Dashboard – I'm a Scientist 2024

About Me:

I am an engineer making sure things don’t break, collapse or explode!
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I live in London with my two best friends from university. I got very into gardening over lock-down so also share the house with lots of tomatoes, chillies, and houseplants. I’m half Filipino, British and Irish, can speak Chinese and am learning French! I play hockey and do boxing. Pronouns: She/her
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Creating virtual models from reality:

A lot of the work I do, is creating virtual models of buildings and structures which either currently exist, or are going to be built. These models are created in 3D on a computer and allow us to test how well they work to make sure they don’t fall down before being built!

A model of the Sagrada Familia moving in an earthquake

Wind turbine doing a boogie

Model of a house collapsing in an earthquake
My Typical Day:

I spend my day building virtual models of buildings, doing calculations to make sure I’ve got everything right and asking other engineers for help.
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I start with a virtual catch-up meeting with my project team who are based all across the world (from Shanghai to the Netherlands). We talk about what difficulties we’ve had trying to build our building models and try to help each other out. Then I’d go off on my own and continue working on my model. Throughout the day I’d ping messages to my team mates asking questions and sometimes if I have a really tough problem we’d get on the phone and chat for up to an hour just trying to work it out together! By the end of the day, I’ll have got a little further and learned a little something more, or been able to help a colleague out.
What I'd do with the prize money:

I will donate it to in2scienceuk to help give more students the opportunity to take part in life-changing STEM placement opportunities.

Candidate CV questions (extra)

Education:

Shanghai Rego International School, China | Bishop’s Stortford College, Hertfordshire, U.K.
Qualifications:

GCSE’s: Mandarin, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, D.T., German, English Lit, English Language, Geography, Art | A:Levels: Biology, Maths, Chemistry, Physics | University Masters Degree: Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London.
Work History:

Factory line worker – screwing on bottles and packing boxes, Molton Brown, Hertfordshire | Events Staff – waitressing, setting up/down tables, bartending, London | Bar Staff – making cocktails and running the pub quiz, H-bar Imperial College London | Summer intern in Technology & Operations, Santander, London.
Current Job:

Structural & Mechanical Engineer

My Interview
- How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
  
  Silly, Relaxed, Resourceful
  
  What did you want to be after you left school?
  
  A Biomedical Engineer
  
  Were you ever in trouble at school?
  
  I think my chemistry teacher hated me because I talked in class and never did homework... (Unfortunately I sat on the front row with the smart girls, so each time he came round to collect it he'd be thoroughly disappointed when he reached my chair). Luckily he did eventually come to like me when I took it up for A-levels and started studying a little more.
  
  Who is your favourite singer or band?
  
  Haven't got a favourite... but I do love Vampire Weekend
  
  What's your favourite food?
  
  Mangoes, I love them (dried mangoes too, but the ones from the Philippines are BY FAR the best). A few other faves: Yorkshire Puddings, Fig Rolls, Spring Rolls. And I could eat rice all day <3
  
  If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
  
  1 - Save the world from Climate Change, 2 - For everyone in the world to be happy, 3 - to be able to finally get my own dog (wished for one every birthday!)
  
  Tell us a joke.
  
  Heard about an engineer who built an aircraft made of bubbly chocolate. Think it was an aeroplane.