Understanding the role of P-N junctions and the use of semiconductors. - Joshi

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Joshi's getting on at the University of Surrey! 

Week one - 

"Over the last week, I have researched the background for my project. This involved looking at the structure of solar cells and how they work, especially by understanding the role of P-N junctions and the use of semiconductors. 

I have researched different types of solar cells and the use of doping to create an electric field at the junction. My project involves the use of the SILVACO Atlas software to model the cross-section of solar cells so for the last few days, I have also been looking at some example codes to understand how the program works." 

Week two -  
"Over the last week, I have looked further into the different parameters in ATLAS as I need to make changes in some existing code to optimize it, so that it gives the same results as experimental data. 

This involved plotting the results from the existing code, figuring out what was wrong with it and trying to find ways to make the results better. 

To get familiar with the program, I also tried to map the structure of the solar cell into the code using sample code. This solar cell model is organic, so I have looked into the basics of how organic solar cells work. "

                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                              - Joshi

I have been looking into semi-conductor physics and fluid dynamics. - Olivia

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Olivia's getting on in her extended work placement! 

Week one - 

"This week has been mainly research. I have been looking into semi-conductor physics and fluid dynamics (surface tension, contact angle, etc.). I'm using this information to try and understand how an inkjet printer works; as next week, I will be operating one to print circuits onto a polymeric material. On Tuesday I met with the company which I'm carrying out the research for - Altro. We discussed the equipment I will be using and some possible issues involved with printing using the conductive inks that I will be working with." 

Week two - 

"This week, I have begun inkjet and screen printing. I printed with some silver nano-particle ink and then thermally cured it. Afterwards I looked at it under an optical microscope - here is one of the images: 


I also used a laser cutter to cut out an electrode pattern from different materials. I am writing up my report, mainly research and some methodology."

Week three - 

"This week, I have been screen printing with Carbon ink on my substrate. I have also carried out adhesion and resistance tests on the prints and sent them off to Altro for stress testing. 

I have almost finished my report. Next week I will be doing some additional prints and testing as well as getting my samples back and investigating the changes in conductivity."

                                                                                                                                                   - Olivia 

I was able to understand how chalk dissolution features are formed and the human factors that augment the features - Binali

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Binali's getting on at CGL! 

Week one -

"My first week at Card Geotechnics Limited has been very enjoyable. I have been able to explore a subject completely different to my A level subjects but relevant to the career I want to pursue which is engineering. 

This week; I was able to understand how chalk dissolution features are formed and the human factors that augment the features by reading research papers provided by my supervisor’s colleague.

 I was able to explore the different types of solutions and the site investigation techniques they use by looking at data from a current project they are working on in Dawes Hill. 

Furthermore, I was able to use the facilities at their library to find relevant textbooks and journals as part as my research. I also watched a documentary that explained all the basics on chalk geology to me and explained the effect of sinkholes.

Next week, I have planned to have a meeting with my supervisor to decide how I will structure my research into a report. I may also be able to go on a site visit and see the impact of the chalk dissolution features in real life."

                                                                                                                                             - Binali

My placement is studying biodiversity! - "Magpies love selfies on wildlife cameras!" - Poppy

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Poppy's getting on in her STEM Placement

Week one - 

"It has been a wild week. Bird surveying on Monday, rained off on Tuesday, pit fall digging on Wednesday, sweep netting on Thursday and identifying moths on Friday. My placement is studying biodiversity in school grounds; this week we were at Lake Farm Park Academy, being surrounded by a park so we were spoilt with very diverse plant and animal life. I can now happily, thanks to many hours spent gazing up at the sky, identify a feral pigeon and a few other birds.  What I have learnt this week is that Magpies love selfies on wildlife cameras!"

Week two -

"Been a busy bee this week.  At Englefield Green whilst pond dipping I managed to catch a creature that looked prehistoric but much to our dismay it was just diving beetle larva. We then visited Strodes which although had a excessive amount of ant hills also had a surprising amount of  other wildlife; we saw dragon flies, lots of butterflies and even got a photo of a rabbit on camera. What I have learnt this week is that perseverance pays off as we finally caught a mouse in a Longworth, we named him Sydney!"

