2016

Space Zone Report – November 2016

Read the full report The Space Zone was a themed zone funded by the UK Space Agency with six engineers all working with satellites. Will, the winner of this zone, builds satellites that monitor natural and man-made disasters, Silvia studies the ocean using pictures taken by satellites and Kieran, who started his career as an apprentice, is now the Chief Development Officer for the Satellite Application Catapult. Katie monitors and controls satellites in orbit around earth, Isaac designs and builds satellites and Betty is a rocket engineer who uses satellites to help bring the internet to everyone. This was the busiest of all the I’m an Engineer zones for this event with over 2,300 questions asked by students, 697 of which were approved. Almost 60% of these were asked by one school, Lathom Junior School. All the engineers answered many questions in ASK, and Will, Katie and Silvia were most … Continue reading

Posted on December 13, 2016 by modmichaela in 2016, UKSA, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Space Zone Report – November 2016

Motor Zone Report – November 2016

Read the full report This was a themed zone funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious Grant. Sarah works for Rolls-Royce designing parts for aeroplane engines, Masha is a research student working out how to make jet engines use less fuel and Mark simulates Formula 1 and Formula E racing cars to predict the best design for each race. Leon is working to make the oil used in motors more efficient, Dominique develops software for motor control systems and Andrei works for Jaguar Land Rover making sure cars are being built correctly. This was a busy zone that had a high amount of questions asked by students, with lots of interest in cars, planes and engines. All of the engineers were great at answering questions clearly and informatively with Leon, Mark and Sarah making up a majority of the activity by engineers across the two weeks.

Posted on December 13, 2016 by modmichaela in 2016, RAE, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Motor Zone Report – November 2016

Diagnosis Zone Report – November 2016

Read the full report The Diagnosis Zone was a themed zone funded by Wellcome, featuring six engineers using and developing technologies to better analyse bodies and diagnose disease. Vaanu works in biomedical engineering analysing images of organs to identify diseases, Tomas designs high precision equipment for biological research and Sylvain designs medical devices for doctors to use to diagnose and cure health problems. Sarah is a PhD student trying to 3D print microchips that can analyse cells, James (the winner of this zone) designs wearable robotics to help us see how brain disease can affect people and Dawn is a PhD student who squashes cells to find out more about cancer. The zone’s ASK section was particularly busy with lots of interesting questions from students who had a good understanding of the theme, and the engineers provided in-depth answers about their research and other topics.

Posted on December 13, 2016 by modmichaela in 2016, WT, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Diagnosis Zone Report – November 2016

Apprentice Zone Report – November 2016

Read the full report The Apprentice Zone was funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious Grant, and included two current apprentices as well as three engineers who all got into engineering through an apprenticeship scheme. Ronnie works for Yorkshire Water building reservoirs and laying pipes for drinking water, Rich (the winner of this zone) is an electrical engineer who works to ensure a building is safe and suitable for the people in it and Krishma is a current apprentice with VINCI Construction working on the Crossrail west station upgrade projects. Daryl is a software engineer who creates websites and Anya is also a current apprentice with VINCI helping to build a waste recovery park which will turn dustbin waste into electricity. This zone had a higher percentage of active students than average across the whole of the event with 93% of all students who logged in engaged with the … Continue reading

Posted on December 13, 2016 by modmichaela in 2016, RAE, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Apprentice Zone Report – November 2016

Kilogram Zone Report – June 2016

Read the full report The Kilogram zone was a general engineering zone, funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious Grant. Yip is the UK Transport Operations Manager for Amazon, Jarrod works for a materials science company researching how to make everyday objects from rocks and crude oil and Iona designs machinery that helps provide safe food worldwide. Eloise is a PhD student researching how to build big systems, like cities, that can survive unexpected challenges in the future, and Adam is a roboticist working on a large military communications project. Eloise took part in the final two days of the event from Glastonbury Festival, and Jarrod took part from Mexico and California, where he was travelling for work. This resulted in lots of conversation about travelling, and more personal questions about the engineers’ hobbies and interests, making the atmosphere within the live chats and ASK section friendly and relatable.

