March

2016


Welcome to the March issue of the Sparxx monthly newsletter! 

Spring is in the air and and Easter has arrived. This month our newsletter has a chemical engineering theme. Why chemical engineering? Well without it we wouldn't have Easter eggs! Mass manufacturing food is complex - food can stick (and we all know just how sticky Creme Eggs can be) and often just doesn't want to flow anywhere - it's up to chemical engineers to solve the problem (and many others). 
 
Chemical engineering helps our guest blogger Parimala Shivaprasad convert the test tube to a reactor. You can read her blog 'Engineers are Made' 
here. Our March  Sparxx of the Month, Jo Douglas, is a postgraduate chemical engineer. She's passionate about engineering outreach, after accidentally discovering engineering when she decided to do a PhD. Check out the full interview here. As well as enhancing food production you'll find chemical engineers in action generating energy, saving the environment, advancing biomedicine, developing electronics, and improving materials. Have a look at the Video of the Month section to find out more about careers in Chemical Engineering. The Organisation of the Month has a range of tasters, projects and placements where you can find out more about different areas of engineering. 
 
The Did you know? section looks at a novel use for seaweed and the women who really landed mankind on the moon. We are also enlisting your support with the Petition to have creativity and the Ebacc debated in Parliament. plus you can find out more on the University of Surrey Engineering for Health Programme and the BCS Computer Teacher Training Scholarships in the Creativity Matters section. 
 
Heard about apprenticeships this month? (National Apprenticeship Week 2016 took place) and would like to know more? Have a look at the Career Wall
 
In the spotlight For our Educators are the Special Leaders Awards for STEM open to students 5-19 years old, Edukit a free online resource for schools and an exciting I Am Creative project from the Ideas Foundation.
 
As usual we bring you a fantastic selection of  competitions to enter and events to go to, along with some Fun Stuff & DIY and a new Book Review.

SparxxoftheMonth

Jo Douglas - March Sparxx of the Month
Sparxx of the Month

Jo Douglas

Our March Sparxx of the Month is the extremely busy postgraduate chemical engineering student Jo Douglas, who is passionate about outreach work.

She talked to us about how she accidentally discovered chemical engineering, her Unilever sponsored PhD, her outreach activities, the WES Bath group, volunteering and has some great advice for girls who would like to know what engineering is.

 Read the full interview 

"I didn't even know engineering existed - despite being good at science and mathematics - no one told me about it."

CompetitionsCompetitions 

If you haven't already entered, check out our Competitions page to find out more about these exciting challenges closing soon.
 
  • Young Innovator Awards 2016
Young Innovator is designed for ages 11-19 and is open to individual entries or entries via your school, college or club. DEADLINE: Friday 8th April 2016
  • Your Life's Formula 100 Competition
If you're 11-16 and have great ideas, why not consider entering? DEADLINE: Sunday 10th April 2016

Still plenty of time to enter...
 

The Bright Ideas Challenge

What will cities look like in 2050 - how will they be powered to be vibrant, healthy and clean places to live? That's the challenge Shell is setting secondary school students aged 11-14.

Shell has launched The Bright Ideas Challenge, a new cross-curricular schools competition to help inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. They're asking students to imagine creative solutions to the energy challenges faced by future cities. With a national prize of up to �5,000 to super-size STEM teaching, there's every reason to think big! There will also be two further national prizes and all 11 regional winners will receive �1,500 for their school, student prizes and funded trips to Make the Future London, a festival of ideas and innovation, hosted by Shell this summer.

Visit shell.co.uk/brightideaschallenge for all the competition resources, including a teacher toolkit, student workbooks and activity resources. Teams have until 29th April to submit their entries. Terms and conditions apply.

DEADLINE: Friday 29th April 2016 

Celebrating the Art of Photographing Science: International Images for Science 2016 Competition Open

"We want as many people as 
possible to enter this competition - school or college students, scientists, photojournalists, artists - everyone!" says RPS coordinator, Gary Evans, "Entrants can have fancy equipment or use a smartphone, it doesn't matter. The important point is to capture your view of science in a way that tells a story to the average person." 


Entries are now being accepted for the International Images for Science competition 2016. The competition is organised by The Royal Photographic Society (RPS) and supported by Siemens as part of the Curiosity Project, a three-year programme which aims to engage young people with science and engineering. 

Entrants are required to take a visually appealing picture that tells a science story. The Top 100 entries will be chosen by an expert panel to be exhibited at the British Science Festival in Swansea in September 2016 and then across the UK. 