Week three - 
"I’ve had an exciting week. At my college, Esher, the cameras managed to picture several foxes and lots of squirrels who greedily ate most of the cashew nuts.  Two field mice were caught, pictured and released (Terry and Dan). Then we visited Jubilee High School and helped with creating their pond. This involved lots of plastic sheet arranging, dirt going everywhere and hunting for a tap so we could fill it. Impressively we caught 3 mice at JHS (Fred, Andy and Eleanor)! What I have learnt this week is that things don’t goes as planned; none of our cameras got anything at JHS."

Week four - 

"A lovely last week at Eton End, I impressively caught a Rusty Red Click beetle (rarely seen) However, we had been seeing them absolutely everywhere!  After that, we went to ACS - 36 acres of grounds, LOTS of walking and admiring the large variety of butterflies. 

When pond dipping, I caught some goldfish (which had been introduced by the grounds men) so I carefully returned them back into the pond.  At St. George’s, Weybridge - I was very excited to have seen the herd of deer wondering in a forest section.  What I have learnt this week is that the more you know the more you notice!"

                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                  - Poppy

I learnt to derive cubic equations and then used that to solve quadratic equations! – See how Laura is getting on in her STEM placement.

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Laura is getting on in her STEM placement. 

Week one - 

"During the first week, I began working on my research project into algebraic structures. This included deriving the cubic equation, and then using that to solve quadratic equations. I learnt how to use the maths software Maple, which allowed me to solve problems much faster. I also had the opportunity to join the summer school, where we worked in groups to produce research posters about chaos theory and the butterfly effect, and then presented them to the other students. As part of the summer school, I attended a maths lecture about number systems and a seminar about cryptography, both of which were very enjoyable and informative."

-

Week two - 

"In my second week, my research moved on to looking at groups and fields, and proving whether or not certain sets of numbers could be classed as these. This also allowed me to use other forms of numbers such as matrices. I began working on my paper, and through this learnt a form of software called LaTeX, which is used by mathematicians to write up reports, as it is much easier to use notation or write equations using this rather than word processors such as Microsoft Word."

                         

                                                                                   Week three -                                         

"In my third week, I looked into constructing finite fields out of sets which were not numeric, such as matrices and polynomials. This involved using the basic algebraic structures of groups and the idea of group isomorphic. I also looked at groups made from symmetries of polygons, and whether or not they needed to be abelian groups (ones which are commutative). Many hours this week were also spent continuing to write my research paper, and constructing graphs to help explain ideas such as the polar form of complex numbers and roots of unity."

- Laura 

So far - we are at the Audio stage for soldering, Lab Behaviour and Bread Boards - Patrick

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Patrick is getting on! 

Week one - 

I am happy to tell you that I have enjoyed the first week of my placement.

The placement consists of producing instructional videos for tools and devices in the electronics labs.

These are the tools and appliances that we will be making videos for:

Lab behaviour

Log books

Prep

Digital multi meter DMM

Soldering

Debugging

Cathode ray oscilloscope

Breadboards

Ground & Power supply

Op-amps

Student tips

For each of these subjects except Lab behaviour and student tips we do research on the subject and analyse videos explaining the subject.

After that we construct a script for the video, cross check them. Then we film the video and then we record voice overs. After that we edit them.


So far we are at the audio stage for soldering, lab behaviour and Bread Boards. We also have done the filming for the DMM's and we have 2 interviews for student tips, we intend to do more. 

Week two - 

"Abigail and I are making good progress with our video explanations of electronic lab equipment. These videos are designed to teach undergraduates how to properly use the equipment.

                                               This week we filmed the explanations for:

• Digital multi meters,
• Veroboards,
• Log Books,
• Ground and Power supply
• Digital Oscilloscopes. 

