James Nicholls - Summer STEM Work Placament Student - Weekly Reports

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 James is getting on with his STEM placement! 

Week One 

"The first week of my placement has been an interesting one, to say the least. In such a short space of time, I've learnt about relay attacks, a concept that was entirely unknown to me before, and researched how those in academia have dealt with these attacks to prevent fraudelent activity. I have also been given a brief tour of the University of Surrey Campus and been introduced to some of the other members of the research team there. I look forward to learning more and getting a chance to try some contactless cards next week."

Week Two 

"As promised last week, I got the opportunity to experiment with some contactless cards and readers. With the hardware and software I was given, I learnt how to write data onto cards and read the data that was stored on the cards during the manufacture process. Once I had discovered all the functions I could complete using the software, I wrote up my findings and reported back to my supervisor. Alongside this, I was given a paper which outlined the differences between two RFID tag technology and the technology in contactless cards. This helped to inspire some ideas for my solutions as both standards could be used simultaneously. Next week, I hope to improve on my current ideas." 

Week Three

"This week has been more problematic than the rest. I was given another card reader to try out but it took us the best part of 3 days to finally get it working! Fortunately, the time spent getting it to work didn't impact my research too significantly and I was able to finalise the ideas that I had started last week. After discussing them with my supervisor, we came to the conclusion that the final idea I proposed seemed the most likely to work. While the others could work, they required more equipment and seemed unreasonable to implement. During my final week, I will begin to write up my final report and make some changes to my solutions if necessary." 

Week Four 

"This last week has been a fairly relaxed one. Since I've completed most of my research and experimentation, all that was left to do was finalise my report drafts and implement some changes based on feedback from my supervisor. Luckily for me, I could do that from home so I didn't have to deal with a tedious train journey for a few days. On my final day, I met with my supervisor to review the final draft and gave her a box of cookies to show my thanks for the amazing opportunity she had given me. I have had so much fun completing this project and would wholeheartedly recommend it to any student interested in computer science." 

- James Nicholls

Melanie Rodrigues - SATRO Summer STEM Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

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 Melanie is getting on with her STEM placement at St George's University! 

 https://melanierodriguessatroworkplacementsummer2017.wordpress.com/

Vinay Mittal - Summer STEM Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

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 Vinay is getting on with his STEM placement! 

Week One

"I had started my first week of the CREST Gold placement at the Advanced Technology Institute, at Surrey University. I was working on a smart floor project. During the first week, I had many formalities to complete such as making an ID card and getting to know the surrounding places and my colleagues.  I then got myself familiar with the current prototype for the smart floor and the Arduino; this also included having a read of the scientific paper that explained how it worked.  The week also consisted of many discussions with my supervisor on how the system works and our plans for the duration of the placement."

- Vinay Mittal

Karen Gao - Summer STEM Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

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 Karen is getting on with her STEM placement! 

Week One

"I have gotten to know all of the doctors and visited the clinic a lot. I've sat through a lot of consultations in this cardiac speciality hospital and even watched an ajmamine test being performed on a person that turned out positively checked for Brugada syndrome. Between these clinics, I spent my time learning a lot about all the different cardiac conditions that someone can have and the symptoms and how to diagnose them. I have taken a lot of time trying to read some scientific papers, and admittedly had to Google a lot or ask doctors. I've also helped my supervisor with some of her databasing, so I learnt how to use the NHS system. Basically, I learnt how unglamorous research can sometimes be, but it was still a good experience!" 

Week Two

"I have started my project by creating a questionnaire and sitting in clinic and asking patients to fill it in. By doing this, I have met some very interesting people. However, I've also met some very unhappy people and I've had to learn how to deal with that! I've also started writing up my report and by the end of the week, I have pretty much finished my methodology. I have finally finished reading all of the scientific papers that were given to me! Sometimes, the clinic is very slow and I don't have much to do but sometimes it's so hectic (especially in morning clinics). I find that part really exciting! Also, I've been talked through an electro cardiogram by this friendly pediatrician and I can finally understand when the ECGs are wrong which is also really great because for the first week they looked like funny squiggles." 

Week Three

"On Monday, one of the echo technicians taught me how to read an echo. He patiently went through what a normal heart looks like and what a heart with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy looked like. Then, I met a patient and he carefully went through all the angles we can see a heart but on a real life patient. This was super interesting and taught me a lot about the heart muscles and veins that I didn't quite understand previously in school! I've spent the last two weeks with doctors that always checked echos and I've always been confused but now everything makes so much more sense and even the complicated words are finally understandable! I think this is really great and I can't wait to actually see more patient echos now and actually be able to read them." 

 - Karen Gao

Sofia Mashanovich - Summer STEM Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

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 Sofia is getting on with her STEM placement! 

