Profile
Luisa Islas
-
About Me:
Born in Mexico City , I now live with my husband in Bath and work as a research scientist for a green energy company. I am a big fan of dogs, chocolate, and visting art museums.
-
Read more
I moved to the UK in 2016 to do research at the University of Bristol, where I met some of my closest friends and now husband! Aside from being passionate about science, my favorite hobbies include reading books and watching movies and TV shows, particulary if they involve scifi. I also attempt to stay healthy by running the occasional half marathon every now and then and cycling to work everyday.
Recently, I have been trying to do more Mexican cooking at home, but it has only made me wish I had paid more attention to my mom’s cooking when I lived in Mexico!
I had my first baby last year, so it has been interesting to navigate going back to work as a new mom.
-
My pronouns are:
She/her
-
My Work:
I work to improve formulations that will help reduce the pollutants that are emitted by combustion engine cars!
-
Read more
I moved to the UK in 2016 to do research at the University of Bristol in the area of physical chemistry, where I got to play around with artificial bacteria membranes 🦠 that are so tiny that we need high energy x-ray sources ⚡ to visualize their behaviour , this meant some of my research was spent at various synchrotron facilites throughout Europe.
Nowadays I work for an industrial research company in the process chemistry group 👩🔬, where I get to experiment with current formulations to improve them and/or understand why they behave a certian way.
-
My Typical Day:
I grugindly wake up at the very last minute possible, have a quick banana smoothie for breaksfast, and rush out the door to catch the train and cycle to work. At work I first have a cup of tea to get my brain going, check my emails, and then head to the lab to do my experiments. At around midday I grab lunch (which is provided by my company!) with my teammates and then go back to the lab for more science fun! I also spend some time at my desk looking over my resuls.
-
Read more
Thus far, not one day has been alike!
-
What I'd do with the prize money:
I would like to use the money to create a workshop that would run simultaenosly in the UK and Mexico to help students understand a bit more about what it means to be a scientist and how science can connect us globally!
-
Education:
North Carolina State University (NCSU) -United States (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering)
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) – PhD Materials Science
University of Bristol (Researcher)
-
Qualifications:
IB Diploma
HL English, Physics, Calculus
SL French, Psychology, History
-
Work History:
Cleaner for a dance studio
Math Teacher at a summer program for talented kids
Waitress at a restaurant that served food from New Orleans
Research Assitant at NCSU
Laboratory Assistant at UNAM
Postdoctoral Researcher at Bristol
Research Consultant for a tax company at Forrest Brown in Bristol
Research Scientist at Johson Matthey
-
Current Job:
Research Scientist
-
Employer:
Johson Matthey
-
My Interview
-
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
easy-going curious explorer
What did you want to be after you left school?
astronomer!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
rarely - maybe twice
Who is your favourite singer or band?
it changes, at the moment Idles
What's your favourite food?
Mexican street tacos!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Being able to apparate, walk on the moon, have enough money to live a comfortable life
Tell us a joke.
What did the elevator say when he sneezed? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm coming down with something!
-