Reporter

School students have great chemistry in Imperial competition

11 May 2012

On 3 May eight teams of schoolchildren came to Imperial to compete in the live final of the London Schools’ Chemistry Challenge, battling it out using posters, drama, music and presentations to a present their case for the greatest discovery in Chemistry in the last 100 years.

The initiative began last year, also marking the International Year of Chemistry, which celebrated the contributions chemistry has made to society.

The competition saw over 1,000 school students registered to take aprt, with academics from the Department of Chemistry selecting eight teams for the final.

With an open remit on how to make their case the GCSE and A Level students had to present in front of a panel of judges including Imperial’s Professor of Science and Society Lord Winston; David Philips, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Head of the College’s Department of Chemistry Professor Tom Welton.

The winning entry, highly commended by the judges, came from team  “Notre Bam”, a group of students attending Notre Dame School in Surrey. They won for their presentation on polymers, which involved drama and music as well as chemical knowledge. The team received an iPad each, together with a tour of a leading research facility in the future.

Pictured right:  Notre Bam with judges and organisers.

Team member Elizabeth said: “As a group we have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and our knowledge of chemistry has been enhanced by studying the subject outside of our syllabus. We have really benefitted from the experience and look forward to the day at a research centre…and our iPads!”

The event’s was arranged by the Department of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Chemistry, supported by Imperial’s Outreach Office.  One of the organisers, Dr Oscar Ces, said:

“This was a fantastic evening where teams of students from across London showcased their talent and demonstrated the impact that Chemistry has had on society over the last 100 years. It’s been a wonderful way to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry”.

Organisers hope to run a similar event in the summer. 

 — John-Paul Jones, Communications and Development

Tags: Chemistry, Outreach
Posted in College, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Imperial Festival welcomes thousands of visitors

11 May 2012

Thousands of visitors including members of the public, alumni, staff and students were in party mood on the College’s South Kensington Campus this weekend, as they explored the Imperial Festival – a two day insight into the wonderful and surprising world of life and research here at the College.

Organisers estimate that around 7,000 people in total came to the Festival on Friday evening and across Saturday. Over the two days visitors had the opportunity to try their hand at surgery thanks to Professor Roger Kneebone’s pop-up simulation, have a pint with a professor, meet robots and take part in hands-on demonstrations by Imperial researchers.
Nearly 1,000 alumni alone registered to attend the alumni-specific events on Saturday while good weather saw curious passers-by join science fans and families who had already heard about the Festival.

One of the organisers, Natasha Martineau, Head of Research Communications, said:
“Imperial’s first Festival went better than many of us dared to imagine, with hundreds of staff welcoming thousands of visitors to the event. Around each corner there was yet another opportunity to discover something new about the work of the College. We’re very grateful to everyone who made it all possible, and of course to the sunshine, which made a big contribution to the festival atmosphere on campus this weekend.”

See below for a Festival slideshow as well as tweets and photos from the Festival’s Storify stream.

Posted in Alumni, College, Research, Students | No Comments »

Reaching out to business

8 May 2012

Professor Tom Welton, Head of the Department of Chemistry, reports on his experience of being invited to the Imperial Business Partners dinner and discussion on 13 March.

“The Business Partners are a group of companies that have decided that they want to deepen their relationships with the College. These are AWE, BP, BT, GE, Ineos, National Grid, Rolls-Royce, Shell and Syngenta. Dow Chemical, which makes products in the chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics fields, were guests for the evening. Professor Julia Buckingham, Pro Rector (Education and Academic Affairs), led the evening’s first discussion on the world of £9,000 p.a. fees soon to be upon us, and what its consequences may be. Later, we had a second discussion on broader government policy for science and technology funding led by Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society (Humanities), who either has a remarkable ability to eat and speak at the same time, or doesn’t mind the taste of a cold dinner.

The real stars of the evening were the 20 or so teenagers, who had come to show us Imperial’s Reach Out Labratory in action. These young people were from schools in disadvantaged areas from all over London. They were fantastic. You couldn’t hope to meet people more enthusiastic about doing science. They each grabbed different guests to show us what they were doing and to tell us why the Reach Out Lab is so important to them. If you believe, as I do, that the foundations of Imperial’s success are its students, then I am happy to report that, should they choose Imperial for their degree, the College has a bright future to look forward to.”

