I know, I know... I've been completely useless at writing a blog this year; failing at my New Year's resolution to write on here more. I endeavour to try to find more time to keep this updated. In the meantime, here's a quick catch-up of my life since January:
Undertook my masters project in biophotonics at the University of St Andrews - "A compact violet diode laser system for the optoinjection and transfection of mammalian cells" - under the supervision of Professor Kishan Dholakia.
Spent 10 weeks shut away in a laser lab working on said project. Initially, designing and building the laser system and then aiming it at Chinese hamster ovary cells.
Completed (ish) my project and handed it in (I should try to find a way of uploading it online...).
Moved back home for a bit and went to New York for a holiday with my family (took plenty of photographs of food, of course).
Graduated from The University of St Andrews with a Master in Physics (Honours) First Class.
Traveled for a month with one of my friends from my internship at Fermilab. Visited Mexico City, Guanajuato, Teotihuacan, Cancun, Amsterdam, London and Edinburgh.
Moved to London, where I am currently attending 4 weeks of technical training for my new job as an investment banker.
Long story short: having far too much fun in London (minus trying to start studying for the dreaded JSDA exams) and will be moving to Tokyo in a couple of weeks to start my new life over there. I'm pleased to have a visit from my family to look forward to first, though. Can't wait for afternoon tea in Sketch and bbq ribs from Joe Allans :)
Showing posts with label student. Show all posts
Showing posts with label student. Show all posts
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Minor Planet 23248 Batchelor
So, long story short, I have a near-earth asteroid named after me. It’s pretty much the second-coolest thing I own (apologies, but first place has to go to my new handbag) and makes for a pretty interesting talking point in job interviews. Anyway, I mentioned before that talked about this to my mentor and his colleague. Well it transpires that Alan (the colleague) was so intrigued as to whether or not I would ever be able to see my asteroid, that he went away and looked it up. And then he delved a little deeper and worked out when and where it will be visible from Earth. And then he realised that this corresponded perfectly with a telescope time slot and location that he will be using at the end of the month. So, THEY ARE GOING TO TAKE IMAGES OF MY ASTEROID FOR ME!!! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?!
I still haven’t quite got over how amazing this is! I just thought that I would never actually ever get to see my asteroid (it’s much too dim to see with the naked eye, binoculars or even most small telescopes at night) and now, the people from Fermilab and a professor from some university are going to use up their valuable observing time to takes photos of it for me! If the images are good enough, we should be able to perform photometric analysis on them to determine exactly what my minor planet is composed of. Wow. I am keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that it’s a clear sky at the observatory that night!
I still haven’t quite got over how amazing this is! I just thought that I would never actually ever get to see my asteroid (it’s much too dim to see with the naked eye, binoculars or even most small telescopes at night) and now, the people from Fermilab and a professor from some university are going to use up their valuable observing time to takes photos of it for me! If the images are good enough, we should be able to perform photometric analysis on them to determine exactly what my minor planet is composed of. Wow. I am keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that it’s a clear sky at the observatory that night!
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Science For Careers: Report Published
My group's report went live today! The interactive BIS website has an embedded version which you can read online, although if you have a slow internet connection, this page takes ridiculously long to load. The pdf file of the report can be viewed directly here (1MB pdf file) and the Group Chair Diana Garnham's letter to BIS about the report can be seen here (13.6 KB pdf file).
Just in case you were wondering, my box is on p12 and also in the appendix on p41 (that one is my original version, before Cate added my comment about getting emails...). Check it out!
EDIT: Diana discusses the key points from our report here, as well as mentioning the prospect of a "Hidden Science - Hidden Scientists" event, scheduled for this summer, when scientists can come 'out the closet'. With any luck that event will happen, even with the change of government, as the idea sounded really good in our last meeting.
Just in case you were wondering, my box is on p12 and also in the appendix on p41 (that one is my original version, before Cate added my comment about getting emails...). Check it out!
EDIT: Diana discusses the key points from our report here, as well as mentioning the prospect of a "Hidden Science - Hidden Scientists" event, scheduled for this summer, when scientists can come 'out the closet'. With any luck that event will happen, even with the change of government, as the idea sounded really good in our last meeting.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Where's Holly?
