and it felt like I was even further away from my dream, it was my boyfriend (now my husband) who pushed me to do research. He even got a loan to get me started. I also have a big support group in my parents, who gave me everything they could, my three siblings who always check on me (and of course make fun of me!), and then there are my in-laws, who have no idea what I am doing but encourage me nonetheless. I did find one other family, away from home, in the form of my fellow researchers in the IVHM Centre, who share this incredible journey with me.

What keeps the story going?

Somewhere along the line, my passion for aeronautics turned into my ambition for ‘women in STEM’.  It is the urge to break the idea that women cannot survive in demanding fields such as this, that keeps me going. I cannot resist challenges, especially those to do with breaking stereotypes.

Why Soapbox Science?

There can be a hesitation to allow women to study or work in any male-dominated field. Among those who dreamt, not all women were allowed to choose what they wanted to study, and among those who studied, not all women were able to work in their fields. Among those who started, not all women could survive, and among those who survived, not all could reach the top. Through Soapbox Science, I would like to tell the world, especially those who dream of being in STEM, that they are not alone, and they should dare to chase their dreams.

Besides, who doesn’t love to talk about aircraft?

Yasmin Ahmed (@Yasmin_Ahmed_93), Newcastle University, is taking part in Soapbox Science Newcastle on 15th June 2019 with the talk: “FUNgi”

Soapbox Science: How did you get to your current position?

I’m currently a 3^rd year PhD student. I got my current position by applying for a BBSRC funded PhD at Newcastle University (where I was undertaking an MRes) when the original project I was due to start fell through, I contacted Prof Quinn to discuss the project in her lab within 5 minutes of hearing the project details I love it.

SS: What, or who, inspired you to get a career in science?

From an early age I loved science and ecology programmes, Sir David Attenborough being one of my heroes. For my 8^th birthday my grandad bought me a child’s microscope and chemistry set, we used to spend hours in his garage (my science laboratory) look at samples from the garden down the microscope and making slime, salt crystals and in all honesty probably just a big mess!

SS: What is the most fascinating aspect of your research/work?

Currently I am working on the major human fungal pathogen Candida albicans, I am completely in awe of its ability to survive within virtually every anatomical niche within the host and also to evade the immune response (when taken up by macrophages it makes the switch from yeast to hyphae and punches its way out).

SS: What attracted you to Soapbox Science in the first place?

I was lucky enough that when my supervisor previously took part I got the opportunity to volunteer. I thought the Soapbox science concept was great but I was sceptical at how many members of the public would actually engage with it, this is something I was very wrong about! In particular I remember how enthusiastic some of the children were and this I found really rewarding.

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day

Exciting

SS: If you could change one thing about the scientific culture right now, what would it be?

The perception what and who a scientist should be, science is for everyone as long as you’re interested, everything else should be irrespective.

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a woman studying for a PhD and considering pursuing a career in academia?

Go for it!

Shobita Bhumbra (@qsd_sussex), University of Sussex, is taking part in Soapbox Science Brighton on 1st June with the talk:“Quantum Physics – The coolest thing in the universe (…as far as we know)”

Soapbox Science: What attracted you to Soapbox Science in the first place – and what are you most looking forward to/excited about in taking part? 

I wish to enthuse and encourage people into the field of quantum physics.  I personally enjoy teaching and want to impart knowledge and empower people regardless of background and gender such that subjects like quantum physics are not out of reach.  Quantum science is underrepresented as a whole in the public domain especially for and by women and I feel Soapbox Science is an ideal place to work towards changing that.  Quantum physics is a hugely important and developing area with many applications at the heart of emerging and future technologies. I want to de-mystify quantum physics and show people that this subject can be fun, interesting and cool!

SS: Tell us about your career pathway

My undergraduate degree at the University of Nottingham was in Biochemistry and Genetics. I then worked at a pharmaceutical company in Leicester synthesising and purifying proteins. After that I jumped into electronics by joining my dad’s company. This led me to the quantum physics group in the University of Nottingham where I carried out multiple stretches of electronics work. After the team moved to the University of Sussex I was invited to join them as a research electronics technician. As I integrated into the team I became interested in the group’s research in cold atom microscopy and how it could relate to my background in biological sciences. This compelled me to apply for a PhD to develop the group’s magnetic microscope towards being able to measure biological samples.

