read my blog

Age: 28

A-Levels: Physics, Maths, History

Degrees: MEng Aerospace Engineering, Bath University, PhD Aerospace Engineering, Oxford University

Jenny makes electricity out of wind and races an eco-car in her spare time.

My job is...
I work as an engineer for the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer - Vestas.  We make turbines with blade diameters up to 120m, in fact the blades are so big that people can climb inside them to check that cracks haven't appeared.  My job is to help design new wind turbines and improve turbiens that have already been built, so that they produce more electricity using the same strength of wind.

Home is...
My boyfriend and I have just moved to a house that is 10 minutes cycle to my office.  It's in a little town called Ashtead which I love as it has loads of little independent shops where I can buy almost all my shopping.  We're having great fun filling the walls of the house with pictures and I'm really enjoying having a garden to plant lots of fruit, veg and flowers in. 

Story so far
Up to the age of 15, I was adamant that I wanted to be an archaeologist as I loved history and detective work. However, after I went on work experience to a local museum I began to realise that there were not very many jobs available – in fact I could even find it hard to get unpaid work. So I decided to see what other careers might interest me. I really enjoyed physics and finding out how things worked, so with help from my school careers service I started to look into engineering. From that moment on, the job sounded more and more interesting, especially when I found out that as an aerospace engineer I would be able to design aeroplanes.

Nothing I have done so far has made me regret pursuing a career as an engineer, every day is different and I get to work on some very exciting projects.  I have just finished a PhD working on an aircraft that will fly 3 times faster that concord, which shows that one of the best things about engineering is that it is so varied.  One day I'm helping people fly from London to Sydney in 3 hours and the next I'm using my skils to save the planet from global warming by developing renewable energy. 

Day in the life
I usually cycle the long way to work through a local wood.  I often see a family of deer on way and last week I spotted a woodpecker.  Once in the office I always make a cup of coffee and have a chat with my office mates.

From 8:30am onwards my days vary hugely. At the moment I'm working on a computer program that helps us see how wind turbines all over the world are performing.  From my computer I can find out instantly what the wind speeds in Australia are and how much electricity our wind turbines are producing.  I can even stop and start the turbines with a click of my mouse. 

The company I work for is based in Denmark and has 14000 employees world wide, so most of my colleagues work outside the UK.  Although I will be travelling abroad about once a month to either talk to colleagues or visit wind farms, to avoid travelling too much we set up meetings over the telephone and computer.  Talking to a computer is a little strange at first, but it works fantastically well and prevents putting more greenhouse gases in the air by flying too often.  

At lunch I usually join my office mates in the park, where we sit by the river eating our sandwiches and catching up on each others news.  At the moment I am busy looking for a new flat to rent so I sometimes have a look around the estate agents.   I usually finish work at about 5:30pm, so there's plenty of time for bike rides and catching up with friends in the evenings. 

Pet project
At the end of my undergraduate degree I spent 6 months researching micro air vehicles (MAVs). These are aircraft that range from the size of your hand down to the size of a bee. Their small size will allow them to fly into areas without causing a disturbance. This will be very useful for the military - if a camera is attached to a MAV it could become an effective spy plane, landing on window sills to look into buildings or flying into enemy territory to send back pictures. MAVs could also be very useful to us all however, for example they could help drivers avoid traffic jams by flying over every major road to help spot potential traffic problems. By sending their images back to a control room, drivers could be told to avoid congested areas.

My work was based around how MAVs could be moved through the air. This is necessary because the engines and batteries that we use today are too big and heavy to be carried on a MAV. Researchers are therefore trying to copy the way that birds and insects push themselves through the air – by flapping. This may seem a simple problem, but the way that flapping produces a forward force (thrust) is very hard to achieve and researchers do not yet fully understand how birds and insects make themselves go forwards by moving their wings up and down.

I used a special piece of material called a piezoelectric foil to produce my flapping. This is a piece of material that vibrates when you pass an electric current through it. Using this I created a flapping motion of 0.5cm up and down. I then measured how much thrust was being produced.

My results showed that the piezoelectric foil in my experiment would be capable of moving a 35g MAV through the sky at about 14mph. This may not seem very much, but a sparrow weighs only 25g, so you can see that even this small vibration would be enough to move a hand sized MAV through the air.
Lots of companies and universities are working on MAVs, as they could do so many useful and dangerous jobs. So who knows, in a few years time, we may see aeroplanes that fly like insects or birds all over the place.

Freetime
I'm starting to fill up all the free time I've gained since I finished my PhD.  I've started a yoga class and I'm hoping to join a local choir soon.  My boyfriend and I are also learning Danish classes.  My company pay for me to learn as it is really useful durin gmy trips to Denmark.  It's early days and I'd forgotten how difficult learning another language is, but I'm certainly enjoying the challenge.

At the moment one of my favourite things is filling the garden with pots of flowers.  It's not the right time of year for planting fruit and vegetables so I'm planting bulbs instead.  Fingers crossed I get lots of snowdrops and lillies next year.  My boyfriend and I really enjoy inviting friends and family over for dinner and to stay over at the moment.  The novelty of living in a house rather than a flat hasn't worn off yet, plus we get to try out lots of interesting recipes.

I also drive a specially designed car that is capable of travelling 6000 miles per gallon of petrol. At the British Eco-Marathon competition last year this car was the best British entry. To find out more about the competition, visit www.shell.co.uk

Burning ambitions
I definitely want to find a choir to join, so I hope I pass my audition for the Ashtead choir. 

The best thing is...
Being involved in projects that are useful and exciting. Being challenged and working on something different every day. Meeting and working with interesting people and learning about what they do.

Regrets?
I haven't watched enough films recently - I really must watch more DVDs to catch up.