Author: Amaya Calvo Sánchez

#WomenonWednesdays: Julie Euvrard

For this week’s interview we spoke with Dr. Julie Euvrard, a new Lecturer in Experimental Solid State Physics and the founder and PI of the Echoes Lab in Blackett.

As an introduction, what is your area of expertise within Physics? 

My research focuses on new types of semiconductors that are alternatives to traditional silicon for various applications such as solar cells, LEDs, transistors… You might have heard of OLEDs, used in some phone and TV screens. These LEDs are made with organic semiconductors (‘O’ in OLED). Organic semiconductors are carbon and hydrogen-based molecules or polymers exhibiting semiconducting properties. They are interesting for applications requiring mechanical flexibility (you may have seen videos of foldable screens), optical transparency, and large area. Organic-based technologies also have the potential for lower fabrication costs, giving hope for cheaper solar energy solutions. It is this last application that motivates my research and helps me link my interests with societal needs. 

Another class of materials I am working on are halide perovskites. Perovskites have a crystalline structure, like silicon, but are made of different atoms. The perovskites that are particularly trendy in research are composed of a mixture of atoms such as Pb and I, and organic molecules (for example CH3NH3). Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites happen to be very good solar absorbers. Unfortunately, the lifetime of perovskite-based solar cells remains too low for commercialisation. 

My interest lies in the physics of these emerging semiconductors and how it differs from traditional silicon. What you learn in semiconductor and device physics classes are key and necessary background, but it does not describe the behaviour of all materials. I use experimental tools to uncover this behaviour and relate it to what we know. 

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#WomenonWednesdays: Christina Schoettler

For our final interview of the term, we spoke to Dr. Christina Schoettler, a Research Associate in the Astrophysics group.

As an introduction, what is your area of expertise within Physics?

I’m an astronomer by trade and by experience as well. I work mainly in star and planet formation, trying to figure out how planetary systems form around stars and how they’re affected by their birth environments, which is something I talked about a few weeks ago as well (in the Research Frontiers lecture). I’m looking at how the birth environment affects star clusters and planet formation with the end goal of trying to figure out why we find so few systems that look like ours for example and just generally trying to better understand the universe around us.

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#WomenonWednesdays: Sarah Thomas

This week we spoke to Dr. Sarah Thomas, a Research Fellow in quantum optics and an alumni of the CDT in Controlled Quantum Dynamics.

What was your path into Physics like?

As a child I was always very curious and inquisitive, and was always trying to work out how things worked. My family is also very science-y, my grandad was a physicist, so I was always encouraged to figure out how things worked and solve puzzles. I really enjoyed Maths and Physics at school, and I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to do, so for my undergrad I did Maths and Physics for my first year. From the second year on, I decided to focus on Physics. I think for me, it was because I enjoyed that it was more practical, more related to the real world, and I enjoyed that aspect more than the more abstract side of Maths.

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#WomenonWednesdays: Heather Graven

For this week’s interview we spoke with Dr. Heather Graven, a Reader in Climate Physics. Dr. Graven will teach Statistics of Measurement for first year undergraduates this year.

What was your path into Physics and your current research?

I was always interested in science and Physics but my degree was actually in Chemical Engineering. I did that at Caltech, so we did quite a bit of Physics even if I was in a different major. Then I did my PhD in Earth Science. It’s great to be here in Physics at Imperial and I do use lots of different physics in my research, which is one of the things that I think is really great about it. We use accelerators to make radiocarbon measurements, we use laser spectrometers for other atmospheric measurements, we do lots of fluid dynamics and modelling with high-performance computers.

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#WomenonWednesdays: Alie Craplet

Today we bring you an interview with Alie Craplet, a PhD student in the High Energy Physics group who also did her undergrad at Imperial!

Describe your path into physics. Who were your inspirations?

My path into physics was actually one of indecisiveness. I come from the French system, I’m originally French, and I always liked science – I was good at it, but without really knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I got told that Physics keeps as many doors open as a subject can. At first, I wanted to do Maths and then I realised that I was not that mathsy, so I went into Theoretical Physics instead. I knew I wanted to stay in London, so for me it was almost more of a university-based approach rather than a subject-based approach. I was interested in Quantum Physics; I’d read a few books about it. My grandad actually did a PhD in Physics in France many years ago, but it’s not like a family trade – he never really talked to me about it, I knew he had done it, but I wouldn’t say he inspired me.