I’ve been getting it in the neck from my family as to why I’ve not been keeping up with this blog and, to be honest, I don’t really know why I never kept up posting after coming back to Scotland. So, lets get back into the swing of things and start writing about what I’ve been getting up to – there’s no time like the present (and I am bored revising for exams…).
Upon returning home from Japan, I had just under two weeks to relax and get over my jet-lag before going back to university for the fourth year of my physics degree. During Freshers’ Week, I popped over to Glasgow one evening for a gathering of all the SaltireFoundation interns. It was really nice to swap stories with everyone.
This year, I signed up for evening classes in Japanese (I’ve just finished the first semester’s worth) as I really hope to go back to Japan one day soon, and having a better grasp of the language would certainly help!
Starting in the final week of September, I have been flying down to London to attend bi-monthly meetings as a member of the Science For Careers Expert Group. We meet to discuss the future of education, careers advice and careers available in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects and then pass our results/findings onto Lord Mandelson for government to act on accordingly. The group (which is chaired by Diana Garnham and funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) wrote a draft report on what we’d been getting up to at the end of December. I’ve got another meeting in a few weeks, so it will be interesting to hear how well it went down…
In November, I almost went to Paris for an Intel ISEF affiliated event but, unfortunately, the week before I was due to go, Intel got fined in excess of £1 billion, which meant they couldn’t afford to send me. Boo hoo. Hopefully I might get to go next year if they aren’t too poor.
I spent most of December filling in ridiculous numbers of application forms and updating my CV to try to bag myself an internship for summer 2010. Currently, I’ve applied for two completely different fields:
1) Particle Physics Research
I thought I’d try my hand at applying to CERN and Fermilab again this year, in the hope that they might say yes if I keep pestering them. On the other hand, if they keep saying no, I’ll take the hint…
2) Finance
I undertook the mammoth task of completing the online application forms for analyst (sales and trading with maybe a bit of structuring thrown in) positions with RBS, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan at their London or New York offices. I’ve got my assessment centre for RBS in London at the end of the month, so wish me luck! After speaking to the careers advisor in St Andrews, I also had my CV passed on to the London office of Promontory Finance, with the aim of working in Risk Management. I heard back from them this morning and, quite amazingly, they have offered me a summer internship! I’ve made plans to go to their office and say ‘hi’ whilst I’m down in London to find out what exactly working with them would entail.
In between all this gallivanting, I have, of course, been studying and trying to end up with a physics degree. I’ve just finished my first semester of fourth year classes (scary stuff, I know…) and am in the middle of revising for my exams that are on Thursday, Saturday and Monday. This semester hasn’t been as enjoyable as previous years’, and I can’t quite put my finger on why… It could be that it was a bit of a come-down getting back to studying after being in Tokyo, or the fact that the labs aren’t as interesting, or that some bits of my modules (non-linear optics & optoelectronics, laser physics, atomic physics) were a bit of a drag, or possibly all of the above. Regardless, I’ll stick it out and see what happens.
And there you have it; a whistle-stop tour of the last 4(ish) months of my life.
Upon returning home from Japan, I had just under two weeks to relax and get over my jet-lag before going back to university for the fourth year of my physics degree. During Freshers’ Week, I popped over to Glasgow one evening for a gathering of all the SaltireFoundation interns. It was really nice to swap stories with everyone.
This year, I signed up for evening classes in Japanese (I’ve just finished the first semester’s worth) as I really hope to go back to Japan one day soon, and having a better grasp of the language would certainly help!
Starting in the final week of September, I have been flying down to London to attend bi-monthly meetings as a member of the Science For Careers Expert Group. We meet to discuss the future of education, careers advice and careers available in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects and then pass our results/findings onto Lord Mandelson for government to act on accordingly. The group (which is chaired by Diana Garnham and funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) wrote a draft report on what we’d been getting up to at the end of December. I’ve got another meeting in a few weeks, so it will be interesting to hear how well it went down…
In November, I almost went to Paris for an Intel ISEF affiliated event but, unfortunately, the week before I was due to go, Intel got fined in excess of £1 billion, which meant they couldn’t afford to send me. Boo hoo. Hopefully I might get to go next year if they aren’t too poor.