SS: What, or who, inspired you to get a career in science? 

I was lucky to go to schools with some great science teachers who worked very hard to give us digestible and entertaining content. My dad has always been a big inspiration as he’s always valued education, logic and critical thinking. He loved explaining or getting us to explain how things worked and also helping us work through silly problems he’d set us when we were bored.

SS: What is the most fascinating aspect of your research/work?

Expanding and combining two separate scientific fields to uncover the information hidden in the crossover. Being part of a cutting edge technique and applying it in areas it’s never been applied before.

SS: Research in STEM is increasingly multi-disciplinary. Which subjects do you use in your work?

Quantum physics – The sensors we are developing work off of the principles of quantum physics

Electronics – We often have to design and troubleshoot the equipment that runs the experiment

Engineering – We use vacuum chambers and 3D printed parts

Material science – We have 3D printed components and create samples in collaboration with material scientists

Biology – we working on our sensors to be compatible with studying biological samples

SS: What 3 attributes do you consider important to your work (e.g. creativity, team-work, etc), and why did you pick these?

Teamwork – Everyone has individual skill sets and specific knowledge that you will definitely need. Collaboration is an essential part of research.

Resilience – It is an inevitability to have setbacks, mistakes and failures in research, it’s much less demotivating to see these as part of your growth.

Analytical thinking – the mistakes and setbacks need to be analysed and learned from! That’s the scientific process.

SS: If you could change one thing about the scientific culture right now, what would it be? 

More open source Journals! Scientific papers are published in scientific journals that often require expensive subscriptions.

There are challenges that come with making scientific content free, but I believe they are worth tackling to give everybody access to as much human knowledge as possible.

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a female student considering pursuing a career in academia?

Academia can be intimidating, feeling like you’re surrounded by intelligent, knowledgeable people. So many people, especially women, end up with imposter syndrome (when you feel like people will soon work out ‘you don’t belong here!’ and ‘you don’t deserve what you have achieved’). I have found that the best thing to tackle this damaging mind-set is to simply look after my mental health, get enough sleep and exercise and have a good support network. Remember that it is always better to ask stupid questions and understand than stay quiet and ignorant!

SS: What words of encouragement would you give to children who might be interested in a career in science?

Keep asking questions and set yourself projects you find interesting.  Make sure that you keep at it and see at least some of them to completion.

Find people with similar interests to help keep you going and help you when you get stuck.

Lisa Butt (@LisaButt7), University of Exeter, is taking part in Soapbox Science Plymouth on 1st June with the talk: “Phages – How Viruses Can Be Helpful”

SS: How did you get to your current position?

Although I studied marine biology and environmental science at university, I had a job at Plymouth Marine Lab as a marine microbiologist during my masters. From here I built on my microbiology experience and eventually applied for my current position which uses microbes to answer complex questions about ecology and evolution.

Soapbox Science: What, or who, inspired you to get a career in science?

I love nature and animals, and wanted to be a biologist from an early age.

SS: What is the most fascinating aspect of your research/work?

Everything! Every day is different in my job, so going to work is never a chore.

SS: What attracted you to Soapbox Science in the first place?

It sounded fun!

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day

Nerve-wracking?!

SS: If you could change one thing about the scientific culture right now, what would it be?

The way academic science is funded. It puts unnecessary pressure on all staff, but especially PhD students and post docs, and this stifles creativity

I am a PhD student at Brunel University London, working in the field of particle physics. This is the study of particles, tiny objects that are the very building blocks of our universe! I work on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research). CERN has been the home to many discoveries and inventions, including the World Wide Web, touch screens and the discovery of the Higgs boson! It is also the home of the largest particle accelerator in the world: the LHC. The LHC is a ring-shaped machine that is 27 kilometres in circumference. It is located near Geneva in Switzerland and is buried 100 metres underground. Inside the LHC, counter-rotating beams of protons are accelerated and made to collide at nearly the speed of light! This produces the highest-energy collisions of any particle accelerator. Physicists use detectors (called ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb) to detect and identify particles produced from the collisions. This enables them to either find new particles or learn more about the particles we have already found. Working on the LHC has been my dream job and my journey into particle physics started many years ago, while I was at school…

The Compact Muon Solenoid detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Image: CERN/Michael Hoch, Maximilien Brice.

I am originally from Dagenham in Essex. The LHC began operation in 2008, when I was about 13 years old, which was the first time I had heard about the LHC and about the work of particle physicists. This, and having a fantastic physics teacher, accelerated my early interest in the subject. I do not have any family members that work in science and I had never met a particle physicist at that time. However, it became my dream to become a particle physicist at CERN. Therefore, when I was in Year 12, I decided to send speculative emails to find out about work experience opportunities at CERN. As I had no prior research experience, I did not even expect a reply, let alone being offered a placement!

Me, during my first placement at CERN in 2013!

I was ecstatic and, in the following summer, I had my first placement working at CERN. Full of a mixture of nerves and excitement, I boarded the plane to Geneva – this was also the first time I had travelled abroad! I worked on the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector to determine the level of radiation damage experienced by one of its subdetectors, called the ECAL preshower. The ECAL preshower is used to distinguish between photons that are produced from neutral pions and the photons produced from other particles, such as the Higgs boson. More information about the work I conducted during this placement can be found in this YouTube video.

After school, I went on to study for an MSci in Physics at Queen Mary University of London. As part of a physics degree, students write a “dissertation”. This is a long report explaining the steps carried out during a research project conducted in the final year of the degree and the conclusions that are drawn from the results. For my dissertation, I analysed a simulation of data taken from the ATLAS detector at CERN. The simulation is known as a Monte Carlo simulation, or an MC simulation for short. From the analysis, I predicted how many years it would take for a hypothetical particle, called the Randall-Sundrum (RS) Graviton, to be discovered at the LHC. The RS graviton is thought to be responsible for transporting the force of gravity between particles with mass and it could also solve the “hierarchy problem” in physics, which asks: why is the force of gravity so much weaker than the other fundamental forces?

In addition to my university studies, I carried out particle physics research during summer internships. The first was at DESY in Zeuthen, Germany, in 2017. As a DESY summer student, I worked with members of the DESY ATLAS group to analyse data, and MC simulations of the data, taken from the ATLAS experiment at CERN. In particle physics analyses, MC simulations may not exactly match what is shown in the data, so “scale factors” need to be calculated and applied to the simulations in order to make them match. At DESY, I calculated one of the scale factors that was needed to be applied to an MC simulation of a physics process that occurs inside the ATLAS detector. This process was a Z boson decaying into an electron and a positron, which is the antimatter version of the electron (it has the same mass but is positively-charged instead of negatively-charged!). Check out this report for more information.

The DESY summer students in Zeuthen, Germany, 2017. Image: DESY.

In 2018, I returned to CERN as a CERN Summer School student where I again worked on the CMS experiment. For the project, CERN intern Agustina Quesada and I tested hexaboards, a type of sensor that will be used in the “High Granularity Calorimeter” (HGCAL). The HGCAL will replace a section of the CMS detector, called the “endcaps”, so they can withstand the high radiation levels generated in the upgraded version of the LHC, called the High-Luminosity LHC. We also worked towards replacing hardware, called Nuclear Instrumentation Modules (NIMs), with a NIM+. Nuclear Instrumentation Modules can be used in “triggering” in particle physics. The LHC produces over 1 petabyte of data per second, equivalent to the amount of data stored on 200,000 DVDs! This is too much data to store, so triggers are used to remove data that does not show signs of interesting physics. The NIMs achieve this but are becoming old and obsolete, which motivated their replacement with a NIM+. The NIM+ is much smaller and contains a component, called a Field Programmable Gate Array, that can be programmed. For more information about the project, click here.

Me and Agustina in front of a poster of the LHC tunnel at CERN!

I now continue to work on the CMS experiment as a PhD student at Brunel University London. I use code to analyse data taken from the CMS detector to help us to learn more about a particle, called the top quark. The top quark is about as heavy as a tungsten atom. Its heavy mass means it takes less than a millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a second to decay! This is too short of a time for hadronization to occur, which is when a quark forms a cone of particles. This cone is known as a “jet”. This makes the top quark unique, enabling us to directly study a bare quark.

I spoke about my top quark research at this year’s Soapbox Science London on the South Bank! I decided to apply to be a speaker after I volunteered at last year’s event, where I assisted Dr Jess Wade during her talk. Being one of the 12 selected speakers was a fantastic experience: the audience were very engaged and eager to learn more about particle physics.

I would definitely recommend the unique opportunity of speaking or volunteering at Soapbox Science to anyone!

Me presenting at this year’s Soapbox Science! Image: Soapbox Science.

Jessica Phillips,  Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, is taking part in Soapbox Science Reading on 8th June with the talk: “Dive Like a Penguin – Foraging Behavior of an Antarctic Predator”

By Jessica Phillips

My interest in science dates back to when I was 5-years-old, choosing experiments in our science projects for kids books to do with my dad. My favorite was one on evaporation, where you mix food coloring and sugar in water and leave it in the sun. Because I could eat the sugar crystals at the end.

Much has changed since then; I no longer eat the products of my experiments and, while I wouldn’t have believed it then, I have become a woman in science.

Growing up in Beijing, the world I knew was a skyline punctuated with construction cranes; a concrete forest that was constantly changing, almost with a life of its own, stretching up towards the sky. I would flip through the glossy pages of National Geographic captivated by photos of the “wilderness”, and imagine myself living and working in these environments, that were so different from anything I knew. I fell in love with the idea of being a wildlife biologist.

When I became an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, I was able to test out whether I would like the reality of doing fieldwork in comparison with my romanticized idea of it. Bright eyed if not  bushy tailed, I boarded a sail boat in British Colombia, and set off for 2 months of studying salmon at the remote Salmon Coast Field Station in the Broughton Archipelago.

Looking back, it was a turning point in my career. It was where I began to believe in the possibility that I, too, could be a wildlife biologist.

Chinstrap penguins on Nelson Island, Antarctic Peninsula. ©Jessica Phillips

Just to make life easier for myself, I decided that I wanted to do wildlife biology in Antarctica. At first, this was met with smiles and pats on the head. When it became apparent that I was serious, the response changed. My inbox became inundated with what seemed like every single news report about someone dying in Antarctica. But, I learned to smile and nod when people told me it wasn’t possible, that you can’t get a job in Antarctica, and implied that if I got there I would likely perish in some kind of accident. But, at long last, I made it happen. I got to spend first 7 weeks camping in the Antarctic Peninsula studying chinstrap penguins, then two and a half months in the sub-Antarctica studying macaroni penguin. I’m pleased to report, I’m still alive.

Grey-headed albatross on Bird Island, South Georgia. ©Jessica Phillips

None of it would have happened without the many people who helped me along the way; but this journey also required my willingness to take action even when I was certain I would fail.

Failure and rejection get a bad rap, but they are outcomes of taking risks and grasping opportunities that come your way. Failure doesn’t diminish your value as a researcher, but is proof that you tried. And really, what can we do but try?

Even if you know you will fail, you don’t know you are right.

Follow Jessica’s Instagram for more wildlife photos

Dr. Mary Anne White, Dalhousie University, will be taking part in Soapbox Science Halifax on 6th July with the talk:“Renewable Approaches to Storing Heat”

My House Is Now A Lab

by Mary Anne White

When I was a child, my parents let me do experiments at home. For example, I left celery standing in coloured water on the counter for days at a time, so I could slice it open to observe the rise of the colour. When my children were young, I paid the favour forward by letting them explore the influence of baking soda on soapy vinegar, among other messy experiments. And now, some 38 years after establishing my own lab at a university, I also have a lab at home. In fact, my house is a lab, as I will now explain.

One of the most pressing problem of our times is the need for better energy sources. Intertwined with this is the need to reduce production of greenhouse gases, to mitigate climate change. A big hurdle to efficient use of renewable energy is storage, for times when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing.

An inescapable fact is that every time energy is converted from one form to another, there are inefficiencies. For example, converting solar energy to electricity and then electricity to heat, reduces the output to a fraction of the input. If we need heat, we should store heat. Heat and thermal properties of materials have been the focus of my research for four decades.

One of the great joys of being a professor is meeting people with new ideas, and helping them develop as researchers. Several years ago, a chemical engineer named Louis Desgrosseilliers approached me with an idea for graduate work that could make a significant difference in the world. Louis’ concept was to create a thermal battery. The principle is simple: use materials to take in heat energy when they melt, and give the heat back when they freeze. The trick was to get the material to freeze on demand, and Louis accomplished this in his PhD work.

With his goal to make a commercial thermal battery a reality, Louis then co-founded Neothermal Energy Storage. He and his partner, Jill Johnson, continue to work on the technical and commercial aspects, aiming to reduce the costs and environmental impact of heating. Late last year they asked me and my husband, Rob, if we would be willing to participate as a beta-test site for their unit. We readily agreed.

The thermal battery (shown below in our furnace room) contains about 230 kg of a salt that melts at about 58 ^oC, packed in several separate cells within the metal boxes. When the salt is heated, it melts and stores heat. This particular salt (sodium acetate trihydrate) does not easily crystallize, and the liquid salt can be cooled to room temperature, or even lower, without freezing. In this so-called super-cooled state, the thermal energy of melting is still stored, and the material acts as a thermal battery. The mechanical crystallization mechanism that Louis developed for his PhD work can be invoked to cause controlled crystallization, and concomitant heat release.

The banks of metal tanks on the left are the thermal battery. The oil-fired furnace, on the right, is now the auxiliary heat source for our home and for our hot water, and the thermal battery is the main heat source.

The thermal battery is located adjacent to our oil-fired furnace, and designed to supplant that heating source. It works as follows. At night, off-peak electrical power is used to melt the salt and superheat it to 100 ˚C to store 32 kWh of usable energy. The salt then remains in the liquid state until the thermostat calls for heat. When heat is required, a heat-exchange fluid flowing through the cells extracts heat from the salt and transports this heat to air that is distributed to the rest of the house by the furnace’s hot air blower. When the salts are cool and more heat is required, crystallization is triggered inside the cells, releasing more heat. The oil burner on the furnace is only used as an auxiliary heat source if the thermal battery cannot deliver heat quickly enough. Such situations could include going up to the usual set temperature from a very low set temperature when on vacation, or when the thermal battery is depleted at the end of the day during an exceptionally cold spell. The thermal battery recharges at night.

The thermal battery also is the primary source of heat for our hot water tank. When hot water is running in the house, the fresh water entering the tank is pre-heated with the thermal battery. Again, our oil burner is only an auxiliary source.

The advantages of the thermal battery system over the oil-fired furnace and water heater are two-fold.

First, there is the cost advantage. Per energy unit, off-peak electricity beats oil in cost, by about 30%. Furthermore, electric heat is much more efficient than an oil burner. The economic payback time for the commercial installation should be well within 15 years, the timeframe that consumers consider when making such improvements.

Even more importantly for the planet, the environmental impact of the thermal battery is significantly improved over fuel oil heating. Combustion of oil produces CO₂ and other greenhouse gases. In Nova Scotia, which uses a blend of coal, wind, hydro, tidal, natural gas and biomass for electricity, emissions from electricity generation are 25% less than the equivalent energy from oil. Based on projected use of the thermal battery, greenhouse gas emissions from heating our house and hot water are predicted to drop by more than 20%. This value will continue to fall over time with increasing contributions of renewables and hydro to electricity production in our province.

In other provinces with lower emissions from electricity, such as Quebec, BC and Ontario, household emissions would drop more than 80% compared with oil. That drop, for our house, is equivalent to taking one combustion car off the road. Furthermore, thermal batteries can store solar thermal energy for later use, even more favourably replacing oil with solar energy.

The thermal battery installation is still a work in progress. It literally is an experiment, with our house as a lab. We are monitoring energy consumption, and Louis is fine-tuning the system to work optimally for both comfort and energy efficiency. But, over the first 30 days since installation, we are already reducing the use of the “auxiliary” source (the oil furnace) in favour of the “main output” (the thermal battery), as shown below.

The relative use of the oil-fired furnace (“Auxiliary output”) compared with the thermal battery (“Main output”), in the first month after installation.

So how do we like having our house turned into a lab? It has been busy as we have had many visits from Louis, electricians, furnace technicians, data analysts and plumbers; all have been professional and excited to participate in this project. There have been a few setbacks, but we understand that this is a work in progress. People have asked how we feel about having several hundred kilograms of salts in our basement. Rob and I, both chemists, know that sodium acetate is low risk. In fact, it is used to give salt and vinegar potato chips their flavour. And we can monitor the hour-by-hour progress of the system on our phones, which is satisfying for data-loving scientists. Together we are exploring how different demands, such as running the dishwasher at different times of day, influence the results.

Most importantly, this experiment shows that individuals can make significant differences in energy consumption in new ways. Not every house can be retrofitted with a thermal battery, any more than every house be outfitted with solar cells or a windmill. But we can all try to do something. Our future depends on it.

