NewsletterBringing you the latest news from the School of Physical Sciences at the University of Kent Spring Term 2013

School of Physical Sciences

News and eventsPage 5

UndergraduateStudent ProfilePage 6

PostgraduateStudent ProfilePage 7

News and eventsPage 3

2 University of Kent School of Physical Sciences

Inside this edition3 News and events6 Undergraduate student profile7 Postgraduate student profile8 Noticeboard

Applications forPostgraduate StudyWe are now accepting applications forpostgraduate study for 2013 entry. Somefunding will be available and will beannounced in the spring on the SPSwebsite: www.kent.ac.uk/physical-sciences

Welcome to the Spring 2013 edition of theSPS Newsletter, designed to keep current andprospective students in touch with the latestnews from the School.

Last academic year the School of PhysicalSciences outreach team led by Dr VickyFitzgerald, SEPnet Outreach Officer, reached outto over 18,000 people to increase theirknowledge and interest in the Physical Sciences.Most of these were students from over 40different schools in Kent and the South Eaststudying for their GCSE’s. They experiencedvarious activities such as rocket building, showsin the mobile planetarium, rollercoasterworkshops with K’NEX, radioactivity workshopsand liquid nitrogen shows.

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News and Events

SPS Outreach Activity 2012

As well as these in-school activities the teamwere present at local events promoting scienceto young people such as skills festivals, theGrowing Scientists Expo and the Kent Festival ofScience, plus regional festivals such as theSouth East Big Bang Fair and TeenTech.

The team developed some new activities this yearsuch as: a Princes Trust Get Started programmein February which encouraged 16 young peoplenot in education, employment or training toimprove their confidence and employability skillsusing science and photography; a workshop foryear 12 science and maths students based onthe Olympic sport of shooting, allowing thestudents access to a high powered compressedair rifle in the labs. This was part of a regionalSEPnet Olympic Physics competition. Both ofthese programmes were very successful and willrun again in the near future.

With two grants for chemistry outreach projectsfrom the Royal Society of Chemistry and theRoyal Society, and the largest Space Schoolcohort in 4 years the outreach team has beenvery busy, but with a large group of dedicatedundergraduate and postgraduate demonstratorsalongside academics, the school can continueto enthuse and encourage the next generationof scientists.

Forensic Science SocietyRecognitionThe School of Physical Sciences weredelighted to be informed that their ForensicScience Graduate Diploma has beensuccessful in achieving the required leveland is now formally recognised by TheForensic Science Society.

We are also proud to announce that Kent isthe first University to gain an award ofRecognition: www.forensic-science-society.org.uk/Recognition

The Forensic Science Society is aninternational professional body and one ofthe oldest and largest forensic associationsin the world. They encouragecommunication and collaboration byproviding an arena in which practitioners,researchers, academics and those workingin related fields congregate, communicateand invoke development of areas such asbest practice, research, publication, qualityand ethics in forensic casework.

The School of Physical Sciences alreadyhave the following FSS AccreditedUniversity Courses:

• BSc (Hons) Forensic Chemistry

• BSc (Hons) Forensic Chemistry with ayear in Industry

• BSc (Hons) Forensic Science

• BSc (Hons) Forensic Science with a yearin Industry

• MSci (Hons) Forensic Chemistry

• MSci (Hons) Forensic Science

For further information about the ForensicScience Society, please visit: www.forensic-science-society.org.uk/home

4 University of Kent School of Physical Sciences

News and Events

The Royal Society of Chemistry offered £1,000 tothe person or team producing the best and mostcreative explanation of the phenomenon by whichhot water sometimes freezes faster than coldwater, known today as The Mpemba Effect, and22,000 people responded.

Antony Gibson (BSc Physics with Space Scienceand Cosmology 2009) appeared on the RSCwebsite as ‘Submission of the Day’ for hisexplanation, meaning he had made the top 50 ofall those entries. Antony explains:

In July 2012 the Royal Society of Chemistryissued a challenge. The task was to provide asound and scientifically valid explanation for thepossible cause of why hotter water should freezemore quickly than colder water, a phenomenonknown as ‘The Mpemba Effect’. Though thisdefiance of thermodynamics has been knownabout for some time, there is little agreement andno solid theory regarding the mechanism whichdrives this behaviour. This was all the enticementI needed to begin thinking about how best totackle this problem.

