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Hooray! For it’s International Women in Engineering Day!

Mwana Hussein

MEng Electronic and Information Engineering

So it’s International Women in Engineering Day this Friday!

I’m glad of the existence of such a remarkable day!

For it’s a day that appreciates the women in this field

One that inspires girls to use the mind they wield

Let me introduce you to my best friends

Whom which I would stick with until the world ends

Introducing the craziest women in engineering I know

We are the four girls in EIE and you’re probably like “whoa?!”

Zoë is in a deep-seated relationship with mathematics…

Seriously she’s interested if it’s got anything to do with quadratics except when she’s busy with Acrobatics

Belen is the human embodiment of robotics and totally into electronics.

Her love for memes is in her bloodstream and her taste in music is not mainstream.

Mireya enjoys programming projects because when it comes to  retrospect, she settles for nothing short of perfect. 

Oh, and her love for software directly translates to her footwear!

And me? When I’m not tangled in EIE’s figurative wires I like to write everything that transpires

Four amazing girls in EIE, not in it just for the DEGREE

I hope this post inspires you to ASPIRE and DESIRE

Pushes you to ignite the FIRE

And ensures your dreams don’t EXPIRE

Just because you’re currently a beginner, doesn’t mean you can’t be a Nobel prize winner, or an engineer at the frontier.

International Women in Engineering day reminds us of all the amazing women out there!

I say, let’s keep going and ensure our generation of women leave our signature in the world of science, with each other for their guidance.

We are empowered and supported more than ever before. To any and every girl out there who’s geeky, artistic, nerdy, creative, innovative or just being yourself…

This is the century to act on your capabilities and achieve! So don’t be deceived, go out there and believe.

75% of the EIE2 girls 🙂

Happy International Women in Engineering day!

 

 

 

After the attacks…

Mathematics of Planet Earth

We were celebrating my friend’s birthday in a pub, when someone mentioned that “something happened on London Bridge”. Soon I got a message from my mum, who wanted to make sure I was fine. Not much later the news were getting more and more upsetting. A van? A stabbing? How many victims?!

When we were going back home, some random people approached us on the train station to check if we were aware what happened  (because we were actually heading in Vauxhall/Borough Market direction). I think only then I realised how serious it was. I felt safe-ish only when I finally made it to my room…

Many of you might have had similar experiences last night. Also, if you’re pretty new to living in a big city, it could have been the first time you had to deal with such news (or second, if you happened to be around during the Westminster attack). The big question is: what now?

First things first, make sure your relatives know you’re fine. Yes, it’s very unlikely to be a victim of a terrorist attack, but emotions play a role too. I’m a statistician, so I actually checked the numbers. According to Ashley Kirk from The Telegraph, in the UK the risk of being killed by terrorists is relatively low; you’re much more likely to die in a car accident. Having said that, I still contacted my friends (or used the Facebook “safe check”, which is a surprisingly good idea), just in case.

A few friends suggested that I should stay home today, or even move back to Poland. I know that they care about me and I really appreciate it, but it’s definitely not the solution. This is exactly what the terrorists want. They want us to surrender, to resign from our normal activities, hide at home. I was pleased to see that Londoners did the opposite. Cafes and restaurants are full, people are enjoying the sun, just the way it should be. Yes, I felt a bit uneasy crossing the bridge. Yes, I took a closer look at all the big vans passing by. However, I realised how irrational my fear was and carried on.

Of course I’m not encouraging you to be careless. Pay attention to your surroundings, report anything unusual or worrying. Better safe than sorry, really! In the worst case scenario (very unlikely, but let’s be prepared) of a terrorist attack, follow the instructions issued by the Metropolitan Police: “run, hide, tell” (get out of the area if possible; hide and silence your phone if not; and call 999 if safe to do so).

Remember that your mental health is important too! If you feel overwhelmed by what happened, make sure you talk to somebody – a friend, a family member, or maybe a professional (Imperial College offers the Student Counselling Service, free of charge). I think everyone feels sad, scared or angry today – and that’s ok.

If you’re a Muslim, you might need to prepare for some painful comments. For some weird reason one can still find people who believe that your religion is the source of terrorism – AND THAT’S NOT ACCEPTABLE. My advice would be to completely ignore them, because these attacks have nothing to do with you and any suggestions that “we should get rid of immigrants” shouldn’t be tolerated.

