Dashboard – I'm a Scientist 2024

About Me:

I’m a Control Engineer working on Nuclear Fusion research machines. I love tinkering with electronics, playing games and am trying to make my own escape room.
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I’m Jamie, a Control Engineer living in Oxford.

I studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Southampton. I was lucky to be offered summer jobs at UKAEA, and I loved it so much I joined them after and am still here two years later!

I like to play the ukulele (I have tried guitar but could never get my head around 6 strings).

I’m really into nerdy stuff (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings…), my favourite film is The Iron Giant. I love both board games and computer games.

I like comedy, anything with a silly joke or pun is going to make me laugh!
My pronouns are:

He/Him/His
My Work:

I’m a Control Engineer, I design electronics that keep an eye on important values in the machine and work out how to correct them if the drift away from where they should be. The thing I am currently helping to control is a Nuclear Fusion reactor called MAST-U, and previously did the same for record-breaking reactor JET.
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UKAEA is an organisation that researches Nuclear Fusion. This is the process of joining atoms together, giving off energy in the process. This is how stars (including the Sun) are able to give out heat and light.

UKAEA is home to the JET fusion reactor. A fusion reactor is a machine (mostly donut shaped) that produces Nuclear Fusion on Earth.

There are lots of things you need to control in a fusion reactor:

-How much power is going in

-How strong the magnets are

-Is the system getting too hot?

That’s where I come in. I design equipment that keeps an eye on these areas and can make changes to the setup in order to keep them right. That way if a magnet is too strong, the control system will see it, make the magnet weaker and check again to see if the problem has gone.

This means the fusion reactor can work with fewer problems.
My Typical Day:

I get the bus to work, have a cup of tea and decide what I need to work on that day, normally writing control software. I get the bus home, put my feet up and either play some games or work on a project at home (currently trying to make an escape room with some of my electronics skills)
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I have three major jobs that I might do:

Operating – My team is called Neutral Beams, which is a fancy way of saying particle gun. When the machine I work on, MAST-U, is running, sometimes they ask for Neutral Beams to fire into the reactor to make more heat. When I’m scheduled on the roster, I have to come into work early to power up the beams and run test shots until the beam is at a suitable voltage (up to 70,000 volts!).

Debugging – Sometimes we find that the beams behave in an unusual way. One of my jobs is to monitor our control software to see if I can work out why this strange behaviour occurred.

New Software – we are currently planning on putting two new beams onto MAST-U, so I’m writing new software to control these.
What I'd do with the prize money:

Develop a board game that can be used to teach some of the fundamentals of electronics or another scientific area to school students.

Candidate CV questions (extra)

Education:

Wollaston School in Northamptonshire

University of Southampton
Qualifications:

GCSEs
Maths A*, Applications of Maths A* Methods in Maths A*, Physics A*, Chemistry A*, Biology A*, English Language A, English Literature A, History A, Ethics and Philosophy A*, French B, Drama B

A Levels
Maths A*, Further Maths A*, Physics A and Chemistry A*

Degree
MEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Work History:

UKAEA
Started doing summers whilst at University then joined full time.
Current Job:

Control and Instrumentation Engineer at UKAEA

My Interview
- How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
  
  Nerdy Fusion Engineer
  
  What did you want to be after you left school?
  
  My life goal was to go on Robot Wars, but since the cancelled it I found my skills useful here
  
  Were you ever in trouble at school?
  
  Not if I could help it!
  
  Who is your favourite singer or band?
  
  Toby Fox
  
  What's your favourite food?
  
  Sushi
  
  If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
  
  Unlimited grapes, Every movie to have a Muppet version and for Robot Wars to return to our screens
  
  Tell us a joke.
  
  Did you see the new Olympic Sport where you have to get as many pirates in a bathroom as you can? We got Silver in the Men's