Week One 

"The first week of my placement has flown by, mainly consisting of gathering the necessary information needed in order to understand the field of nutrition that I am spending the next few weeks researching - Vitamin D. 

After reading numerous new research papers, I have been intrigued by the discovery that Vitamin D3 is twice as effective in raising Vitamin D levels in the body, compared to D2. This is important since a recent study has concluded that the majority of the teenage population in the UK is Vitamin D deficient.  I look forward to delving deeper into the Science behind these conclusions in the next week of my placement." 

- Sofia Mashanovich

Daniel Owen - Summer STEM Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

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 Daniel is getting on with his STEM placement! 

Week One

"My first week at KBC Applied Technology; I spent nearly all of the first three days learning how to use Petro-Sim, a simulation software developed by KBC themselves to model and stimulate oil refineries. The next two days were a mixture of general office tasks such as converting PDFs of refinery data to excel documents and learning to more practically use Petro-Sim for real world application.

Everyone here is friendly and professional. The office is well equipped and I've drank more tea in five days than in my whole life thanks to the boiling water tap. Surprisingly, I haven't made any hot drinks for anyone else, I keep offering but no one accepts, maybe I'm doing work experience wrong?" 

Week Two

"I spent a lot more time this week working on my project. Modelling an oil stabilisation plant and then finding out and recording the effects on energy consumption of the whole plant when I change the target levels of sulphur allowed in the final feed. This was my first time having to use Petro Sim and the spreadsheets built within it, without the specific guidance of a training document, and it's been a challenge that requires a lot of thought and problem solving. Much like coding sometimes the simulation just won't run and thus has resulted in a fair bit of hair pulling and trying to figure out where I went wrong. Overall though, it's been another interesting week and I've enjoyed working in a professional environment." 

- Daniel Owen

Oren Hargreaves - Summer STEM Work Placement - Weekly Reports

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 Oren is getting on with his STEM placement! 

Week One

"The first week at the University was largely spent researching my project and the different avenues it could go down. My open brief of "Arduino Open Day Project" left plenty of for exploration and expansion. Eventually, I settled on the idea that I would make a gesture controlled interactive game. After fighting with some software that utilised machine learning I decided that it would be easier to use my own software to recognise the data from the accelreometer sensor. Towards the end of the week, I ordered the parts that I would need for the project and began 3D modelling of the robot." 

Week Two

"At the end of the second week, I am very happy with the progress I have made. I managed to get the wireless transmitter and receiver working, allowing communication between the controller and the robot. I also developed the idea of the project deciding to attempt to emulate the popular tank trouble game. This involves attaching a laser and light sensors to each robot. I have had particular fun using tools and machines that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to use such as the 3D printer and laser cutter to quickly manufacture prototypes." 

Week Three

"At the end of the second week, the first prototype is almost ready. both the controller and tank are communicating well and allow for movement. The hurdles over come this week were having to buy new motors and hence redesign the motor housing. This resulted in the motors having enough torque to move the tank. Furthermore I had redesigned the electronics, making circuit schematics and transferring them onto Vero board."

Week Four

"The fourth week ended with a few frustrating days where the electronics were playing up, working very intermittently. Finally I found the resulting problem, the batteries had run a little flat. After further inspection the reason for this I believe is because I used 9V batteries which have very low current. This meant that the motors would often draw all of the current, causing the Arduino to loose power and turn off. Fixing this required a second battery and ordering of better suited batteries for the future. 

By the end of the week however the two sets of controller and tanks were working well and allowed for an emulation of the online game ‘tank trouble’ as planned."

- Oren Hargreaves

Lauren Stumpf - Summer STEM Work Placement - Weekly Reports

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 Lauren is getting on with her STEM placement! 

Week One

"During my first week, I have been introduced to Arduino having never programmed before. I have familiarised myself with microcontrollers, microprocessors and C++. I have developed code and a circuit that enabled me to measure the light intensity using an LDR. I have very much enjoyed learning about my project."

Week Two

"During week two, I have extensively researched how to send data between the Arduino and a phone via Bluetooth. I then looked specifically at how to send sensor data via Bluetooth from the Arduino to a phone. I constructed the code needed to do so; however, the Bluetooth module I had didn't have the RX pin needed therefore, I ordered a new module which should be coming next week. Whilst I waited for that to arrive, I measured resistance of eight LDR connected in parallel and figured out a way to block out all light from LDR." 

Week Three

"At the beginning of the week, I took multiple measurements of three different types of photo-diodes connected series. I measured the current of different combinations of exposed and covered photo-diodes in order to determine the on off ratio. I then prepared my poster and a presentation in order to present my project so far to a group of academics. I enjoyed the experience and found watching everyone else's presentation interesting as well." 