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#WomenonWednesdays: Adriana Bercebal

This week for #WomenonWednesdays we spoke to fourth-year undergraduate and Imperial Physics Review co-founder Adriana Bercebal!

Describe your path into physics, what kickstarted it?

When I was small, my dad used to tell me bedtime stories. Every night I would ask “What have you discovered today?”, and he would explain the science news he had read that day. This really made me enjoy astrophysics and particle physics. Since then I have always been eager to learn more and more.

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#WomenonWednesdays: Elizabeth Pasatembou

Today we’re really excited to bring you an interview with Elizabeth Pasatembou, a PhD student in the High Energy Physics group!

Describe your path into physics, what kickstarted it?

Growing up in a small town in Cyprus, I did not have any connection with science, let alone physics. I grew up being a very curious child, always exploring my surroundings, asking a lot of “whys”, and generally loved learning new things, curious about what could be beyond the small town I was raised in. I commuted to the “big city” for high school and was lucky enough to have great science teachers who sparked my interest in science. I did not consider a career in physics, or barely knew what that was, until I started my physics GCSE. I will be forever grateful to the first physicist I have ever met who happened to be my physics teacher who believed in me and inspired me to continue my physics journey. I never felt like an outlier in his classes, being one of the very few girls and that was very encouraging. The more I studied physics the more I loved it and decided to pursue physics, moving to an even bigger city, London to follow my dreams. I am now a first generation graduate having graduated with an MSci degree in Physics and an MSc in Space Science and Engineering from UCL.

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#WomenonWednesdays: Katie Marrow

This week for #WomenonWednesdays we spoke to Katie Marrow, a first-year PhD student in the Plasma Physics group and University Challenge contestant for Imperial.

Describe your path into physics, what kickstarted it?

I’ve wanted to be a physicist since I was about 9. I was very interested in space so had toyed with the idea of becoming an astronaut, but then I heard about the LHC and decided a particle physicist was much cooler. This ambition persisted to the point that several years later I persuaded my family to go on holiday to Geneva so that we could visit CERN. Once I came to university, a combination of my first-year research project and UROPs made me realise that I really love plasma physics and I want to go into experimental research. Now I’m lucky enough to be starting a PhD in plasma at Imperial in October.

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#WomenonWednesdays: Meriame Berboucha

This week we talked to Meriame Berboucha, a PhD student in the Plasma Physics group currently based at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California.

Describe your path into physics, what kickstarted it?

During my A levels I was taken to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Didcot for a medical physics masterclass and I fell in love with the subject – I was interested in helping others and I loved physics and maths and it seemed like the perfect subject for me.

Even though I had written my personal statement for medical school already, I scraped it a few months before the deadline, to apply for physics degrees at university. At the time I felt like I was taking a gamble and my parents wanted me to do medicine, but deep down I really enjoyed physics and that is what I wanted to do. I owe a lot to my physics A level teacher though for really making me feel included in the class and not ‘weird’ for studying the subject. I then became the first woman at that school to take physics onto higher education.

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#WomenonWednesdays: Trinity Stenhouse

For our first Women on Wednesdays this academic year, we’ve talked to Trinity Stenhouse, a third-year student on the MSci Physics with Theoretical Physics course. She’s also currently Vice-President (Activities) of the RCSU and is involved in the IC WNBiP committee!

Describe your path into physics, what kickstarted it?

I’ve always been interested in how things work, but I’ve also always had really broad interests. For me, physics was a way to understand how, fundamentally, everything works.

I was also really lucky to have a teacher at my high school who took me under his wing and taught me physics content well above A level. He saw that I was always bored and doodling in lessons so gave me a project to do investigating dynamical theories above the standard model that could explain the Higgs hierarchy problem. I got really invested in it and spent a lot of time researching theories. This helped me recognise my passion for research and establish that I would like to do a PhD one day in particle physics.

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