I currently work as the physics technician atBrighton Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College, anenvironment in which I am surrounded by likeminded people with similar interests. One ofthese like minded people is Sue King, a closecolleague of mine that works as the technician forthe chemistry department. Sue had also seen thischallenge advertised by the RSC, and it didn’ttake long for ideas to start bouncing around. Invery little time we had begun to seriously thinkabout experiments which might begin to narrowdown and hone in on a solution, and on the 29thJuly following three weeks of research,

deliberation, and much freezing of water wesubmitted our theory to the RSC. In this paper weclaim that the reason hot water freezes first isprimarily due to the degassing of water duringheating, and that hot degassed water does notre-absorb as much air during freezing as isinitially present prior to heating. And, since it isknown that for a bubble to form in water animpurity such as dust or mineral particle must bepresent (a nucleation site), and that the same isalso necessary for ice to begin to form, wesuggest that water which has not been degassed(water at room temperature for example), losessome of its freezing potential to nucleation sitesthat have become inhabited by bubbles – formedat the freezing front during the zone refining ofimpurities – and that the bubbles themselves arenot good candidates for further nucleation.

Shortly after the closing date for entries the RSCissued a statement advising that they had beenoverwhelmed with over twenty-two thousandsubmissions, and that the original date for theannouncement of a winner would need to berevised. This lead to the introduction of anunbiased online voting system whereby tworandomly selected submissions would bepitched against each other in a popularitycontest, and by the beginning of October theentries were shortlisted to the top fifty.

On the 23rd November we were contacted bythe RSC and advised that our entry had stoodout and that they would like to feature us on theirwebsite as a ‘Submission of the day’, we’d madethe top fifty! I can’t express enough the delight Ifelt when on the 6th of December 2012 our entrystood proud on the Royal Society of Chemistrywebsite for all to see.

The competition has since closed and sadly wedidn’t win, but this has not stopped our researchand we hope to post an update to our theory inthe not too distant future.

The RSC have subsequently now set up asubmission of the day archive showing off someof the top entries, ours included, and this can befound at www.rsc.org/mpemba-competition/archive/index.asp.

Though the subject was very much chemistrybased, it is my feeling that tackling the problemfrom a physics background provided acomplimentary viewpoint during the developmentof experiments and analysis of experimentaldata. I could not have hoped to have begun toresearch a problem like this prior to obtaining mydegree at the University of Kent, and I would liketo take this opportunity to thank all of my lecturersfor being patient, helpful, and inspiring.

SPS Physics Graduate Anthony Gibson earns ‘Submission of the Day’ status inRoyal Society of Chemistry competition to explain The Mpemba Effect

The School of Physical Sciences has recentlybeen helping to encourage members of thepublic to get involved in amateur astronomy. Attwo events to tie in with the BBC Stargazing Livetelevision programmes SPS took their mobileplanetarium and spectroscopy workshop to helpenthuse and excite the public. Promoting theresearch carried out in the school, people hadthe chance to observe the stars and planetsclose up, and understand how we can tell fromthe light observed from distant stars, what theyare made of and how they are moving.

The first event was held in collaboration with BBCLearning, The Langton Star Centre and localastronomy groups and saw 1500 members ofthe public attend to learn more about spacescience and astronomy.

Amongst the many attractions such as hands ontalks, a live link-up with a NASA astronaut andplenty of stargazing, visitors had the chance toenter the Kent SEPnet astrodome for a tour of theUniverse and to build their own spectroscope.

The second event was held in collaboration withChatham Grammar School for Boys and localastronomy groups and SPS provided again thechance for people to tour the Universe in theplanetarium, experience spectroscopy andinvestigate the Big Bang using Lego.

These events were part of the School of PhysicalSciences extensive outreach programme whichaims to enthuse and excite students andmembers of the public in all areas of science byproviding free activities, talks and resources.

School of Physical Sciences Outreach OfficerVicky Fitzgerald said ‘It is great for the school tobe involved in events such as these as not onlydoes it help members of the general public toengage in astronomy and space science, as wellas research carried out in the school, it alsoencourages more young people to considerstudying physics, astronomy and space scienceat University which will create more physicists’.

If you know anyone between the ages of 11 and18 interested in space and astronomylet them know about our Space Schoolweekends in August, more information can befound here www.kent.ac.uk/physical-sciences/spaceschool

Stargazing Live

New Academic StaffMember: Dr Emma McCabeEmma obtained a 1st class honours degreein MNatSc(Chemistry) in 2002 at theUniversity of Birmingham, where she stayedto carry out research for a PhD (2006) onlayered, perovskite-related materials underthe supervision of Professor Colin Greaves.This research focused on the synthesis ofcomplex transition metal oxides and oxide-fluorides, their structural characterisationfrom powder diffraction data andinvestigation of their magnetic properties.She took up a PDRA position (2006-2009) atthe University of Sheffield in Professor TonyWest’s group where she worked on a rangeof materials, with potential applications in Li+ion batteries, data storage and mobilecommunications devices. In 2009, shemoved to Durham University to work as aPDRA in Professor John S O Evans’ researchgroup on the synthesis and characterisationof transition metal mixed anion systems.

