Well, a job in engineering doesn't always guarantee a lot of globe-trotting but I've certainly done my fair share. Just a few weeks ago I went to Singapore for a conference. It was my first Nano-manufacturing conference (in fact it was THE first International Conference in Nano Manufacturing!) so I was a bit nervous presenting my paper to experts in the field. It went well and there was quite a lot of interest in my metamaterial (a kind of artificial material that's engineered on the nano scale to have weird properties). I stayed with some friends while I was there and caught up with another friend so it was a great trip. Then I went on to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia (only an hour's flight away) to visit a University that was doing our engineering exams and using some of my teaching material. I stayed on for a couple of days just to explore KL which has an amazing bird park and great food. On the way back I stopped of in Dubai to look around and bask in the intense heat - just enough to keep my going through our non-existent summer!

Well not quite THE 'Dragon's Den' but it felt like it - and I was a dragon. I've been supervising a team of engineering students at the University of Birmingham in a project where they come up with an idea for an invention, do some market research, design it, think about how they will make it in production and how much they could sell it for and then make a working prototype. This week I listened to a couple of the teams present their work and show off their prototypes. I was really impressed with their ideas and some of the Computer Aided Design pictures were so sophisticated they looked like photographs. I'd tell you what they came up with but both are thinking of commercialising their ideas so I'll keep it under my hat for now ;-)

Snow in April!  -  just when we thought we were actually going to have a summer this year.

Anyway, apart from marvelling at odd meteorological phenomena, I have been very busy writing papers on pedestrian accidents - wearing my previous research group hat - and designing little machines that use the quantum Casimir force - wearing my current research group hat (blue nylon, by the way). 

And to avoid the chance of missing out on my requisite dose of sunshine again this year, I'm off to Singapore in July to present some of my results at a conference. There are always lots of these conferences to choose from -and as well as finding one relevant to my research area, proxity to the equator tends to feature as an important factor for me ;-)

In explanation for my prolonged silence, I was asked to lecture Statics to 2nd year students last term. After leaping at such an opportunity to talk about the wonders of applied mechanics to a room-full of enthusiastic 20 year-olds, I then realised I had in fact forgotten most of it and spent the rest of the summer buried in my old text books and trying to think of ways of making a subject which comes with an alarming collection of long, complicated-looking equations interesting and actually not as difficult as it first appears. Did I suceed? Well, I haven't read the student feedback forms yet so I don't know - but I certainly learnt a lot myself and one thing I can say for sure is that the best way of understanding something is through having to explain it to someone else. Try it!  

I've had to wear some interesting work clothing in my career as an engineer so far - from the navy blue 'cow gown' of the metal-bashing industry - great for wiping greasy hands on - to the yellow fluorescent jacket with 'CRASH INVESTIGATOR' emblasoned on the back (a personal favourite because it made me look important). But my latest sartorial adventure is a pale blue nylon jump-suit with matching boots and head covering that I have to wear in the 'clean room' where we manufacture our micro-machines. 

I quite like it - I think it might catch on ;-)

Well, they say you never stop learning. Changing from one completely different field of engineering to another is an extreme example. I am having to learn soooo much at the moment. Some of it I haven't though about since A-level Physics.

Top Tip: keep those text books - you never know when you may need them again.

Well, life is never boring as a mechanical engineering researcher. One minute I'm investigating car crashes and simulating pedestrian impacts - the next minute I'm making tiny machines in a clean room that are so small I can't really see them!

Never heard of it before but it's what I've just been playing football on with a 6-a-side women's footie team (my latest venture). It really looks like grass and I'm sure lots of sports science types have had great fun testing out the traction coefficients etc. Apparently it's also less painful to fall on - not that I'd know about that - I think our playing is all a bit too polite (then again, I haven't actually played a match yet)

Just got back from a few days in Italy with a bunch of Germans, French, Dutch, English, Greek but strangley no Italians. It was the general assembly (mass get-together) for the European project I'm working on and was held at an Australian (?) university in a little walled town outside Florence called Prato.

The best part - apart from the stimulating presentations and ensuing intellectual debate about vehicle design and road safety ;-) was the free coffee bar where they served the best cappucinos on demand. I realise this may not impress non coffee lovers but trust me - this was good coffee.

Also managed to spend a few hours in Florence before I flew home. Now this is a truely beautiful city if you ever get the chance to go there (which you may well do if you work in science or engineering research!!) and January is not a bad time to visit because you miss the crowds. The cathedral is probably the most stunning I have ever seen (and I've seen a few in my time) with three different colours of marble and an impressivley high tower that gives you panoramic views of the whole city.

Christmas holidays are only minutes away - so just enough time to get one last blog in for 2006....

I graduated last Friday - which mainly involved parading around in a rather festive red and green robe complete with black velvet floppy hat and having lots of photos taken - some of which were actually OK - and a free buffet. Then yesterday was the Engineering Christmas party (with free buffet) and the day before that our research group had our Christmas lunch (all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet) - so I have been eating rather a lot recently.

Food and waistline issues aside, I'm really excited about the next step in my career. I've been discussing some ideas for research proposals with various colleagues in-between mouthfuls of mushroom vol-au-vonts and I've had some good feedback. Also had some 6th form students doing a project related to car crashes come and have a chat. It's always encouraging to see then next generation enthused about engineering.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to one and all!

After 4 years hard graft (well, fairly hard - still managed to do a lot of fun stuff) I have got my PhD!!! Writing up all my research was actually OK - in fact I even managed to impress myself with some of work I'd done - but this was followed up by an oral examination (the viva) where 3 experts questionned everything I'd done for 3 HOURS!! Not the most pleasant experience but I survived and got away with some minor corrections - hurrah!

Now I have the graduation to look forward to where I can parade around in a silly hat and everyone can call me 'the doctor'. One of my Chinese colleagues who is also graduating will be called Dr. Hu (I have tried to explain to him why this is so funny but he just gave me a very strange look)

OK - so I'm out and about in some beautiful countryside (i.e. middle-of-nowhere) garage looking at a Golf that had driven into a wall and admiring the crashworthiness of the design which allowed most of the crash energy to be managed rather well by the front structure of the car, leaving the passenger compartment almost completely undamaged - and husband calls in a bit of distress to tell me that he has just crashed my car... my lovely, new sports car.

Of course the appropriate response of 'are you OK?' was slightly preceded by 'is the car OK?' but I think I got away with it.

Turns out some STUPID driver had failed to check his blind spot on a roundabout and just drifted into my little car, cracking the nearside wing (that's the left side). 'Just cosmetic damage' they tell me - so I decide to take someone for a spin that evening and suddenly the headlights decide to turn off. Then  on. Then off again. Then the windscreen wipers start going. Then the main beam starts going on and off and the car in front thinks I am flashing him and pulls over!

So, in my expert opinion, I think there may be a problem with the electrics.

Well, I've just submitted my PhD thesis (all about pedestrians and cyclists being hit by cars) and have regained the luxury of spare time - so, no more excuses for not doing a blog.

I've also just been given the most amazing - really amazing - birthday / finishing PhD / being generally wonderful present by my in-laws and I want to tell everyone ....

.. be prepared to be slightly jealous....

A Smart Roadster! Oh yes. Joy of joys. Brand new, 2 seater, convertible, teeny weeny 0.7l engine - but the most fun thing I have ever driven. I will bore you with details of the rather fantasitc tiptronic gears and ESP some other time.