From the 100 exhibition images, five prizes will be awarded: 
* Gold Award (Age 26 and Over): �1000 and an RPS Gold Medal 
* Silver Award (Age 26 and Over): �750 and an RPS Silver Medal 
* Bronze Award (Age 26 and Over): �500 and an RPS Bronze Medal 
* Gold Award (Age 18-25): �750 and an RPS Gold Medal 
* Gold Award (Age 17 and under): �500 towards photography equipment and an RPS Gold Medal 

The competition is free to enter, simply register online at rps-science.org and upload your images to the web site. 

DEADLINE: Closing date is midnight on 1st May 2016. 


Last year's entries included the mould on a strawberry, a bubble popping, vascular networks of a heart, close up of a moth, hydrogen gas burning in a conical flask and a bee's bottom.




CAN YOU DESIGN A HYPERSONIC 
TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT CAPABLE OF DELIVERING AID TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD WITHIN A FEW HOURS?

This is a unique opportunity to win a place
on a free five-night residential course at the School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University starting on 24 July 2016.
  • Learn about aircraft and jet engines 
  • Practice free fall parachuting in a wind tunnel 
  • Get airborne in the Jetstream flying classroom plus much more
Prize money of �5000 and the opportunity to attend an action packed, exciting five night residential course at Cranfield University in July! For more information and to enter go to www.aerospacechallenge.org

DEADLINE: All entries must be received no later than Wednesday 1 June 2016. 


The Royal Society of Biology has just
launched a new Intermediate Biology Olympiad, which is now open for teachers to register their students. The competition is open to Y12 students in England and Wales, Y13 in Northern Ireland and S5 in Scotland. 

The online paper will consist of multiple choice questions, which will be set on topics students are likely to have covered at GCSE and in their first year of A level. 

Deadline: The Intermediate Biology Olympiad will take place on Wednesday 22nd June. One hour will be allowed for students to complete the paper.


The National Science + Engineering Competition is open to all 11-18 year olds living in the UK and in full-time education. DEADLINE: Monday 31st October 2016 

The deadline for these competitions will be here before you know it, so get a headstart and check out our Competitions page.

DidyouknowDid you know?

Seaweed can be used to produce a biodegradable water bottle.

Biodegradable bottles - Image Source: Ari J�nsson
Ari J�nsson,a product design student has used algae to create a biodegradable waterbottle for the Icelandic annual design festival 'Design March 2016'. He felt the need to develop the bottle after reading about the amount of waste plastic produced every day.

While studying the properties of different materials to determine their suitability for use as a water bottle, he came across a powdered form of agar (a substance made from algae). The agar powder forms a jelly when added to water. 

To make the bottles, J�nsson heated an agar solution then poured it in to a bottle shaped mould that had been kept in the freezer. The mould was submerged in a bucket of ice-cold water and rotated until the liquid inside had taken the shape of the bottle. Before the bottle was extracted from the mould, it was placed in a refrigerator for a few minutes. 

As long as the bottle is full of water it keeps its shape, but when empty it begins to decompose rapidly. Read more here.

It was a women engineer who helped mankind land on the moon.
 Hamilton standing beside the source code for the Apollo guidance computer.

Margaret Hamilton, a pioneering software engineer, became the Director of software programming for NASA's Apollo project back when computer science was only emerging. It was her coding that prevented the mission being aborted just minutes before the historic landing.

The rendezvous radar switch was in the wrong position causing it to send erroneous signals to the computer. As a result the computer was being asked to perform all of its normal functions for landing, while performing unnecessary calculations which used up 15% of its time. 

Hamilton's programs were very robust and worked around problems. When the computer software realised it couldn't do all the functions it was supposed to be doing, it sent out an alarm and focused on the highest priority task - the one needed for landing. Read more here.


Most people know that Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, but only a few know that it was a female chemical engineer, Margaret Rousseau, who designed the first commercial penicillin plant. 


BlogBlog

 

Our guest blogger this month is the University of Bath
chemical engineering student Parimala Shivaprasad! 

Want to know what penguins (the birds not the biscuits), Mars (the chocolate not the planet), Pringles and Fairy liquid have in common. Parimala explains it all and how engineers are made in her blog. 

EventsEvents

March

Creative STEAM Workshops for the Easter Holidays! 
Running from the 29 March 2016 to the 8 April 2016

Recommend Ages: 6-14
Location: Brighton (East Sussex) & Horsham (West Sussex)

Join Curiosity Hub over the Easter holidays for creative, fun and educational STEAM workshops! Sessions include: Lego Robotics, Stop-motion Animation, Computer Programming in Minecraft EDU, Digital Music with Sonic Pi, Creating Computer Games, Mobile App Design and the Chocolate Laboratory!