All we have left to film is the analogue oscilloscope, the debugging process and operational amplifiers (OP amps). 

Then finally, edit the videos."

                                                                                      Week three - 

"On Monday, we finished filming for the analogue oscilloscope video and I uploaded the audio and video we had done on to the computers in the editing rooms and started looking at the editing software. (Final cut pro V 7.0)

On Tuesday, we planned out and filmed the footage for the Operational amplifier (OP amp) video.

On Wednesday, we finished that off and recorded Abigail and I reading the OP amp script. Later on, I started editing the breadboard video which was very fiddly. 

On Thursday, we continued editing our videos. Abigail has a real nack for editing.

On Friday, we discussed standardised intros and endings for all the videos."

 Week four -

"In my final week, Abigail, Dr Sporea and I finished putting the audio and video together for the instructional videos.

It was pretty frantic towards the end but I really enjoyed doing it and I am quite proud of what I have accomplished.

On Thursday, we presented our work to members of the faculty in a short presentation. The audience varied from marketing to technicians to other placement students. We received very positive feedback on our videos. I really enjoyed this placement. I have developed many skills and experiences from this placement. I can not recommend this enough."

                                                                                                                                             - Patrick 

I think I am leaning towards studying mechanical engineering at university! - Grace

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Grace is getting on in her STEM Placement! 

Week one - 

"It has been a great week and I have already learnt a lot about what a chemical engineer does and the processes which take place in the Oil Refinery industry."

"I have also had the chance to talk to a mechanical engineer about what he does and how he got to where he is now. I found this really useful as I think I am leaning towards studying mechanical engineering at university. "

Week two - 

"I really got to get stuck into my project this week. After doing the simulation work and figuring out how to do an iteration procedure, I have managed to get results for my project already.

I have written up on what I have found out and am going to present the findings on Monday. I have now started helping my supervisor with a similar piece of work which is much more complex.

I have learnt that the work they do, although working independently, is done as one unit as they share ideas as a team and help each other."

Week three - 

"This week, I got to present my findings and she seemed very pleased with the results. She then gave me small tasks to edit/add on to this project which I have been doing this week.

I have been asked to present to a group of people in the office about my work, so have been making a presentation for that as well as a presentation for their client which proposed my task. I've been writing an official report for KBC and have made good progress on my Crest report."

Week four - 

"My final week at KBC involved wrapping up my project so that it was ready to present to the others in the office as well as the client. Although I had finished my task set at the beginning of the placement, I have also been doing another project related but didn’t manage to progress as far with it.

I did my presentation and the response was positive and I was happy to see that they had questions for each other as that means that I actually did work on a project which causes discussion and enquiries."

                                                                                                                                 - Grace 

All expressing some heart defect shown on their ECG, echo-cardiogram or fitness test. - Rhiannon

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Rhiannon is getting on in her STEM placement at St George's University! 

"This is a blog detailing my experiences at St Georges Hospital where I'm doing a four week long research placement on the echo-cardiograms and electrocardiograms of junior elite athletes."

https://rhiannonsidwell.wordpress.com/

I learnt new skills such as soldering! - Abigail

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Abigail is getting on in her STEM placement. 

Week one - 

"I am doing my placement at University of Surrey. I am making 'how to' videos in electronic engineering for next year's undergraduates.

This week I started looking at present YouTube videos on the topics we are making videos for. This includes: digital multi-meters and how to write lab books. I wrote scripts for two of the videos and reviewed over scripts written by my peers. We have filmed for four videos so far (lab safety, how to solder, how to use breadboard and how to use a digital multi-meter) we also recorded the voice over for the first two videos. When recording these videos I learnt new skills such as soldering."

Week two - 

"This week, I was completing all the filming and audio for the 'how to' videos. I started by writing first drafts for the scripts on op-amps, preparation and tool kits before circulating them with my peers for feedback before filming.