Last but not least, make sure that these people didn’t die in vain. Last night’s events helped me put things into perspective and reminded me what really matters. Terrorists use fear and hatred; we can fight against them with love and friendship. So find a hippie in yourself and enjoy your life – because every day is a miracle.

Endangered earthworms

Victoria Burton profile

Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet Doctoral Training Programme (PhD)

Today is Endangered Species Day, which aims to make people aware about endangered species, why they are threatened and how they can be helped. An endangered species is one where its population is especially low, when the last have gone it is classed as extinct. Around the internet today there will be lots of articles on familiar endangered animals such as elephants, rhinos and tigers, but lots of smaller animals, including some earthworms, are also endangered – so I wrote a blog on these neglected animals.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assesses species to see how at risk they are of extinction on its Red List. Nearly all mammal and bird species have been assessed by the IUCN but much less is known about how invertebrate species are doing, with only 7 earthworm species assessed out of around 7000 species worldwide. Of these species, one, the Lake Pedder Earthworm (Hypolimnus pedderensis) is thought be extinct – it used to live by Lake Pedder in Tasmania but has not been seen since the site was flooded for a hydroelectric power station. Two others, the Giant Gippsland Earthworm (Megascolides australis) and Oregon Giant Earthworm (Driloleirus macelfreshi) are considered to be endangered. The Giant Gippsland Earthworm is one of the largest species of earthworm in the world, growing up to 3m long. It lives in only a small area of Australia and has much slower reproduction and smaller populations than UK earthworms making it vulnerable to land clearances to graze livestock. The Oregon Giant Earthworm lives in woodlands in Oregon, USA, and is also a large species, growing to 1m in length, and is threatened by habitat loss to agriculture and housing.

Giant Palouse Earthworm Driloleirus americanus Credit: Chris Baugher CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Giant Palouse Earthworm Driloleirus americanus Credit: Chris Baugher CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Giant Palouse Earthworm (Driloleirus americanus) is considered vulnerable – not quite endangered but showing worrying population declines. It was thought to have become extinct in the 1980s but has since been rediscovered, although its population continues to decline due its grassland habitat in Washington and Idaho, USA, being converted to cropland and housing. Three other species of earthworm are either considered at lower risk, or not enough data is available on them to make an assessment.

Are there any endangered earthworm species in the UK? Most species are common, although they may live in specialised habitats (e.g. wetlands) but there are a couple of species which have only been seen a few times in the UK. Unfortunately we do not have enough information to decide if this is because they are endangered, were introduced accidentally and then died out, or live in places that have not been studied much. We do know that overall earthworm numbers are declining in some areas, such as highly intensive farmland but in other habitats such as pasture and gardens there can be high numbers. My citizen science project Earthworm Watch has found densities of 750 earthworms per square meter, which means the average UK garden could have over 15,000 earthworms!

When Imperial Students baked up a British Tea Party for astronauts!

MBBS Medicine

Twitter: @malamawks | Instagram: @malamawkin

I have now come to the end of my 10 week medical research placement in the European Astronaut Centre, Cologne. I have had such a fantastic experience there, and can’t thank Imperial and the European Space Agency enough!

Did you know that there are 3 English interns at the European Astronaut Centre out of the 20 or so interns here. And did you know that all 3 of us are from Imperial!?!?! How cool is that!

SO, we have had a tradition at the EAC that interns and staff from each country cook a meal for everyone to share a bit of their culture- over my time I had a Belgium dinner, French, German, Swedish, Spanish…and it was our turn. The Imperial interns represented and we cooked up a good old English Tea Party with the help of our British staff! (It was nicknamed by the others “Brexit” tea party, as we were trying to prove we really do love Europe…but it was also my leaving party and I was leaving Germany…!)

Other than brewing tea, I also had the chance to present my research to the European Astronaut Centre. It was such an awesome experience to be able to present to a room full of really enthusiastic people- even though it was only undergraduate research everyone showed a keen interest in making sure I got the most out of my time. The collaboration here between the European Space Agency and  Imperial was just incredible, giving me the opportunity to develop my research skills in a really driven environment.

Thank you everyone that was involved in my placement- missing it already! Back to London now, and time to finish off my write-up before 4th year ends at the end of this month. Wow, it really has gone fast!

Astronaut and Head of the European Astronaut Centre (Frank De Winne) at the tea party- holding up an Imperial Logo with us Imperial interns!
The 3 Imperial Interns!
My presentation!
My Presentation!
Tea Party in action- so many scones!
Preparing Cheddar Cheese sandwiches (and cucumber ones too!)

 

To PhD or not to PhD

Mathematics of Planet Earth

You have your undergraduate degree, you’re about to finish your masters and you aren’t sure what to do next. Get a proper job or maybe become an eternal student and apply for a PhD? I opted for the latter and so far I don’t regret (ok, I do regret sometimes, but more about it later).

Doing a PhD is something between studying and working, which surprised me. I expected a similar experience to my previous degrees. I thought I would still study, just the subjects might get harder and more detailed. I was so wrong!

If you want to pursue a PhD in order to explore your area, then I’d discourage you from this decision. Nobody will tell you what to study, nobody will hold your hand and point you to appropriate sources. You’ll have to choose one VERY SPECIFIC area and spend a few years focusing on this topic. Matt Might illustrated it very well – while previous education allows you to explore human knowledge, in grad school you’ll create this knowledge.

Does it mean that during PhD you won’t learn anything new? Of course you will! But you’ll have to be very selective about what you learn, when, as well as how it is related to your thesis. No more time for reading whole textbooks and working through hundreds of problems. Unfortunately learning a new theorem won’t give you a PhD; using it in an innovative way might.

Grad school also means very few deadlines. Sounds good? For me it was a nightmare, especially in the beginning. Deadlines used to motivate my perfectionistic self to stop procrastinating and, on the other hand, to turn in a “good enough” assignment. Now I could spend weeks or months on one tiny detail, because my first milestone is sooo faaaar away. I had to learn to set deadlines for myself, otherwise I wouldn’t get anything done. Not only because there are so many more exciting things out there than proving this nasty equation (such as writing a blog post, cat videos or even cleaning my room), but also because it is so hard to accept that my solution won’t be perfect and at some point I just have to move on to another task.

Research isn’t linear and many students seem to fall behind for years, just to produce excellent results only a few months before their viva. It’s really easy to forget about it when you’re stuck. Some say that PhD stands for “Pray hard Daily” and I fully agree (sometimes I reach such stage of “stuckness” that I become almost religious and pray to a rubber duck or a holy teddy bear).

Should you do a PhD then? I don’t know. And you don’t have to know either. My reasoning was that it’s better to regret something you’ve done that something you haven’t. PhD isn’t for everyone but you won’t know if it’s for you if you don’t try.

I can just say that even when I absolutely HATE it for long days when nothing seems to be going well, this moment of solving a problem that nobody has solved before is worth it.

First Year Reassurance

Emily Thomas profile

BSc Biological Sciences

First year is great and you’re going to have loads of fun but, if you’re anything like me, and you’re starting first year you’re going to be scouring these blogs for advice and reassurance! I’ll try!

Social

You will make friends. They might be you’re hallmates, coursemates, in the club you joined, met them at a club (most likely on the way back) or you decided to crash their table one night (yes, don’t judge me, it worked!). Wherever. You will make friends and you’ll probably find it a lot easier than in school, you’ll always have science in common!

Make it easier on yourself though! If someone invites you to something, go! (Unless you think they’re a psycho – use your judgement…). Trust me, you have time in first year! Go to your hall events, no one knows anyone anyway, they’ll never know if you came alone. Talk to people on the tube (if they go here, but you can talk to other people too 😉 ). Sit next to people in lectures, don’t be the person who leaves the space. This all sounds really obvious but sometimes you just need someone to remind you. Everyone’s in the same boat! Also try and make friends outside your course, it’ll be a life saver next year when your course is hectic and you have less time to socialise!

Academic

Henry’s done great posts on this! You should check out his stuff for revision and how to take notes. If I’m going to say anything it’ll be don’t worry. You probably got straight A/A*s and were at the top of your year in school and I know I got to first term and panicked. I wasn’t on top of notes and people could think of questions to ask in lectures, whilst I was trying to understand their question! It was also the first time I hadn’t felt on top of everything for exams. It’ll work out okay when exams come around. Just make sure you keep up to date with writing up your lectures, think of extra reading as helping you understand and email lecturers with questions, it doesn’t have to be immediately after the lecture either.

Careers

I know leaving university seems far away but make sure you start thinking about what you want to do. Go to the careers service for help with your CV and think about a UROP, even if you are only first year. If you’re applying to a Year in Industry/Research an internship will be invaluable!

Societies

Please join one! Even if you stop going after first term at least you’ll know what they are J. It doesn’t have to be sport either! Look around Freshers Fair, get a whole load of leaflets, join loads of mailing lists, spend the next 9 months unsubscribing and develop that passion to be a magician or knit a hat or play lacrosse. You’ll meet loads of people along the way. Ethos also has a swimming pool which you don’t have to pay the gym membership for, just so you know.

Leaving Halls :,)

Emily Thomas profile

BSc Biological Sciences

So it’s about that time of year where you realise if you want to stay at Imperial next year (and you do!) you actually need somewhere to live!

Where to start?!

Okay so here are the top things you should think about

1) Know your budget

This is the key thing to do before you start and will determine which areas you should look in. Remember you’ll now have to think about wifi, gas, electricity, water and transport, if you’re tubing/busing as well.

2) Think about location

So your budget might help you here! Obviously closer to college will be more expensive but don’t rule out nearer just because of that, you might save on tube/bus fares. Acton might actually be quicker than somewhere in Hammersmith because of the tube. Most people tend to live in Fulham, Hammersmith, Earls Court or Acton.

3) Consider being a Hall senior or Evelyn Gardens

If all that sounds too much, it might be worth considering. If you can face halls again and like organising events being a hall senior might be perfect for you. On the other hand, Evelyn Gardens is halls just for upper years and I’m quite envious walking past it every morning that it’s only 20 minutes away!

4) Find some friends

Okay so you’re sticking with it! My advice here would not to get carried away 🙂 It’s so much easier finding a house for 3 or 4 people and there will always be people wanting to join you if you find that dream 7 bed house

5) I don’t have friends…

Seriously don’t worry! There’s a “find a housemate event” later in term and come July there will be posts in all the group chats you’re in looking for that 5th person. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look there are only so many 5th people!

6) We’ve found a house!

Okay so you’ve set up all your alerts on all the property websites, most have a student section, and you’ve been checking ImperialHomeSolutions. You’ve spoken to estate agents and arranged viewings and you’ve asked them to keep you updated if anything else comes up.

(At one stage I had a call a day – best buds 😉 )

You’ve probably been around 5-10 houses now, and each time one of them had a tiny room no-one wanted, or it was miles from the nearest tube station with no shop (seriously 1 minute from Tescos and 30 minutes from college is the best thing!). And then just as it’s getting to the end of term and one of you is flying home … you find somewhere!

(Disclaimer: it may not go exactly like this… just personal experience!)

 

What now?!

  • Be quick but be careful

Yes, houses go fast and you’ve probably missed out on one by now because someone beat you to it but don’t rush into anything. Make sure you’re all happy and ask for a copy of the contract straight away. Remember you’ll need stuff like passports, guarantors (your parents usually, check with the student hub if you’re international) and enough for a deposit.

  • Go to the student hub

These people are the dream, they are lifesavers! Especially Pat!! Ask them nicely to read through your contract – they’ll help ensure you go with a real estate agent, that your deposit is safe and that you don’t sign anything without understanding. Seriously go to them!!

Done all this?

Congrats! Enjoy a stress-free Summer!

on the flipside.

Andrew Wang profile

MSci Immunology

Being able to pursue higher education in London has always been one of my objectives on my ever-growing to-do list and quite frankly, I believe the same for many of you guys reading this too who are considering to undertake a degree in London!

It’s very true when they say living in London is costly. But that’s not the point of this post and in fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s going to incur some unexpected expenditures, and for me, that is *cues drum rolls*…..

FOOD!

Yes, you heard me right. Food glorious food! I mean, do I even need to introduce this to anyone at all? Everyone on this planet probably has their own opinion on their favourite cuisine and for a selected few (including self-proclaimed self!), I have always been a harsh critic on the foods I eat. I have never been exactly a picky eater (not really!), but having been brought up in Singapore and have travelled extensively to many asian countries for the whole of my life, can you not see the point? (If you’re not convinced, google Singaporean cuisine!)