I spent most of December filling in ridiculous numbers of application forms and updating my CV to try to bag myself an internship for summer 2010. Currently, I’ve applied for two completely different fields:
1) Particle Physics Research
I thought I’d try my hand at applying to CERN and Fermilab again this year, in the hope that they might say yes if I keep pestering them. On the other hand, if they keep saying no, I’ll take the hint…
2) Finance
I undertook the mammoth task of completing the online application forms for analyst (sales and trading with maybe a bit of structuring thrown in) positions with RBS, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan at their London or New York offices. I’ve got my assessment centre for RBS in London at the end of the month, so wish me luck! After speaking to the careers advisor in St Andrews, I also had my CV passed on to the London office of Promontory Finance, with the aim of working in Risk Management. I heard back from them this morning and, quite amazingly, they have offered me a summer internship! I’ve made plans to go to their office and say ‘hi’ whilst I’m down in London to find out what exactly working with them would entail.
In between all this gallivanting, I have, of course, been studying and trying to end up with a physics degree. I’ve just finished my first semester of fourth year classes (scary stuff, I know…) and am in the middle of revising for my exams that are on Thursday, Saturday and Monday. This semester hasn’t been as enjoyable as previous years’, and I can’t quite put my finger on why… It could be that it was a bit of a come-down getting back to studying after being in Tokyo, or the fact that the labs aren’t as interesting, or that some bits of my modules (non-linear optics & optoelectronics, laser physics, atomic physics) were a bit of a drag, or possibly all of the above. Regardless, I’ll stick it out and see what happens.
And there you have it; a whistle-stop tour of the last 4(ish) months of my life.
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Och Aye
Yesterday was so surreal. Unfortunately, it absolutely poured with rain all morning and afternoon, so we couldn't see the eclipse at all. And because it was only a partial eclipse in Tokyo, it didn't even get any darker than it already was. Sad face...
John Swinney (the Cabinet Secretary for finance and sustainable growth, in the Scottish Parliament) and his entourage tipped up at the office just after 12.00. My line manager, the main boss and myself chatted with them all for a bit and posed for numerous photos infront of RBS logos. They were a really nice bunch! I was mainly answering questions like, "How did you end up working in Tokyo?", and, "How are you enjoying it so far?", so it was a good opportunity to big up the SaltireFoundation - the other, secret aim of my internship. They then went off to lunch and I went back to work.
After work, I headed straight for the British Embassy, which is on the other side of the Imperial Palace Gardens. I actually walked the whole way around the back of the embassy, thinking that it was the park - it is huge and has massive gardens. The site is so big that there are houses inside for the ambassadors. It was really weird walking in as it really is a little Britain in the centre of Tokyo - all the buildings are Georgian, there are roses in the gardens and Land Rovers parked in the driveways. The reception itself was actually held in one of the houses, rather than the main embassy building. John Swinney gave a nice wee speech (he said "alliance" an awful lot though...), as did Stephen Baker (my guarantor) and one of the Japanese heads of Suntory.
It was after the speeches that the networking really kicked-off. I made some brilliant contacts, including one guy from the British Chamber of Commerce, who promised to help me find work if I decided to move to Tokyo in the future! Result. I also realised just how small the world is. One guy I was talking to had sent his daughter to Mary Erskine's (my old school!) while they were living in Edinburgh for a bit. I was later introduced to a girl who had graduated from St Andrews in 2006 (international relations) and then gone on to work in the embassy here. Then, someone dragged over this unsuspecting Japanese man as it turned out that his daughter has just finished her first year of physics at St Andrews - crazy!
It was a lovely evening, full of surprises, and I've now been invited back to the embassy for a barbeque and ceilidh on Saturday. Hopefully this will give me a chance to meet even more people who live in Tokyo and make some more friends - most evenings I feel like a bit of a norman! There acually seem to be more 'Scottish' events here in Tokyo than at home! The St Andrews Society runs bbqs, ceilidhs, Burns suppers, Highland games and other events all year - last year 1500 people turned up for the summer Highland games and 500 went to the Burns supper. I don't think I've ever even been to a Burns supper... The Japanese people who attended probably know a lot more about Rabbie Burns than I do! How strange to encounter all this thousands of miles away from Bonnie Scotland.
