Profile
Shanine Smith
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About Me:
I live in Glasgow with my girlfriend and two cats 😻😸 ( I wish I had a dog too 🤣). I used to be a chef before becoming a scientist, so I love food; chocolate cake and ice-cream are my favourites!
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I come from a small town called Elgin, but I have lived all-over, including Cornwall and even France, where I loved to go skiing every day.
I love animals and care about the environment, which is why I eat a vegan diet. I also enjoy going to the gym every day as I think being fit and healthy is really important.
I worked in hotels and restaurants for many years and loved being a chef, but I always wanted to be a scientist. I wanted to mix science with food!!
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My pronouns are:
she/her
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My Work:
I am PhD student working in the whisky industry. I am researching different ways to make whisky but with less water, which will be better for the environment.
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Whisky is made from only three ingredients: water, barley and yeast! Whisky has been made the same way for hundreds of years and these three things are mixed together to produce alcohol, which we leave in barrels for years to turn into whisky.
Climate change means there is less available water in the world and my research hopes to find ways to mix these three ingredients together in new ways so that we don’t need to use as much water and the water can stay in the environment.
Basically, I make beer and whisky every day!!
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My Typical Day:
Every morning I go to the gym at 7am then head straight to the university where I do my research. After breakfast and coffee I like to do some reading and in the afternoon I work in the lab, checking on my experiments and collecting new data. I finish working around 6pm, then drive home and cook a really big dinner and relax for the evening.
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I like reading and learning in the mornings best because I am less tired then. I also use this time to plan my most important experiments and write up anything important I find from the data I have collected.
After I have completed all my work for the day, I like to clean and tidy the lab so its ready for me the next day. I also enjoy chatting to other students at the end of the day, as this can help me learn new things.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would love to come to schools and do some activities that connect food and science. Show-case that there is so much more to cooking/baking.
For instance, sensory activities like the colour, smell and taste of different foods/drinks! I mean, why are Raspberry flavoured drinks sometimes blue anyway?
Could you guess the real flavour of a drink if it was the wrong colour?
Could you tell the difference between bread and gluten free bread if you blindfolded and were only allowed to touch it?
Also, do you know if you are a supertaster? This means you have way more taste buds than everyone else, but only 25% of the people in the world are supertasters!
I would spend the money on food/equipment so that I could carryout these activities!
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Education:
Greenwards Primary School & Elgin High School
Glasgow Caledonian University & Strathclyde University
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Qualifications:
8 Standard Grades:
English (2); Maths (1); Physics (1); Chemistry (1)
History (2), Art (2), Drama (2); German (1)
5 Higher Grades:
English (B); Maths (A); Technology (B) , Physics (A); Chemistry (A)
Access to science (College): English, Maths, Biology & Chemistry
(It had been nearly 15 years since I went to high school, so I had to go back to college and re-learn all these subjects so that I could get into University)
Bachelor of science degree (Bsc): Food Bioscience
Master of science degree (Msc): Industrial Biotechnology
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Work History:
Waitress: worked in several hotels and restaurants serving food and taking orders, from the age of 13 until I was 18.
Restaurant Manager: worked in hotels in Elgin, Glasgow and Cornwall, managing the bars and restaurants, leading a team of waiters/waitresses for many years.
Chef: worked as a pizza chef for many years and was once the head chef at Zizzi!
Laboratory Technician: my first job in science after I got my masters degree where I looked after microalgae (really really tiny organisms) and helped the lead scientists design bioreactors to grow the algae.
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Employer:
Heriot-watt University
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Food-loving Scientist
What did you want to be after you left school?
Engineer
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Sometimes
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Chef
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Miley Cyrus
What's your favourite food?
Ice-cream
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1. To have my own private swimming pool (😆😆).2. Rescue all the dogs from the shelter 🐶🐶🐶. 3. Have enough money to buy my dream house 🏡
Tell us a joke.
What's faster - hot or cold? Answer: Hot! Because you can catch a cold! 😁
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