Dashboard – CERN Zone

About Me:

I am from Manchester 🐝 and live there with my partner and two cats 🐈‍⬛ Actually, my current job is in Switzerland at CERN, so I live there on my own for a lot of the year and visit home as much as I can. I like yoga, wildlife and sci-fi/action films. I am also a scuba diving instructor.
My pronouns are:

she/her
I'm a member of team Beam Team
My Work:

I am a physicist and work on particle accelerators (machines that force particles to move at high speeds). I run simulations to predict how new parts of the machine will work before we install them. At the moment, I work at CERN and am investigating how to add crystals made out of silicon to bend particles in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
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Particle accelerators have many different uses. Some are used to find new physics, for example colliders (like the LHC) smash particles together, breaking them apart, so we can search for any new particles inside. Some are used in medicine, for example proton therapy machines use particles, like protons, to treat cancer. Some are used in industry, for example particles can be used to scan for materials inside trucks at ports.

In my job, I design experiments that use particle accelerators. I am working on an experiment to bend particles from the LHC using crystals made from silicon. The particles should follow the lines made by the silicon atoms inside the crystal. By bending the crystal, the particles travelling through it should bend too! If it works, we will be able to bend the particles more sharply than ever before, allowing us to measure how they ‘wobble’ as they bend. (The technical term for this ‘wobbling’ is called spin precession).

Candidate CV questions (extra)

Education:

I went to school in Stretford, Manchester

I saw the Trafford Centre being built from my classroom in primary school
Qualifications:

12 GCSEs including Spanish, Science, Art and Geography

A-levels: Geography, Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths, Physics and General Studies
Work History:

Trampoline coach (for a trampoline club at a Sports Centre)

Science teacher (at a High School)

PhD researcher and Teaching Assistant (at a University)

Particle Accelerator Researcher (at a University)
Employer:

CERN

My Interview
- How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
  
  nature-loving physicist
  
  What did you want to be after you left school?
  
  a scientist (maybe a vet)
  
  Were you ever in trouble at school?
  
  not really
  
  If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
  
  something with nature or conservation
  
  Who is your favourite singer or band?
  
  how do you choose? I like Taylor Swift, Basement jaxx, McFly, and KISS
  
  What's your favourite food?
  
  spaghetti
  
  If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
  
  I would wish for a big house with a swimming pool so I could swim everyday, I'd also wish for it to magically clean itself so I wouldn't have to!
  
  Tell us a joke.
  
  What part of a fish weighs the most? The scales!