These materials are related to the recentlydiscovered high temperature iron-basedsuperconductors, and to an unusual classof transparent semiconducting materials.This project combined many of herresearch interests including the discoveryand synthesis of complex new materials,their structural characterisation andinvestigation of the electronic structure andphysical properties.

Emma was appointed Lecturer in Chemistryat the University of Kent in January 2013and is delighted to be part of the FunctionalMaterials Group here in the School ofPhysical Sciences.

University of Kent School of Physical Sciences 5

News and Events

Our 4 year programme with a year inindustry offers our students an additionaloption to enhance their employability.Alternatively our 4-year MChem chemistryprogramme has a Stage 4 where you will bepart of a research group where you willundertake cutting edge research.

The School of Physical Sciences are delighted toannounce the introduction of three and four yearundergraduate programmes in Chemistry fromSeptember 2013. The new programmes willutilize the Schools existing expertise in Chemistryand will be further supported by the addition of 3new members of staff to the teaching team.

Chemistry is the science of everyday life –allowing us to explain properties of substances,their structures and changes they undergo.Consequently, the chemical industry is central tomodern world economy, and chemistry graduatesare offered a wide range of employment optionsin the oil, gas and energy, consumer products andpharmaceutical industries.

At the School of Physical Sciences we have astrong teaching record in analytical chemistryand we are proud to link our world leadingresearch on materials chemistry to ourundergraduate programmes. All practicalclasses are undertaken in newly refurbishedlaboratories, with new modern equipment.

New Chemistry Degree Programmes

pound postgraduate college, Woolf College.Members of our academic team andpostgraduate students are available to answerqueries about studying for MSc or PhD researchdegrees in the School of Physical Sciences.

For further details about the Open Days, ofwhich the next will be in July 2013, please seethe main university website:www.kent.ac.uk/studying/visit/openday/index.html or call 01227 827272.

The School of Physical Sciences was open forboth prospective undergraduate andpostgraduate students as part of the UniversityOpen Days in September and October. Anumber of current students and academic staffmembers were available to answer coursequeries and offer tours of the laboratories as wellas some subject talks and demonstrations.

The School also participate in the PostgraduateOpen Events in November 2012 and February2013, which take place in Kent’s multi-million

Open Days

PASS InformationCurrent undergraduate students arereminded to check the PASS webpages atwww.kent.ac.uk/physical-sciences/local/undergrad/support.html

Free Student Membershipto the Institute of PhysicsThe Institute of Physics offers freemembership to all physics students –to join visit:

http://members.iop.org/studentmembership.asp

Third-year ForensicScience student CharliePossee was nominated bySPS for the 2012 AnalyticalPrize in Chemistry for hisoutstanding overallperformance in moduleCH506, ChemicalIdentification Techniques, inhis second year. The prizeof £150 is sponsored by the Analytical ChemistryTrust Fund for the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Additionally, Charlie was nominated for the HarryShalgosky Award 2012 for the best RSC prize inAnalytical Chemistry. He also won this which isan award for the undergraduate with the highestexamination score out of all the winners of theRSC prize in Analytical Chemistry.

Charlie said: ‘I was absolutely thrilled to havewon these awards, they were such a surprise,especially as I hadn’t studied Chemisty at ALevel. The money is great, but it’s just nice to getsome recognition for all the hard work I put in lastyear, and an excellent CV booster! I would like tothank the RSC for their generosity, and ProfessorWent for the nomination’.

£150 Royal Society of Chemistry Prize AND HarryShalgosky Award 2012 won by Charlie Possee

6 University of Kent School of Physical Sciences

Undergraduate Student Profile

Adam Baskerville3rd Year Physics with Astrophysics

I originally came to the University of Kent to doa financial mathematics degree. Afterapproximately 4-5 months I realised that thisdegree was not suited to my interests; and theallure of physics became stronger and strongeruntil I decided to enquire as to a degreechange and wanted to enter the School ofPhysical Sciences.

