Meet the scientists!

Part of my work is about trying to design and make a device that uses the Casimir Force . (This is a quantum effect that is only really noticable on the micro-scale but causes a strong attraction between two parallel plates). I am working along side Physicists to design the device so that the Casimir Force causes part of it to move without being pushed. I am also writing a computer prgramme that will help optimise the design of a micro-artificial nose . This is a device that can detect certain gases and has lots of different applications including illness diagnosis. I am trying to help make it smaller and cheaper but also detect more smells. I also did some work on making some periodic gold structures that were so small I created an artificial material (these are called ‘metamaterials’)

I either cycle to work or drive my Smart Roadster depending on the weather. A lot of the work I do is on the computer – things like designing the masks I use to make the devices, writing computer code, developing a model to see what the device should do when I test it, and then analysing results and writing about them.

I sometimes go swimming at lunchtime and then have lunch in one of the cafes on campus either with a friend or on my own reading the paper.During term time I may have students popping in to discuss a project they are working on.  If I am actually making something I need to put a special suit on and go into our clean room to use the equipment in there.

I’ve got a digital hard drive camera, a very robust flash drive ‘action cam’ that I can wear on my helmet when I go skiing cycling etc. and some free editing software. What I’d like to do is use those and also rent a professional camera for a few days (about £80 per day) to make some short films (3 – 5min) explaining some science and engineering concepts like friction, pressure, van der waals forces, gravity and Newtons laws but using some familar activities like skiing, skate-boarding, scuba diving and windsurfing etc. and also musical instruments (these are great for explaining conspetc such as sound waves, frequency and harmonics). A lot of these things aren’t difficult to understand but a lot of people think they are because they haven’t been explained to them in a way they can relate to. So, I’d make these films (I’ve had a day of vodcasting training with a TV producer) and buy some good editing software (about £200) to finish them off, then put them on U-tube, on the Noisemake website that I have a profile on and also look at putting them on I-Tunes-U.