Age: 25

A levels: Chemistry, Maths, Physics (and General Studies)

Degree course: Chemistry with Forensic Analysis, Loughborough University

The inorganic chemist who transforms materials using heat, ingenuity or brute force!
             

My job is...
Very hands on and flexible. My PhD title is “Synthesis of solid state substances containing group XVI elements” (or “Shake ‘n’ Bake” as its called in my lab!) I spend most of my time in the lab seeing what happens when you add/grind/heat various chemicals together.

Home is...
A subwardens flat in a newly built hall of residence about 5 minutes from the campus. The flat is lovely and an added bonus that comes with being a subwarden. There are 260 students in the hall but my flat is self-contained. The job does sometimes mean being woken up in the small hours for various reasons, but generally its lots of fun.

The story so far
I was at a boarding school called Millfield from the age of 11 to 15. I’ve always been quite scientifically minded and my chemistry teacher at school was fantastic. My A level subjects took little thought, although at the time I was toying with the idea of going into law rather than science.
By my second year of A levels I had swayed from law to forensic science, because I thought it would be more ‘hands on’ and it suited me better academically. Of the universities doing forensics, Loughborough was the clear choice for me. It was sporty, campus-based and the atmosphere was so friendly and relaxed.
My lecturers were really supportive when it came to doing my final year project, (6 weeks of lab work), and I absolutely loved it. They realised that I was far better suited to research than lectures and offered me the opportunity to do a PhD.

Day in the life
Between 8 and 8.30am I can be found fighting with 3 alarm clocks (well 2 alarms and my CD player) - which will be ‘snoozed’ at least 5 times before I actually get up. I usually make it into work for about 9.30, check my e-mail, and then start getting on with some work. This can be anything from weighing and grinding powders together and using a blow torch to seal glass tubes to running samples on the powder x-ray and analysing the patterns. (The good thing about practical chemistry is that you can chat/listen to the radio at the same time as you work!)
From about 10.30 till 11, we break for a snack and a catch-up, then it’s work time until 12.45. Once a week, I take the prospective students and their parents on a campus tour; otherwise, I go for lunch in one of the halls with another subwarden who works in my lab. After lunch I either carry on with whatever work I was doing, or, twice a week, I demonstrate labs to the students. This involves making sure that they are working safely and that they understand what they are doing in their practical sessions.
I usually head off between 5 and 7, either to the gym if I’m not on duty, or back to hall if I am. Evenings are spent either out with friends, coaching trampolining, playing netball or chilling in front of the telly. 

Pet project
My research is really diverse and is made up of lots of small projects and subject areas. The work I am focusing on at the moment revisits some previous work, but from a different angle. While the earlier workers looked at the chemistry of copper compounds formed by a particular organic sulphur-nitrogen compound in solution, my work looks at the reactivity in the solid state. Thus, in one case, we have a copper complex, which can be crystallised in either blue or green forms depending upon the solvents used. We have now shown that similar colour changes can be achieved in the solid state simply by grinding the blue material.
This raises two questions, how does grinding actually bring this about and what is actually happening on molecular level when we see this effect?
It is fair to say that some of the research work I do is sometimes referred to as ‘blue sky’. By this, I mean that often we are not working towards a specific goal in terms of the synthesis of a particular compound, but what we are actually doing is asking questions like: “what happens when we react these together” or “can we prepare these new compounds this way?” or maybe “how does this compound react to external influences such as temperature, pressure or mechanical stress?”
This approach gives me scope to try a range of different chemical ideas; because most are a step into the unknown, who knows what structures we will generate and properties we will discover?!

Freetime
When I’m not on duty in Hall I love relaxing in the gym for a couple of hours after work, especially at the moment as I am training for an endurance course called Toughguy. I am also a trampoline coach and I love horse riding.
I go out to bars/clubs/the union for a few drinks, a dance, and a chance to see everyone once or twice a week, and love catching up with friends over a meal. Any free weekends I have (which are few and far between) I try to go to London to see my sister or home (Hampshire) to see my parents.

Burning ambitions
Within the next 5 years I really want to see the world, especially the Islands in the South Pacific. Hopefully I will be able to collaborate with labs in other countries so I can experience real life out there rather than a tourist holiday. I am also striving towards running a full marathon.

The best thing is…
That I’m really happy! I enjoy working in the lab because we’re all mates and have a laugh (plus I don’t have to sit at a desk all day). My supervisors are brilliant to me and I have made some amazing friends along the way. What more could a girl want?!

Regrets?
I’m not really a “regrets” kind of girl. I’m a firm believer that as one door closes another one opens. Plus, I’m glad I’ve made some mistakes, that’s how I learn all the important lessons.