-Lauren Stumpf

Max Bateson - Summer STEM Work Placement - Weekly Reports

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 Max is getting on with his STEM placement! 

Week One

"My first week has gone well so far. For my project, I am running computer simulations on transistors. On my first day, I was just getting to understand how it works by playing around with different parts to see how it changed different features of the structure of the transistor. 

I was then given the task of trying to alter the structure so that each part was a certain size. After that, I started to plan a new structure that was given to me (A source-gated transistor) and then I created that on the simulation software (DeckBuild). I also had an undergraduate who was helping me by explaining how a transistor works as well as other things I needed to know." 

Week Two

"For my second week I had to add in a variable to my simulation code (called xvar), which when given different values would alter the alignment of the dual gates in the dual floating gate source-gated transistor. I then ran a batch for different values of xvar between -1 and 1 micron. However, due to a problem with the simulation, which meant the gates didn’t appear during the simulation, I had to put in each value of xvar and run each of them manually. This meant it took a lot longer to run all of them then it should have."

Week Three

"During my third week, I found a problem with the structure of the transistor that meant their was a gap created in the channel due to the lack of a potential field between the two gates so I created a new structure with field plates on the gates. Then, I ran the same simulations on the new structures as I did on the original, but with more values of the gate voltages. I also started to write my report, while the simulations were running."

Week Four  

"In my last week, I finished the simulations from last week. I also created a poster of what I have done and my results and conclusions, which I then presented to a few PhD students and a couple of people who worked at Surrey University (which is where I am doing my project), explaining what I did and what I found out, which was followed by me answering any questions they had. I then continues to write my report."

- Max Bateson

Iona Anderson - Summer STEM Work Placement - Weekly Reports

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 Iona is getting on with her STEM placement! 

Week One 

"The first part of the week was spent mainly getting to grips with the project by doing some preliminary research into transistors and amplifiers. Initially I used lecture notes for this and then went on to supplement what I had learnt with information from the internet. I also had the chance to experience some lab work this week and modelled a simple amplifier circuit on a breadboard in order to test its output voltage and current. 

The second half of the week I spent simulating various circuits on Multisim in order to find out various things, for example what the cut-off frequency for the circuit I built was."

Week Two

"This week was spent mainly preparing to make my final circuit. I did some further testing on the breadboard circuit and also connected it to a guitar and speaker to see if the circuit would still run as normal and if it would show what we wanted it to. After making some adjustments and choosing the final values for components I began to design the circuit board and box, for the circuit to go in, on paper. 

I finished the week by drawing up a cutting plan for the box on Corel draw and developed my circuit design so that it would reduce the noise within the circuit."

Week Three

"This week was mainly spent making the final amplifier and box. I soldered the final circuit to some Vero board and then tested the circuit to see if everything was working as it should. Some faults were found and I had to do some debugging and corrections. After I knew the circuit was operating correctly; I concentrated on making the box, initially a prototype was made and after correcting some minor issues with the orientation of some faces, the final box was cut using the laser cutter. On Thursday, I had the chance to present my work." 

- Iona Anderson 

Flair Cullup - Summer STEM Work Placement - Weekly Reports

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 Flair is getting on with her STEM placement! 

Week One 

"I’ve had a really interesting first week at St. George’s in the cardiology department. I spent the first part of the week learning tonnes of new information about some of  the cardiac diseases that they deal with there and the work they do to help people. I have been working with Dr Joyee Basu and she is currently doing a research project into HCM ( Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy ) so I have been learning a lot about that and have lots of information that I can hopefully put in my presentation in September. 

I’ve managed to see Dr Basu at work with her patients but also had a look at some of the data basing that has to go on before the research project can begin and it is really mind blowing how much preparation has to go into research. So far I’ve had a really fantastic time and I can’t wait to go back and start the next week."

Week Two

"This week, we started focusing much more on our research project and have chosen what we will be studying. We have decided to ask patients that are attending clinic in the hospital whether they would be willing to take part in a questionnaire we have written so we can see whether their perceptions of exercise have changed since being diagnosed. 

This week has been really interesting because I have had the chance to talk to so many people affected by heart conditions and have seen how every case is different. I have also had a chance to look at some echocardiograms and have been learning how to interpret them properly (which is quite complicated!). I feel this week has been very productive in terms of our research and I can't believe we're already halfway through."