 I also spent time researching royalty free music to use in the video introduction. I recorded the audio commentary for the videos on digital multi meters and breadboards before starting a draft for the film on debugging electronic circuits. I finalised a timetable for my remaining time to ensure I complete all videos before the end of the project. Additionally, we finished the filming  and audio for the videos on tool-kits, strip boards, log books, preparation, power supply and oscilloscopes."


Week three - 

"This week, I have started to edit the how to videos. We started off by finishing filming the videos about operational amplifiers and tips on debugging circuits. I spent some time learning how to use the video editing software I will use, final cut pro. 

I edited the first version of three videos which included,  editing the voice over audio, adding in title and credit clips and fading in and out the background music. I sent my videos to my peers and refined them based on their feedback."

Week four -

"Last week was my final week of the placement and I finished editing all the 'how to' videos. I had to create several versions of each individual clip before the final version was ready. First, I edited the audio voice over. Using a programme called audacity, the background noise was ‘cleaned’. This gets rid of the hiss heard in the background. I then used Final Cut Pro 7 to edit out any pauses or mistakes in the commentary.

 Next, I added the appropriate film footage or picture to each section of the script. I cut the clips to the desired length and added captions or text if needed. The final touches could then be added to add professionalism. This included: University of Surrey logo at the start and end, title card, credits, logo watermark in the top right hand corner and royalty free music. Like with the scripts, I sent first drafts of all the videos to my peers who sent constructive feedback I could use to create the final versions."

-Abigail

Biodiversity Research - Work Experience - Thomas

See how Thomas is getting on with his Biodiversity project! He has created his own blog post - check it out!

http://biodiversityblog.yolasite.com/blog.php

Living Amongst The Stars By Dr Elaine Hickmott, Development Director, EH Enterprises

As a proud sponsor of SATRO’s upcoming STEMX Awards, I settled down to write this blog post with warmth in my heart and a smile on my face.

The mission of The STEMX Awards is to celebrate the wealth of STEM skills demonstrated by young people in the south east.  From apprenticeship successes to impactful work experience placements, we have our own constellation of STEM stars right here on our doorstep.  Why wouldn’t you want to celebrate that?!

In reality, and putting my inherent enthusiasm for STEM aside, there are many reasons why The STEMX Awards are important.  But which ones should I choose?  As I pondered for a while and did a bit of research my thoughts began to crystallise thanks to the Royal Academy of Engineering’s report, The UK STEM Education Landscape.

So here, in no particular order, are my top three reasons why The STEMX Awards are so valuable...

Perception:  Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are part of our everyday lives and contribute to prosperous societies and economies.  The skills developed through STEM fuel innovation; they are in demand now and will be in the future; they launch and sustain careers that make a difference to the world.  By celebrating the contribution of young people to this STEM-tastic mix, The Awards help influence public perception, smash stereotypes and encourage engagement at a human level.

Pathways:  The routes taken to achieve career success are different from person to person.  People change disciplines and roles, take on a range of responsibilities as they evolve and explore new experiences.  SATRO’s STEMX Awards demonstrate this perfectly by taking a holistic view of STEM and showcasing a plethora of pathways to dynamic, fulfilling STEM careers.  Real people; real stories; real life.

Progression:  The Awards bring together young people setting off on their STEM adventures and people in STEM-based or STEM-related professions.  All of them are using skills linked to science, technology, engineering and mathematics in a variety of ways to develop rewarding careers.  This sends out a message to communities far and wide; whoever you are, whatever your aspirations, STEM subjects and careers enable progression into an amazing array of opportunities.

Recognising and celebrating our STEM talent, as well as those who support them, is valuable and worthwhile. SATRO’s STEMX Awards give us the chance to highlight their achievements and raise awareness at the same time.  Plus we get to have some fun too of course. 

So as I bring this blog post to a close, the smile on my face is wider and the warmth in my heart is greater.  Yes, it truly is an inspiring place to be; living amongst the stars.

By Dr Elaine Hickmott, Development Director, EH Enterprises