Read more here

Tags: Chemistry, Reach Out Lab
Posted in College | No Comments »

Postgraduate Graduation 2012 – As it happens

8 May 2012

On Wednesday 9 May postgraduate students and guests from over 65 countries will be taking part in Imperial’s 2012 Postgraduate Graduation Ceremonies at the Royal Albert Hall.

Congratulations to all our new graduates, and welcome to the Imperial alumni community. We hope you, your friends and family have a very memorable day. Follow the day’s events here, and share your tweets, videos and photos, using the hashtag #ImpCol.

Tags: Awards and Honours, Students
Posted in Alumni, College, Students, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Obituary: Professor Christopher Wastell

8 May 2012

Professor Christopher Wastell, who held a Chair of Surgery at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, died on 18 January 2012. Julia Anderson (Surgery and Cancer) shares her memories of her colleague:

(more…)

Tags: Charing Cross Hospital, Obituary, Surgery and Cancer
Posted in College | No Comments »

Double Paralympic champion trains at Imperial

4 May 2012

British paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds (pictured right with Neil Mosley, Assistant Director of Commercial Services), was at South Kensington Campus on 27 March to train in the swimming pool at Imperial’s Ethos sports centre during a trip to London.

(more…)

Tags: Commercial Services, Ethos
Posted in College | No Comments »

Tackling the Thames

4 May 2012

This month, Martin Lodemore, Patient and Public Liaison Officer (Medicine), is attempting to canoe the length of the Thames in an inflatable canoe in memory of his nephew Tom, who died from sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), aged 27. In the UK, 1,000 young people die each year from epilepsy and around half of these are due to SUDEP. Martin reports on his challenge:

(more…)

Posted in College, Your Voice | No Comments »

Course review: Presentations for interviews: practice and feedback

4 May 2012

By course attendee Dr Karl Smith, Research Associate (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

Why did you go on the course?

Delivering presentations is increasingly becoming a standard part of job interviews. My research contract is nearing its end, so I’m currently immersed in the job application and interview process. My key aspiration was that this course would help to maximise my recruitment prospects.

What did you learn?

I received some very constructive feedback on how I could address the weaker aspects of my presentation approach and delivery. Watching and, moreover, critiquing the other attendees’ practice presentations gave me a strong grasp of what should engage an assessment panel.

What element of the course did you find the most helpful?

A crucial element was that each presentation was filmed. Consequently, we could watch video playbacks of our performances: this gave us a revealing insight into our individual tics, some of which were shown to be alarmingly distracting. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this course to fellow postdocs pursuing gainful future employment.

Visit the website for more information on the course

Tags: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Course review
Posted in College | No Comments »

Living below the line

4 May 2012

Between 6–10 May, Alexandra Weldon, Advocacy and Relations Manager (Public Health) at the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI), has taken on the challenge to live off just £1 per day for food, reflecting the experiences of the 1.4 billion people currently living in extreme poverty around the world. Alix explains why she is taking part in the annual Live Below the Line fundraising initiative.

(more…)

Tags: Public Health
Posted in College, Your Voice | No Comments »

Honeycomb of magnets for new gadgets

4 May 2012

Imperial scientists have taken an important step forward in developing a new material using nano-sized magnets that could ultimately lead to new types of electronic devices, with greater processing capacity than is currently feasible. This is according to a study published on 30 March in the journal Science.

(more…)

Tags: Physics
Posted in College | No Comments »

Medals reward Imperial’s Olympic support

4 May 2012

It may still be over 80 days until the torch is lit at the Opening Ceremony but Imperial has already made it on to the winner’s podium for its Olympic activities.

The College collected two Bronze medals in the Podium Awards last night, which celebrates the success of colleges and universities in supporting the 2012 Games as part of Universities Week.

During the black tie event, held at Forman’s Fish Island overlooking the Olympic Stadium, Commercial Services received a Bronze Medal in the British Council Award for Innovative International Collaboration category for its work hosting athletes from six nations at Imperial, providing them with sports facilities and, in the case of the Japanese and Swiss associations, accommodation for association members.