Posted on July 15, 2016 by modmichaela in 2016, RAE, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Kilogram Zone Report – June 2016

Water Zone Report – June 2016

Read the full report The Water Zone was funded by the Wellcome Trust, following the themes of its major initiative for 2016, The Crunch. Vinnie creates virtual simulations of equipment on construction vessels to test if they will survive real world conditions, Tam is a marine engineer who works at sea and on the docks managing the maintenance of ships, Mo is a civil engineer who builds water treatment facilities to process safe drinking water, Matt is a research engineer who studies chemical reactions to destroy pollutants in drinking water and Joe is a PhD student studying ways to protect people from flooding. Students in the zone showed a general interest in engineering with many career based questions. This zone was the quietest out of all the June zones with just seven schools taking part, resulting in a below average number of questions approved.

Posted on July 15, 2016 by modmichaela in 2016, WT, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Water Zone Report – June 2016

Health Zone Report – June 2016

Read the full report This was a themed zone funded by the Wellcome Trust, with five engineers working in a variety of areas relating to Health. Simon works to support the manufacturing of a flu vaccine, Rebecca is a PhD student who provides doctors with smartphones and tablets to help them monitor patients, Laura develops sports clothing and equipment to improve athletes’ performance, Krish is researching how to freeze cells, tissues and organs in order to keep them longer and transplant them successfully and Julia is a PhD student working on developing a pill to take videos inside the human gut to uncover diseases such as cancer. This zone had the highest number of students logged in out of all the zones in June’s event, which resulted in the highest number of questions approved.

Posted on July 15, 2016 by modmichaela in 2016, WT, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Health Zone Report – June 2016

Environment Zone Report – June 2016

Read the full report This was a themed zone funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious Grant. Stephen researches how to build supermarkets from more environmentally friendly materials, Natalie is a PhD student researching the behaviour of the ground when high speed trains pass over it in order to make sure trains can run at a high speed safely and Mark is a Senior Project Manager a company currently working on installing solar panels as the road surface. Jeni is a PhD student researching sustainable hydrogen production and Ashwanth works on a subsea construction boat in the North Sea extracting fuel from below the seabed. The zone was fairly active, and the engineers were all good at engaging with students through ASK and the live chats. The engineers each attended a good number of live chats, and continued to take part even if they had already been evicted which … Continue reading

Posted on July 15, 2016 by modmichaela in 2016, RAE, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Environment Zone Report – June 2016

Aerospace Zone Report – June 2016

Read the full report The Aerospace Zone was a themed zone funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Michael is a Senior Lecturer in aerospace engineering who researches ways to calculate noise in order to design quieter engine systems, Kirstin designs software which is used in military planes and helicopters and John is a Professor of Automotive Engineering who specialises in turbocharging. Chris works on the Exomars project currently working on sending a rover to Mars, and Agata is a research engineer who develops aerospace assembly systems. This zone was one of the busiest in June’s event, with a higher than average number of questions approved and live chats booked. Chris and John, who came first and second respectively, accounted for over half of all answers and live chat by engineers.

Posted on July 15, 2016 by modmichaela in 2016, RAE, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Aerospace Zone Report – June 2016

Robotics Zone Report – March 2016

READ THE FULL REPORT The Robotics Zone was a themed zone funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering. It involved scientists working with robotics in a variety of areas. Stuart designs tools for underwater robots, Melanie is a PhD student researching machine learning, Abbie works as Lead Engineer for the structure design on the first European Mars Rover, Tom is a PhD student who works for a robotics laboratory and Paul is an Engineering Supervisor for the Village Bakery. Questions from students were often thoughtful and intelligent, with the engineers providing detailed and engaging answers on topics such as the future of robotics and the gender balance in engineering. The zone was quite quiet in ASK with a below average number of questions submitted by the students compared to the rest of the March zones. The live chats also demonstrated that students had a good idea of the work the … Continue reading

Posted on April 13, 2016 by modmichaela in 2016, RAE, Zone Reports | Comments Off on Robotics Zone Report – March 2016