John Swinney (the Cabinet Secretary for finance and sustainable growth, in the Scottish Parliament) and his entourage tipped up at the office just after 12.00. My line manager, the main boss and myself chatted with them all for a bit and posed for numerous photos infront of RBS logos. They were a really nice bunch! I was mainly answering questions like, "How did you end up working in Tokyo?", and, "How are you enjoying it so far?", so it was a good opportunity to big up the SaltireFoundation - the other, secret aim of my internship. They then went off to lunch and I went back to work.
After work, I headed straight for the British Embassy, which is on the other side of the Imperial Palace Gardens. I actually walked the whole way around the back of the embassy, thinking that it was the park - it is huge and has massive gardens. The site is so big that there are houses inside for the ambassadors. It was really weird walking in as it really is a little Britain in the centre of Tokyo - all the buildings are Georgian, there are roses in the gardens and Land Rovers parked in the driveways. The reception itself was actually held in one of the houses, rather than the main embassy building. John Swinney gave a nice wee speech (he said "alliance" an awful lot though...), as did Stephen Baker (my guarantor) and one of the Japanese heads of Suntory.
It was after the speeches that the networking really kicked-off. I made some brilliant contacts, including one guy from the British Chamber of Commerce, who promised to help me find work if I decided to move to Tokyo in the future! Result. I also realised just how small the world is. One guy I was talking to had sent his daughter to Mary Erskine's (my old school!) while they were living in Edinburgh for a bit. I was later introduced to a girl who had graduated from St Andrews in 2006 (international relations) and then gone on to work in the embassy here. Then, someone dragged over this unsuspecting Japanese man as it turned out that his daughter has just finished her first year of physics at St Andrews - crazy!
It was a lovely evening, full of surprises, and I've now been invited back to the embassy for a barbeque and ceilidh on Saturday. Hopefully this will give me a chance to meet even more people who live in Tokyo and make some more friends - most evenings I feel like a bit of a norman! There acually seem to be more 'Scottish' events here in Tokyo than at home! The St Andrews Society runs bbqs, ceilidhs, Burns suppers, Highland games and other events all year - last year 1500 people turned up for the summer Highland games and 500 went to the Burns supper. I don't think I've ever even been to a Burns supper... The Japanese people who attended probably know a lot more about Rabbie Burns than I do! How strange to encounter all this thousands of miles away from Bonnie Scotland.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
I break stuff...
I feel kind of bad about this one though. In my most recent lab, I burnt out a diode and blew a fuse. When I put it like that, it doesn't seem so bad as diodes cost about 0.2p and fuses are pretty cheap too. Only thing is, the diode I killed was soldered onto the delicate inside of a cryostat, which is maintained in a vacuum. To repair said dead diode, a new one had to be carefully soldered into place and then the whole kit had to be vacuum pumped for 48 hours. Oh, and the fuse I blew was the digital multimeter's fuse , which isn't that easy to replace either. Oops.
As you can guess, the lab technicians aren't my biggest fans right now... And it was a result of me being reckless and not checking that all the dials were turned to 'zero' before I switched stuff on - I sent 9V through electronics that can only handle about 1V. At least I learnt my lesson. For now.
The weird thing about it though was that I then walked over to the next bench (I now had to share their equipment since mine was out for the next two days) and as soon as I stood there, all their kit started reading 'zero'. When I stayed a safe distance away and they reset it, it was all okay. They were surprised but I wasn't - I have a really bad habit of breaking stuff without even trying! I am on my 4th iPod, have killed my speakers twice and blew up the PSU of our family PC. Even my Dad's phone had a funny turn when I used it the other day. I really hope that my phone lasts - I just bought myself a Blackberry Bold and love it to bits.