Assistant Director of Commercial Services and Head of Sport Imperial Neil Mosley said: “Being able to host Olympians taking part in London 2012 has been an exciting opportunity for us. It’s been helpful to get the College and the wider community excited about sport, the Games and that Olympic ideal of a broader cultural understanding through sport. A lot of hard work has gone into this so we’re delighted to receive this recognition.”

The Rio Tinto Sports Innovation Challenge claimed a Bronze Medal in the category for outstanding sporting project. The Challenge has seen Engineering students develop projects to enhance the sporting experience and opportunities available to Paralympians and other athletes with disabilities.

There to collect the award were Professors Anthony Bull and Peter Childs, as well as Dr Dominic Southgate, who is Project Manager for the Challenge. Dr Southgate said: “It’s a great opportunity to celebrate an initiative that our students have gained so much from. We’re really proud of the quality of work the student teams have produced.”

Both the Imperial groups also attended a reception on Wednesday evening at the Houses of Parliament to celebrate the launch of two reports detailing some of the most interesting contributions universities have made to the Olympics. Universities, the Olympics and sport contained details of Commercial Services’ work, including Sanka Day, while Research, development and the Olympics detailed the work of Professors Alison McGregor and Anthony Bull with the GB rowing team, as well as the Rio Tinto Initiative.

The medal winners were selected by an Awards Committee at Podium, which is the Further Education and Higher Education Unit for London 2012.

— John-Paul Jones, Communications and Development

Tags: olympics, Universities Week
Posted in College, Research, Students | No Comments »

Finding the right formula

3 May 2012

Reporter meets Professor Richard Craster, Head of the Department of Mathematics, who first started at the College as a maths undergraduate in 1986, to find out how he has found his first six months in post and his plans for the Department.

(more…)

Tags: Mathematics
Posted in College | No Comments »

Two ticks for Imperial

3 May 2012

The College officially received its ‘two ticks’ disability symbol at a presentation on 16 April.

(more…)

Tags: Equality and Diversity Committee
Posted in College | No Comments »

Six Imperial scientists join Fellowship of Royal Society

3 May 2012

An evolutionary biologist, a pharmacologist and four physicists from Imperial joined the Fellowship of the Royal Society last month, as part of the 2012 election of 44 new Fellows.

They join the ranks of around 1,450 elite scientists recognised by the UK’s national scientific academy for their contributions to science and are now permitted to use the letters FRS after their name. They bring the number of Royal Society Fellows at Imperial, or those with an on-going association with the College, to 73.

The new Fellows are:

• Professor Michele Dougherty (Physics), a space physicist and Principal Investigator of the Cassini magnetometer instrument, which was launched onboard the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft in 1997.
• Professor Russell Lande (Life Sciences), a theoretical biologist who early in his career pioneered the use of genetics to study the evolution of continuous traits, such as height or weight, in natural populations.
• Professor Chris Hull (Physics), a theoretical physicist distinguished for his pioneering work on string theory, a concept that aims to unify all of the forces and particles of nature in a single quantum theory.
• Professor Tejinder (Jim) Virdee (Physics) who, for several years, led the team of thousands of international scientists that designed and built the Compact Muon Solenoid detector, one of the two main experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, and one of the most complex scientific instruments ever built, weighing 14,000 tonnes and with a length of 30 metres and a diameter of 15 metres.
• Emeritus Professor Timothy Williams (NHLI), recognised for his contribution to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying inflammation. He was appointed Asthma UK Professor of Applied Pharmacology in 1988 and established the Leukocyte Biology Section at Imperial in 1998.
• Visiting Professor Jeremy Burroughes (Physics), one of the co-inventors of conjugated polymer electroluminescence, which allows light to be efficiently generated by passing electrical current through thin films of the plastic poly (p-phenylenevinylene).

— Simon Levey, Communications and Development

Read the full story here

Tags: Fellows, Life Sciences, National Heart and Lung Institute, Physics
Posted in College | No Comments »

Pendry gains entry to exclusive society

3 May 2012

Professor Sir John Pendry, Chair in Theoretical Solid State Physics (Physics), has been welcomed into the ranks of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, alongside other new members, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, philanthropist Melinda Gates and singersongwriter Sir Paul McCartney.

Professor Pendry, who has worked at the College since 1981, is a condensed matter theorist whose research has underpinned the development of an ‘invisibility cloak’.

Tags: Physics
Posted in College | No Comments »