London is known to be home to an amazing selection of cuisines given the metropolitan nature of this big city, and it is often simple to give in to the perennial temptations whenever you take a stroll/watch a movie/shopping blah blah (the list goes on indefinitely!)

So the past week has seen me patronise Yoshino, a cosy little Japanese restaurant just three minutes away from Piccadilly Circus Station. Having had an unprecedented outburst of cravings for Japanese food, I was recommended to dine at Yoshino, who is known to specialise in traditional Japanese cuisine with a modern touch.

Long story short aka “I will let the pictures do the talking”.

 

Image 1: Unagi Sushi! 

This was my favourite of the lot during the dinner, just cause the unagi had such an indescribable melt-in-your-mouth texture with a subtle hint of teriyaki sauce that lingers after the mouthful! P.S Just look at that translucent clarity of the sushi rice <3

Image 2: Salmon Nigiri 

I am quite a fan of raw sashimi, and that on top of sushi rice, just represent pure bliss altogether! The chefs at Yoshino has really nailed this classic offering and I must say that this along with the Unagi sushi will definitely draw me back! 

Image 3: Lemon cheesecake with sprinkled organic matcha powder 

I don’t usually have a sweet tooth after meals but as recommended by the lovely folks at Yoshino, it would be silly for me not to try it at least. and boy, am I glad that I did! The sour but not overpowering citrus zest had well complimented the mildly sweet matcha powder perfectly, whilst allowing the true nature of the cheesecake shine through in all its glory. 

Overall, it was an extremely pleasant evening at Yoshino amidst the fine foods alongside the impeccable service offered by the staff at Yoshino and I will be sure to be back soon to try out more of their food items! 

and as aptly said by Dwayne Johnson: “Treat yourself, not cheat yourself”. 

So while living in London may not be dirt-cheap, let’s not forget to live it up and pamper yourself occasionally in motivating yourself to get through the work weeks! 

FYI: Yoshino is located at 3 Piccadilly Place, Mayfair, London, W1J 0DB and they are closed on Sundays!

Ohh by the way I live in London…

Dora profile

MEng Chemical Engineering

When you are a student at one of the best universities in the world (a.k.a. Imperial) you tend to study. A lot. Basically all the time. You accidentally put down Central Library as your home address and drink more coffee than water… (Seriously, my exams are sponsored by caffeine…).

And while you know all the different types of heat exchangers and the derivation of the Navier-Stokes equations, you might forget an interesting fact: that you happen to live in London. The best city in the world. The home of super-amazing-fantastic cultural experiences (theatre, cinema), culinary experiences (restaurants, pubs) and shopping experiences (Westfield, high streets).

At the end of last year (after basically doing absolutely zero “cultural stuff” all year) I promised myself that this year would be different. I wanted to go to places and do “Londoner” things like eating a burger or watching a play on West End. Yeah, well, I had some burgers (mainly from the King type…).

But last week, I finally managed to watch a play. And it was of the classic student-budget-friendly type: free 😀 The story is, that I started following this theatre on Facebook a while ago for some reason but I kind of forgot about it. But then one day I woke up, checked my feed, and suddenly this post appeared: Are you under 25? Book your free ticket now!

And you, dear reader, might say: ok, but like this is probably some dodgy theatre’s dodgy play to which they couldn’t sell all tickets. Well… This is London… Best city, remember?

So this is how I attended Hamlet in the Almeida Theatre for free. Title role played by [drumrolllllll] Andrew Scott! (Let me help: Moriarty from Sherlock :D) It was *supermegahiperamazinglyfantasticlyawesome* 😀

Hamlet. Wow.

And today I was scrolling through my feed again. Saw a post from a Hungarian website talking about a play here in London. It looked a bit odd, as they were describing the play to the Hungarian readers, who *obviously* cannot watch it live, as it is in London. But then I remembered: Ohh by the way I live in London…

So I went on the theatre’s website, checked some dates, found some empty seats for £10, booked a ticket, and tomorrow I am going to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead in the Old Vic. One of the title role played by [drumrolllll] Daniel Radcliffe! (Let me help: Harry Potter from Harry Potter :D).

So yeah. I love London. I love living here. I love everything about it.

Pro tip: never forget that you live in London even if you actually live in the Central Library! Just look up from Perry’s Chemical Engineering Bible and look outside: that’s LONDON out there waiting for YOU! <3

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