For this week’s #WomenonWednesdays interview we spoke to Clarisse, a fourth year physics undergraduate student.
Describe your path into physics. What kick started it?
I grew up in the South of France and did my education there under the French system (the French Baccalaureate). I decided to go to the UK for my studies simply because I liked the idea of going abroad. In my area, it’s quite uncommon to do that, so I sort of embarked on this journey knowing very little about how difficult it was to get in, how demanding the course would be, how many opportunities I would have. I didn’t have any ort of international exposure prior to that. It was a big step up throwing myself into university in a country where the language is not my native tongue. And I’m glad I didn’t know, I think I wouldn’t have had the confidence to just throw myself into this if I knew, I’m glad I had the courage to go into the unknown like this. I’m now in my in my 4th year and I would do it all again.
This week we spoke to Amaya, current postgraduate co-president of the Women and Non-Binary in Physics Committee.
Describe your path into physics, what kickstarted it?
I grew up in Torrelavega, which is in a rural part of northern Spain. I was very lucky that my family and environment were always very supportive and encouraged me to explore many different interests. I was enrolled in our local music conservatory while in regular school and considered classical guitar and other creative roles as possible career paths. I was also good at maths and really enjoyed it. When we got to physics in high school, I found in it the same problem-solving and pattern-finding elements that I’d previously enjoyed in my music education. I also liked that I found it challenging — I felt struggling through problems only made the result more satisfying. I went on to do my undergrad degree in Physics with Theoretical Physics here at Imperial, which was a huge jump in difficulty, but I gained a strong foundation and exposure to a lot of different fields. I finally narrowed down my interests to quantum optics and quantum information once I completed my BSc project.
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.
Ginevra Casati, a PhD student in the Plasma Physics group, was able to tell her personal 15-minute story of awe and wonder: “Looking Up to Our Favourite Constellations”. Here are her reflections from the event!
Ginevra Casati telling her story of awe and wonder at the Great Exhibition Road Festival 2023.
As physicists we are trained to communicate our science in a highly specific manner: concise, clear, objective, with little room for personal flair or whimsicality, so when I had the opportunity to learn how to tell a story to a lay audience, I was intrigued, but also a little bit daunted.
Choosing a story to tell was not simple. I was afraid my audience wouldn’t be entertained if I shared something completely autobiographic. I also wanted to leave my comfort zone and step out of the bounds of the research that takes up my working hours. I found that sharing a story about personal growth and passion with an audience of strangers made me feel vulnerable, but also more excited than talking about my results in front of scientists.
I really enjoyed the process of thinking creatively about my story and I was thrilled to have the chance to practice my storytelling skills with people of the caliber of Prof. Claudia de Rham.
On the day, the reality of presenting at the Victoria and Albert Museum had me nervous and intimidated. As I made my way down exhibition road I was overwhelmed by the infectiously fun atmosphere of the festival, everywhere I looked there were curiosities on display, innovative workshops and the whole road was awash with bright colors. In that moment I realized I was part of the festival, and the feeling of belonging to something so huge made my nerves disappear almost completely, replaced with a powerful desire to leave my mark on the festival as best as I could.
Stage fright was kept at bay by my close friends who came to support me.in more than one instance I felt a bit overwhelmed or didn’t remember how to continue the story and looking at their smiling faces gave me the push I needed!
Connecting with the audience during and after the story was special, I really enjoyed discussing parts of my tale with members of the audience and hearing how they interpreted what I said and how it resonated with them.
Overall, it was an exhilarating experience which I am eager to repeat next year!
This year, WNBiP were able to support two fourth year undergraduates to attend the Conference for Undergraduate Women and Non-Binary Physicists (CUWiP) in Liverpool. Here’s what Yuqing Wu and Adèle Julia have to say about their experiences!