Week Three 

"This week has been really fantastic! I can't believe we only have one week left. I've managed to meet loads of new doctors this week and they have all been really lovely, helping to explain to me what is going on in clinic. I have also heard lots of interesting stories from patients with various heart conditions and the idea that every case is different has been reflected in our results too with a real variety of answers from our questionnaire. I think this week I have learnt how to improve my communication skills and I am becoming more confident at approaching the patients for our research. I really feel like I'm beginning to fit in as I get to know all the doctors here so I am kind of sad about the thought that my month will be over next week. It seems to have flied by!" 

              - Flair Cullup

Ewan Egan - Summer STEM Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

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 Ewan's getting on with his STEM placement! 

Week One

"My first week of the SATRO Summer Placement has overall been great fun and a good learning experience. On Monday, our project started in the school; Magna Carta, where we carried out a plant survey, although it was a steep learning curve, by the end, I had learnt how to identify many plants. The next day we checked our Longworth traps which unfortunately had not captured anything. However, we had caught many moths overnight in our moth trap which we learnt the names of. Later in the day and on Wednesday and Thursday, we took part in pond dipping and sweep netting." 

- Ewan Egan

Ramez Siddiqi - Summer STEM Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

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 Ramez is getting on with his STEM placement! 

Week One

"On Monday this past week, I started my placement at KBC Advanced Technologies in Walton-on-Thames. KBC are a leading technology based consulting company in the energy and chemical industries, they offer a range of modelling based services to their clients such as PETROsim, Maximus and Multiflash which are used to simulate oil and gas production and extraction and aids clients to make improvements to their systems based on recommendations using the simulations. 

Over the past week, I have been training in the Maximus software program learning how to create oil and gas production, extraction and transportation systems in an attempt to get me ready for the aim of the project which is to build and simulate case studies in Maximus and a rival program called PIPEsim and then run the models on them and compare the two programs in terms of speed, accuracy and also record any limitations they have. Later in the week, after I completed my training; I started looking at real life past case studies in Maximus and have been running tests on them. Next week, I will be constructing the same sort of models in PIPEsim and then comparing the two programs. I have really enjoyed seeing what it's like working as a chemical engineer in a consultancy environment so far and looking forward to gaining more knowledge over the coming weeks and seeing my project take shape." 

Week Two

"This week, my second here at KBC, was where the real work began that would help shape my final project. I got my PIPEsim license on Monday and I finished my training on Maximus, now I could start building models of oil production and storage sites in the two pieces of software and compare them, looking specifically at the features available and the similarities and differences in the functions and capabilities of the two programs. I started with my first case study which was an off shore oil extraction site, it was difficult when I first started building the model onto PIPEsim as I have never used it before, however having completed my training in Maximus last week I managed to pick it up quickly due to the similarities of the two programs.

 I really enjoyed the process of building the model into the program and seeing it take shape and it was really interesting to see the different ways the programs go about solving the same problems. I soon started building the next model which was a gas extraction site in morocco and I am in the process of completing the two models by adding the final touches and correcting any mistakes or bugs that I find. So far in my findings I have found Maximus to be the superior product however my views could change when I complete my report and do a full scale investigation."

Week Three

"I have just completed my third week here at KBC in Walton. Throughout this week I have built two more oil and gas production models in PIPEsim and Maximus, taking my total up to four. The latest model ‘Khazzan’ was by far the most difficult to build simply due to its sheer size, it consists of 325 wells alone and even more pipelines, however I really enjoyed the challenge. 

As the weeks have gone by I have gained a lot of invaluable and useful insight into life as a chemical engineer in a consulting environment. I have also gained some credible proficiency in both PIPesim and Maximus and I am learning a lot about chemical engineering in the oil and gas industry. 

Towards the end of the week I started running the models I have built and we fixed any errors that we have found, now the testing begins, the results of which I will use to compare the two pieces of software, as the results come in my report is also slowly progressing. I have really enjoyed working here and building the models, working and seeing what life is like as an engineer rather than having to do menial tasks, I look forward to seeing how my results from my simulations and comparing the pieces of software in the future."

Week Four 

"I just completed the last week of my summer placement here at KBC advanced technologies; I have really enjoyed my time here over the past four weeks. It has been great seeing what life is like as a chemical engineer in a consulting environment and the knowledge and experience I have gained here is invaluable. 

Over the last week, I gathered my results and started writing up my report and started making my poster for the STEMX awards. It was really great to see all the hard work from the past 4 weeks pay off as my report came together. I'm really glad I got the opportunity to use both Maximum and PIPEsim make different oil and gas production sight models, it's a great skill to have and one that I might revisit in the future during an engineering career. 

I would definitely recommend to anyone who is considering to do a summer placement with SATRO to do it as it is not only something that looks good on your personal statement for university, but also something that you will enjoy, learning about a career that you might want to do in the future and you will meet some great people along the way and gain a detailed insight to life as an engineer." 

- Ramez Siddiqi