Maybe it's a good thing that CERN and Fermilab turned me down - I'd have had to warn them about my reputation. Maybe I should be studying theoretical physics instead of experimental!
As you can guess, the lab technicians aren't my biggest fans right now... And it was a result of me being reckless and not checking that all the dials were turned to 'zero' before I switched stuff on - I sent 9V through electronics that can only handle about 1V. At least I learnt my lesson. For now.
The weird thing about it though was that I then walked over to the next bench (I now had to share their equipment since mine was out for the next two days) and as soon as I stood there, all their kit started reading 'zero'. When I stayed a safe distance away and they reset it, it was all okay. They were surprised but I wasn't - I have a really bad habit of breaking stuff without even trying! I am on my 4th iPod, have killed my speakers twice and blew up the PSU of our family PC. Even my Dad's phone had a funny turn when I used it the other day. I really hope that my phone lasts - I just bought myself a Blackberry Bold and love it to bits.
Maybe it's a good thing that CERN and Fermilab turned me down - I'd have had to warn them about my reputation. Maybe I should be studying theoretical physics instead of experimental!
Monday, 16 March 2009
Physics Camp
Well I had an unusual weekend. I went away with 45 students, 18 lecturers and some researchers to the Burn House, near Edzell. This weekend away is designed for us to give conference-style physics presentations to each other, get to know each other better and (although I don't think they plan for this) watch our lecturers get really drunk with us.
The house was amazing - absolutely huge and sat in the middle of acres of beautiful grounds. Only thing is, it's in the middle of nowhere with no phone reception, no internet or general access to civilisation. I'm not exactly a fan of the country, and the air smelt of poo the whole time we were there.
All the same, I had a really good time, even if I did have to walk 4 miles to Edzell to send a text. The talk sessions were mostly really interesting and I think mine went down quite well. My presentation was on neutrinos - looking at the history of their discovery and the experiments that lead to theories of neutrino mass and oscillations, on the way showing that the Standard Model is not a complete model as it doesn't account for the neutrino's mass. I got asked some really interesting questions at the end too which was good.
The evenings were the best bits - I had such a laugh with my friends but have a serious amount of sleep to catch up on now. I hadn't been looking forward to going to the Burn but yesterday I didn't want to come back and have to go to lectures, as I'd had such a good time. This morning was not fun - could hardly keep my eyes open and started a new lab this afternoon. It's titled 'low temperature experiments' and is crap. I get to use liquid helium (which has a temperature of around -269°C) which I thought would be exciting. I was sorely disappointed. I now have so much lab report to write up which I should probably go and do now.
The house was amazing - absolutely huge and sat in the middle of acres of beautiful grounds. Only thing is, it's in the middle of nowhere with no phone reception, no internet or general access to civilisation. I'm not exactly a fan of the country, and the air smelt of poo the whole time we were there.
All the same, I had a really good time, even if I did have to walk 4 miles to Edzell to send a text. The talk sessions were mostly really interesting and I think mine went down quite well. My presentation was on neutrinos - looking at the history of their discovery and the experiments that lead to theories of neutrino mass and oscillations, on the way showing that the Standard Model is not a complete model as it doesn't account for the neutrino's mass. I got asked some really interesting questions at the end too which was good.
The evenings were the best bits - I had such a laugh with my friends but have a serious amount of sleep to catch up on now. I hadn't been looking forward to going to the Burn but yesterday I didn't want to come back and have to go to lectures, as I'd had such a good time. This morning was not fun - could hardly keep my eyes open and started a new lab this afternoon. It's titled 'low temperature experiments' and is crap. I get to use liquid helium (which has a temperature of around -269°C) which I thought would be exciting. I was sorely disappointed. I now have so much lab report to write up which I should probably go and do now.
Saturday, 7 March 2009
Summer 09
I have now applied for:
An international student placement at Fermilab, Chicago
A summer student placement at CERN, Geneva
A summer placement in Systems Engineering at Selex Galileo, Edinburgh
An internship with RBS Securities, Tokyo (through the Saltire Foundation)
So far, have only heard back from Fermilab who said no, but recommended that I apply again next year. I'm starting to wonder what on Earth I'll end up doing. I do not want to have to work in a restaurant to make some money again...