Yuqing: One of the highlights of Term 2 in my final year was being able to represent Imperial College at the 2023 Conference for Undergraduate Women and Non-Binary Physicists (CUWiP). This annual conference aims to encourage greater participation of women, non-binary, and under-represented genders in Physics, by connecting them with other talented Physicists. For me, it was an excellent opportunity to meet other Physics students across the UK, and gain insights into academia which I certainly hope to pursue in the future.
One of the first events of the conference, and probably my favourite, was a visit to one of three science sites near Liverpool. In my case, that was a trip to Daresbury Laboratory, an STFC-funded site focusing on particle physics. Among other things, I saw the detailed construction of a room-sized particle accelerator (sudden flashback to my first year project, where I wrote code to model a beamline, but never saw one in person thanks to covid…), and instrumentation for the time projection chamber of the DUNE experiment (in other words: how to construct a gigantic wire frame to help detect neutrinos). It was fantastic to see the knowledge I gained in four years’ worth of classes brought to life!
As a conference, there was naturally a long list of scientific talks in store for all attendees. We heard from many motivational speakers, such as Prof Carla Figueira de Morisson Faria, Prof Laura Harkness-Brennan, Dr Izzy Jayasinghe, and Dr Susha Parameswaran, to name just a few. The talks mainly centred on their research, and journey through the world of academia as a woman. The talk on chiral molecules and Wikipedia editing, delivered by our very own Dr Jess Wade based on her research and activism at Imperial, was definitely one of my favourites! (More recently, I might even have crossed paths with her group’s demonstrations during the Great Exhibition Road Festival.) There were also plenty of opportunities to discuss life as a scientist more informally, such as a Q&A-style session with a panel of early-career scientists, and small-group chats with some lovely PhD students from the University of Liverpool. On a more serious tone, there were several talks or activities focusing on how to promote gender equality in Physics, or STEM more generally – there were so many creative suggestions, and I sincerely hope I can see some of them implemented one day.
The conference is not entirely academic, however, and there were plenty of icebreaking events, such as quizzes and small-group activities. Liverpool is such a historical city, and our conference organisers took care to show us the best Liverpool has to offer during a self-guided city tour, culminating in a formal dinner at the Maritime Museum. Of course, I also grabbed another few precious hours in Liverpool between the end of the conference and my train journey back. Over these four days, I’ve met so many other aspiring Physicists, several of whom – writing over three months later – I’m still in touch with. I’m incredibly glad to have been offered this opportunity to attend CUWiP.
Adèle Julia and Yuqing Wu at CUWiP 2023Jess Wade inspiring future physicists
Adèle: Hi! I’m Adèle and just finished my Physics MSci at Imperial. I was lucky enough to attend CUWIP in March in Liverpool. CUWIP was a three-day conference, packed with talks, panels and activities, and attended by about 120 female and non-binary students from universities in the UK and Ireland. I had a really great time and would strongly encourage you to attend too.
The team that organised CUWIP was absolutely amazing. All the students were very friendly and the atmosphere was quite relaxed. It was really good to meet and hear from female physicists, from PhDs all the way to professors.
During the talks, speakers presented their research and then told us about their careers. It was very touching to hear the speakers being so honest and vulnerable about their experiences. As I embark on post-grad life and plan for my future, recalling what they had to contend with is reassuring to me. It was also great to meet relatable role models. I was able to identify with all the physicists, who are thriving as scientists. I felt empowered after those three days, with many examples of impactful women in academia who have succeeded through their passion and hard work. It definitely made me more motivated and self-confident about doing a PhD and staying in academia.
On one of the conference days, I chose to join the group that toured the Jodrell Bank Observatory and heard a talk by a female post doc in cosmology. I am really interested in doing a PhD in cosmology and this was a fantastic opportunity for me to find out more about research in this field.
The conference ended with a dinner in the Merseyside Maritime Museum at the docks in Liverpool. It was a very special moment where I felt part of a community, a big one, made up of strong, motivated and smart women all united by our love and passion for physics. Our cohort felt like a giant safe space and that’s a feeling I want to hold on to and seek out in my future career. CUWIP is one of my best memories of my time at Imperial.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
undergraduate student.
