A girl in a physics world. : Science Rocks UK at Imperial College

Jess Wade, a final year PhD student at Imperial College and Postgraduate Representative of the Women in Physics Society gave me the opportunity of a lifetime! It was the best day I have ever had at Imperial. I was lucky enough to meet the Science Rocks UK girls, who are two wonderful and inspirational girls, Elizabeth and Megan O'Shea, that promote science through their website in the form of videos and articles. Being year 10 students I was amazed by their sheer enthusiasm to promote science. The world definitely needs more girls like them in order to encourage other girls to enter the brilliant world of STEM! Check out their cool website here.

To my surprise I had met them before! Back in March 2013 at the Big Bang Fair where I was exhibiting my Nuffield Science Project carried out at Imperial College in the National Science and Engineering Competition. The girls and their wonderful parents had visited my stand at the fair and it was an absolute pleasure to meet them again.

The girls had a jam-packed day organised by the legend, Jess Wade at Imperial College. The girls had a wonderful tour of Imperial College, followed by a STEM Potential Course at the Reach Out Lab and a Maths lecture which filled their morning. After lunch the fun continued with a video interview with my favourite Vector Calculus lecturer, Professor Schwartz who gave the girls a great insight into space physics.

The fun factor really escalated with Dr. Simon Foster, Outreach superstar, who showed the girls a 'supercool' demo with a superconductor (YBCO) that had to be supercooled with liquid nitrogen. This was levitated on a magnet track (using neodymium magnets) since the superconductor, in a way, expels magnetic fields. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen and the girls loved it too!

The girls also had a chance to interview two postgraduates about their work before taking 325 steps to the top of the Queen's Tower on campus. The views were exquisite and the girls had a great time taking pictures of the picturesque views! The tour was topped off with a chance to see inside the research environment created by Norman Foster to encourage discussion between groups - the colour gradient of the walls was an added perk.

The day ended on a high with a jaw-dropping tour of the medical robotics group at the Hamlyn Centre courtesy of Felicity McGrath, Neil Clancy and Petros Giataganas. The most advanced medical robots were shown to us as well as five 3D printers - these 3D printer could print with different densities, colours and a variety of moveable one pieces could be printed! I was amazed! I've always been a fan of medical physics but this day made me want to get into medical physics right now!

Here are some highlights of the day: