Profile

Photo:

Ellie Young

My CV

  • Education:

    Robert Kett Junior School
    Wymondham High Academy
    Wymondham High Sixth Form
    University of Birmingham

  • Qualifications:

    Wymondham High Academy – GCSEs:
    12A*s, 2As, 1B
    Wymondham High Sixth Form – A Levels:
    AS Level French – A, A Level Physics, Maths, Biology – A
    University of Birmingham:
    First Class Honours MEng Nuclear Engineering
    PhD Nuclear Materials

  • Work History:

    – Hairdressers
    – Chinese takeaway
    – Maths and science tutor (all levels)
    – Nuclear Engineering consultancy

  • Current Job:

    I am currently writing up my PhD thesis whilst working as a Nuclear Engineering Consultant

    • About Me:

      I am an ocean and animal lover who has a passion for physics! I live by the sea in Plymouth with my two friendly parrots who think they are humans, a snake and lots of fish. I love to surf, roller skate and skateboard in my free time!

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      Any chance to get outdoors and some fresh air is my favourite! I also love pizza, my favourite colour is green, and I love watching cartoons and doing arts and crafts.

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      My favourite thing about working in science is the variety of people I get to work with and learn from.

      I have been working from home recently doing engineering consultancy, but my main job before working from home was doing my PhD in nuclear science! I am currently writing up all of my PhD experiments, so the mix of science and engineering that I have means my job is really fun and varied. I am working on things that will help make nuclear power safer and better for the future to make sure we can limit the effects of carbon on the planet!

      I got to travel to loads of really cool places during my PhD and have worked at lots of big nuclear places. I study the really small stuff that you can’t see with your eyes inside magnetic crystals and nuclear materials by firing them with neutrons and xrays. This helps us develop new, safe materials for use in clean power technologies.

       

    • My Typical Day:

      I wake up and get a big cup of tea! I grab my laptop then walk to the lab and grab my lab coat, samples and science equipment! Here I will spend the day using lots of different equipment to perform my experiments. Then I will use my laptop to run computer models to understand my data and make lots of colourful graphs.

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      9am – gather lab equipment

      9.30am – set up instrument and check that everything is working

      10am – prepare my samples

      10.30am – coffee break with my PhD friends (this happens about 3x a day – we love taking breaks and chatting about our days together)

      11am – back to the lab and load in samples — do the experiment and record data making sure to keep notes!

      12.30pm – unload samples and make the equipment ready for someone else to use

      1pm – lunch time!

      2pm – back to the office where my colleagues work to analyse my data

      2.30pm – write some computer code to make pretty graphs of my results

      3pm – meeting with my supervisor to update on my progress

      4pm – read some scientific papers

      5pm – home time!!

       

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      Set up a science festival!

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        always breaking stuff

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        A scientist or engineer

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        I always got sent out for laughing too much!

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Queen

        What's your favourite food?

        Pizza

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        to fly, to speak all languages,

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