Curiosity Hub are a Brighton-based not-for-profit organisation providing workshops to support STEAM (Science, Engineering, Technology, Arts & Maths) education for everyone.

More Details/Sign up: http://thecuriosityhub.com


April

Women Engineers in the Great War and After
Sat Apr 23rd 9.00am
One day public engagement event at the Dana Centre, Science Museum, London. 'Women Engineers in the Great War and after'. 
This free one day collaborative conference will look back at the role of women in engineering and technical disciplines during the First World War and beyond, and will start to bring out some of the stories documented in the newly digitised Women's Engineering Society archive. In collaboration the University of Leeds, the University of Leicester, the team at the IET archive, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and many others contributors the day will be an informative, interactive and entertaining event which will set the stage for further collaboration on this important and as yet largely unexplored part of our heritage. www.wes.org.uk/greatwar
 

May
 
Imperial Festival, London
Sat May 7th 9.00am- Sun 8th 9.00am

A weekend of free hands-on activities, talks, music and dance for all ages. www.imperial.ac.uk/be-inspired/festival/



Big Bang @ Welbeck DSFC
Weds May 11th 10:00am - 2:00pm 

A fantastic new Big Bang event at this state-of-the-art Defence College on the outskirts of Loughborough. Don't miss this rare opportunity to experience the fantastic STEM work being carried out by the students at Welbeck DSFC as well as a host of companies and supporters presenting workshops, shows and exhibits.

The event is being organised in partnership with Aston and Loughborough Universities and will feature a whole host of companies and support including Rolls-Royce and the National Space Academy.

The students of Welbeck DSFC will be showcasing some of the innovative STEM projects they have been working on and the headline speaker for the day is the fantastic Simon Watt, TV present, Science communicator and Scientist extraordinaire.

The event is open to schools with year 9 and 10 students primarily of higher academic ability such as Gifted and Talented youngsters who have an interest in STEM subjects. 

There are only 400 places available so make sure you book early! For further information please contact: [email protected] 

June

STEMtech Conference and Showcase
 Mon Jun 13th - Tue 14th 

The 3rd Annual STEMtech Conference and Showcase - Skilled for Success is supporting the development and advancement of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths education and careers in the UK and overseas. This annual event showcases, celebrates, recognises and help drive innovative and integrated approaches to STEM teaching and learning and works with major industry partners to ensure our young people are developing the skills, experience and motivation needed for the future.

This year we have four exciting events in one, promising to be the biggest and best conference in the STEM education calendar so far.

Taking place on 13 & 14 June 2016 at the Telford International Centre, once again we will be inviting a host of speakers to consider key topics in advancing STEM and technical education including the role of schools, colleges, universities and industry.


Thurs Jun 23rd 8.00am - 11.30pm

National Women in Engineering Day returns for the third time on 23 June 2016. Start planning your events now www.nwed.org.uk for 

further details.

For more events, check out our calendar featuring amazing events from our partners and supporters.


CareerWallCareer Wall

Ever thought about an Apprenticeship in Engineering?

To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week 2016 which took place this month, this week we bring you a booklet on vocational and apprenticeship routes in to engineering from Tomorrow's Engineers.



OrganisationoftheMonthOrganisation of the Month

Engineering Development Trust (EDT)


 

In our March Sparxx of the Month feature Jo Douglas mentions her outreach work with the Engineering Development TrustThey deliver range of tasters, projects and placements aimed at 11-21 year olds; 


NewsCreativity matters...

The EBacc Debate needs your signature to reach Parliament
 
The plans for a new EBacc published by the Department for Education will force creative subjects out of reach for many secondary school pupils. To secure the EBacc, you will need to study a minimum of between seven and nine GCSEs. With the average number of GCSEs being taken equalling eight, this leaves little if any room for art, dance, design, drama and music. This is despite their importance as subjects in their own right and the �84bn a year they contribute to the UK economy.

At the time of writing the new Parliamentary petition calling for an EBacc debate had reached 92,034 signatures. If the new petition gets to 100,000 signatures before 9 May 2016, then the exclusion of creative subjects from the EBacc will be debated in the House of Commons. 

Can we afford to miss out on the opportunity to have the EBacc debated in Parliament?

So please - if you haven't already - sign the new petition to help keep creative subjects in our schools and ask your friends, family and colleagues to do the same. 

To sign the petition click here.


New multidisciplinary programme across engineering and biosciences.