An international student placement at Fermilab, Chicago
A summer student placement at CERN, Geneva
A summer placement in Systems Engineering at Selex Galileo, Edinburgh
An internship with RBS Securities, Tokyo (through the Saltire Foundation)
So far, have only heard back from Fermilab who said no, but recommended that I apply again next year. I'm starting to wonder what on Earth I'll end up doing. I do not want to have to work in a restaurant to make some money again...
Thursday, 5 March 2009
X-Rays and Neutrinos
Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy studying physics until I take a step back and look at what I do each day.
Today I took an x-ray of a crystal (on dental x-ray film) to work out what it was. From the image of the diffraction of the x-rays, we worked out that it was a big chunk of table salt. My lab partner didn't let me lick it... Although my friend did check out the x-ray diffraction of a malteaser.
I then came home, made soup, ate soup, filled in an internship application and finished my presentation on neutrino oscillations. Well, that's a bit of a lie as I've almost finished the PowerPoint but haven't actually rehearsed it or learnt it. And I have to give it at 2 o'clock tomorrow. I think I'll just wing it and see how it goes - that's what I tend to end up doing anyway.
Today I took an x-ray of a crystal (on dental x-ray film) to work out what it was. From the image of the diffraction of the x-rays, we worked out that it was a big chunk of table salt. My lab partner didn't let me lick it... Although my friend did check out the x-ray diffraction of a malteaser.
I then came home, made soup, ate soup, filled in an internship application and finished my presentation on neutrino oscillations. Well, that's a bit of a lie as I've almost finished the PowerPoint but haven't actually rehearsed it or learnt it. And I have to give it at 2 o'clock tomorrow. I think I'll just wing it and see how it goes - that's what I tend to end up doing anyway.
Monday, 2 March 2009
The Story So Far
Okay, I'm meant to be working so am looking for distractions. I therefore thought it would be a good idea to give a (very brief!) summary of my life so far. I really should have started a blog 2 years ago...
Born in Edinburgh.
Went to school in Edinburgh (I'm a Mary Erskine girl, whether I like it or not).
Wanted to be a fashion designer.
Then wanted to study project design.
Changed my mind again and went with physics.
Did a physics project over the summer holidays at University of Edinburgh (in between fifth and sixth year).
Got paid by Nuffield Foundation to investigate cosmic rays for six weeks.
Exhibited my project at the National CREST Fair (now the Big Bang Fair).
Represented the UK with my project at the Intel ISEF in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Ended up with minor planet named after me and an internship with Agilent Technologies.
Went to Budapest for the day with Intel to discuss "women in science".
Went to last year's CREST Fair to say hi.
Spoke at "Science, Innovation and Enterprise" conference in Glasgow, discussing the future of science education in Scotland.
Part of panel with Lord Drayson and PM at "Building the Britain of the Future" expo in Westminster - again talking about science education and start of "Science: [So What?]" campaign.
Now studying physics at University of St Andrews because Oxford said no (which, in retrospect, I'm very glad about).
Phew.
Born in Edinburgh.
Went to school in Edinburgh (I'm a Mary Erskine girl, whether I like it or not).
Wanted to be a fashion designer.
Then wanted to study project design.
Changed my mind again and went with physics.
Did a physics project over the summer holidays at University of Edinburgh (in between fifth and sixth year).
Got paid by Nuffield Foundation to investigate cosmic rays for six weeks.
Exhibited my project at the National CREST Fair (now the Big Bang Fair).
Represented the UK with my project at the Intel ISEF in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Ended up with minor planet named after me and an internship with Agilent Technologies.
Went to Budapest for the day with Intel to discuss "women in science".
Went to last year's CREST Fair to say hi.
Spoke at "Science, Innovation and Enterprise" conference in Glasgow, discussing the future of science education in Scotland.
Part of panel with Lord Drayson and PM at "Building the Britain of the Future" expo in Westminster - again talking about science education and start of "Science: [So What?]" campaign.
Now studying physics at University of St Andrews because Oxford said no (which, in retrospect, I'm very glad about).
Phew.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