Mary Anne White is Professor (Emerita) at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and an Officer in the Order of Canada.

Yee Lian Chew (@WormyChew), University of Wollongong, will be taking part in Soapbox Science Sydney on 10th August with the talk: “What can worms teach us about the brain?”

Soapbox Science: How did you get to your current position?

I got tired of being in a long-distance relationship with my partner living in Australia and me living in the UK, so I applied desperately for jobs everywhere in Australia until I found this one! (We had a ‘deal’ that I would move to the UK for 3 years-ish and then I would return.) It was a great opportunity to back-fill as a teaching/research academic for a senior faculty member currently on a research fellowship.

SS: What, or who, inspired you to get a career in STEMM?

I have always asked questions about everything, and to avoid having to constantly answer them, my parents bought me lots of books about all aspects of science that I devoured from a very young age. The fascination has never stopped!

SS: What is the most fascinating aspect of your research/work?

The brain is a remarkable organ and although we know a lot about it, we are still quite a long way away from really understanding how it ‘works’. Every day in my job, trying to get a bit closer to this goal by looking at how individual brain cells ‘talk’ to each other, is exciting and new.

SS: What attracted you to Soapbox Science in the first place?

I love spreading excitement for science with people. I have realized that over the years, the events that I have been to (Science festivals, school science clubs, public lectures) were attended by people who were already motivated to learn about science. I applied for Soapbox Science because I wanted to talk about research with people who might not necessarily be looking to hear about it, and to see if maybe they could also start to share my excitement.

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day

Fun!

SS: If you could change one thing about the academic/research culture right now, what would it be?

Diversity. Diversity of background/experiences/culture makes better research!

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a woman studying for a PhD and considering pursuing a career in academia?

Don’t give up!

However… there are a lot of reasons to give up – and many of these are extremely valid. Academia is a constant struggle! I think if it makes you happy, do your best to stick with it, and if it doesn’t – then maybe think about other potential opportunities that would make you happy J

Riddhi Gupta (@riddhisw), The University of Sydney, will be taking part in Soapbox Science Sydney on 10th August with the talk: “Machine Learning and Quantum Control Using our engineering past to navigate a quantum future”

Soapbox Science: How did you get to your current position?

I used to be a management consultant before I discovered that I really missed doing math and physics, so I went back to do a Ph.D. My supervisor didn’t see my five years away from physics as a negative thing. In fact, he funded my Ph.D under really flexible work arrangements so I could visit home in NZ.

SS: What, or who, inspired you to get a career in STEMM?

As a kid, I loved three books: Stephen Hawking’s A Briefer History of Time, and David Attenborough’s, A Living Planet, and Robert Winston’s Human Instinct.  

I had loads of opportunities through my local public school, Pakurange College (Auckland, NZ) and the Royal Society of New Zealand to do summer projects with real scientists. One project involved analyzing carbon content in an ancient dinosaur bone to figure out how old it was.  In another project, we pointed a radio telescope to the sky and listened to two stars spinning around each other (pulsars).  You can hear them here:  http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/research/pulsar/Education/Sounds/.

SS: What is the most fascinating aspect of your research/work?

Randomness. Before my Ph.D, I thought there was only one ‘randomness’. It turns out there are many types of random processes in maths. We can use different types of randomness to create very useful tools about the way we observe the world. They can also help us to re-apply what we already know or predict things – a computer’s way of making an ‘educated guess’,  just like our brains do.

SS: What attracted you to Soapbox Science in the first place?

It was hard for me to imagine what scientists did until a few of them showed me. Luckily, I got the chance to meet scientists while I was still in high-school so I could figure out what I wanted from life / university.  I’m willing to do the same in case anyone wants to know what it’s like to do a PhD!

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day

Chatty.

SS: If you could change one thing about the academic/research culture right now, what would it be?

I wish there was more time to learn stuff. We live in a super-specialised world, and it takes time to break barriers and understand what other people are doing in relation to your own work. Breaking down technical barriers between scientists is also a great first step to make sure we are acting with empathy and being inclusive in our science communities, while making a contribution.

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a woman studying for a PhD and considering pursuing a career in academia?

It’s a big journey. Best not to get distracted along the way.  Also, great to have friends / family who can support you.