University of Surrey Engineering for Health Programme

Building on its existing reputation in the fields of engineering, biosciences and
computer science, Surrey has developed a multidisciplinary programme centred on a �10m new facility (part funded by HEFCE).
 

Working at the interface of engineering and healthcare


The key objective of our Engineering for Health programme is to educate students to enable them to drive the technology that addresses the future needs of industry and society.

The new pathways will start in October 2017. To find out more click here.

Computer teachetraining scholarships

BCS Computing Teacher Scholarship Scheme

BCS has been running the  Computing Teacher Scholarship Scheme for the past three years - which is open to both Computing graduates and career changers who have both relevant experience and an eligible degree.

"Our vision is for every secondary school to have outstanding Computing teachers. We want to ensure students have an intellectually rigorous, inspiring and excellent Computing education that equips them for progression into further education and a professional career. As well as those just leaving university the Scholarship is often of particular help to career-changers."

Each scholarship is worth �25,000 (tax-free) with the funding supplied by the Department for Education.  We also provide Associate membership of BCS (AMBCS) free for the first year and run dedicated workshops to support our scholars. A leaflet containing a brief summary of the scheme can be downloaded here

VideooftheMonthVideo of the Month

Have our Sparxx of the Month (Jo Douglas) and blogger (Parimala Shivaprasad) inspired you to find out more about Chemical Engineering? This week we bring you three videos from the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) WhyNotChemEng website


whynotchemeng: careers in chemical engineering
whynotchemeng: careers in chemical engineering


Last year they held a competition for undergraduate students to design a chemical engineering-themed training video for school students. The winning entries were [drumroll please]:
 
IChemE student video winner: Let's design a Haber process plant
IChemE student video winner: Let's design a Haber process plant

Introduction to Chemical Engineering
Introduction to Chemical Engineering

For more inspiring videos, check out our Videos page


FunStuffFun Stuff

Could Batman ACTUALLY beat Superman?
Could Batman ACTUALLY beat Superman
Batman v Superman

Just in time for the release of the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Your Life has produced a new video exploring how Batman could use science and technology to beat Superman. 

Gangnam Robo Style

This Robot was spotted attending the Big Bang Fair 2016 with Tomorrow's Engineers. Check out those dance moves....
Gangnam Robo Style @ the Big Bang Fair 2016
Gangnam Robo Style @ the Big Bang Fair 2016


DIYDIY

Avalanche

Want to know why the Brazil nuts always rise to the top of a jar of mixed nuts when you shake it?


You can investigate the Brazil nut effect in the Exploratorium Avalanche 'Science Snacks' hands-on activity. This effect - can be a nuisance or a blessing - for chemical engineers in process plants. 
ForOurEducatorsFor Our Educators

Special Leaders Awards

The Leaders Award for STEM is a  Primary Engineer programme open to students from 5 to 19 years old that increase student's awareness of the breadth of opportunities open to them within STEM subjects. They are currently running the following competitions:
'If you were an engineer in Scotland - what would you do?' Still not too late to get your entries in for the Scottish Engineering Special Leaders Award. Open to Scottish primary and secondary pupils between the ages of 5 and 19 years old. 

DEADLINE: 16:30 Thursday 21st April, 2016.
The LONDON Special Leaders Award challenges primary and secondary school pupils (from 5 to 19 years old) across the Capital to research and interview inspiring engineers who will convey the importance of STEM in their daily working lives and the universality of engineering in everybody's lives
 
DEADLINE: 12th May, 2016.

Don't live in one of these areas or won't meet the deadline?

You can still participate in the The Leaders Award for STEM.

Edukit

CALLING ALL TEACHERS!

Find 1000s of development Programmes for your students. 

EduKit is a FREE online resource for all schools to be able to find the relevant support for their students. There are 100s of organisations offering student development programmes and workshops. To find the right support for your students go to www.edukit.org.uk or contact us on 02031919696. Click here for more information on EduKit.

I Am Creative

The Ideas Foundation has a really exciting I Am Creative project coming up in partnership with E-on, which will be mentored by industry professionals from the Engine group, the agency that also do the advertising for brands like Warburtons, Sky and Starbucks. We are looking particularly for schools in the Midlands. 

The brief is around encouraging children aged 11 to 13, to take on STEM subjects and get the experience they need to make the right career and GCSE choices for them.


BookReviewBook Review

Looking for a new book to read after the Easter holidays? This month we have a fiction title - Second Chance Summer by Jill Shalvisreviewed by our seasoned book reviewer Bhavika Vanik.
 
 
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