I was sceptical as to how my enquiries would bemet; but was simply blown away with how helpfulall the staff were who I encountered during thefirst week or two of following through with theswitch over. I firstly sent an email to ProfessorStrange who then directed me towards GeorgeDobre who was the Director of UndergraduateStudies. We spent time talking over the processand he was incredibly helpful and friendlythroughout. Through several meetings anddiscussions I became a student of the School ofPhysical Sciences doing a masters degree inphysics with astrophysics.

The initial feeling on this degree was completelydifferent; as I was very passionate about thecontent I was learning which made going tolectures enjoyable and the material I wasstudying was both fundamental and laid downthe ground work for the later years study. This,combined with the great selection of lecturerswho spent their time teaching us and markingour assignments, made for a professional andvery beneficial year. I was lucky to have studieddegree level mathematics for a year previouslywhich was of great benefit during the puremathematics module.

The first year went by very quickly and before Iknew it I was onto stage two of the degree. A fewof the modules carried on steadily from the endof the first year; but there were several moduleswhich were brand new in terms of content.During the second year my two favouritemodules became atomic and nuclear physics(PH503) and quantum physics (PH502).

I have always been fascinated with veryfundamental physics pertaining to naturalphilosophy. The lecturers throughout stage 2were once again all very helpful if I neededclarification and they made the modulesinteresting to study. The stage 2 lab reportsproved more of a challenge than I wasexpecting; but with the marking provided by thelab helpers it meant my report writing improveddramatically over the course of the year.

I am now in stage 3 of my degree and it onceagain leads on steadily from stage 2. Thecontent is more in-depth once more and certainareas from stage 2 are revisited and expandedupon greatly. As I am doing the masters degree Iam undertaking a project individually with theguidance of a lecturer whose research interestsare related to the project.

After this year has been completed; I will moveonto the taught master’s year and then hopefullyafter that a PhD.

Studying at the University of Kent has been avery worthwhile and fantastic experience. Duringthe selection process for universities that everystudent must go through, it is sometimes difficultto foresee how the experience will unfold; as it issuch a dramatic change from what you are usedto from secondary education. Was the choice ofuniversity correct? Was the degree selectioncorrect? What will the students and staff be like?Etc... The campus itself offers a large variety ofsocieties and with Canterbury just a walk downthe road; you will never be bored! Another greatpart of the university is the very friendly studentbase. You will meet people from many culturesand different walks of life and will make newfriends very quickly.

I can confidently say that I made the correctchoice in studying at the University of Kent; andwill highly recommend it to others who areunsure as to whether or not to study here.

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Postgraduate Student Profile

Marc WilliamsPhD in Chemistry

Hi I’m Marc Williams,a final year PhD studentin Chemistry. I have beenat the University for over5 years as both anundergraduate and apostgraduate student.Consistently throughoutmy studies the universityhas proven to be anexciting place to study at.

I enrolled as an undergraduate in 2007 for theForensic Science degree. The main draw of theUniversity of Kent was the varied coursesyllabus and the location. When I was finishingmy A-levels, I had no idea where I wanted totake my education other than continuing to studyscience. The Forensics course presented avaried module list that explores many differentareas of science (and other disciplines like law).

Particular highlights within my undergraduatecourse were the analytical methods module,giving hands on experience with a wide varietyof analytical techniques. Medicinal chemistryand pharmacology provided interesting insighton drug discovery and development. Whilstmodules such as forensic mapping andforensic techniques provided a nice changeof pace in comparison to the more synthesisorientated modules.

The campus has a unique feel to it, beingsituated on top of the hill. It is a very opencampus with great scenery, and an activeStudent Union ensuring there is something to dobeyond studying. Canterbury as a city is a vibrantplace with a magnitude of shops and bars. Thediversity within Canterbury city due to its locationmakes it very cosmopolitan with a European feel.

When it came to the option to continue my studies,the decision to stay at Kent was clear. Thepostgraduate facilities here are excellent and thecommunity within the Physical Sciencesdepartment is really friendly and accommodating.

Postgraduate life at Kent is vastly different fromundergraduate life, with the freedom to approachyour studies at your own pace. The transitionfrom undergraduate to postgraduate studies wassmooth and when faced with adversity there wasalways someone to help.

Undertaking my PhD at the University haspresented many exciting opportunities for me totravel and present my work at other places.Throughout my PhD I have travelled to severalconferences and visited research institutes likethe ISIS neutron beam at the RutherfordAppleton Laboratory. Additionally the Universityalso offer courses to expand your skill setbeyond those learnt within a lab with itspostgraduate skills training sessions.

After all my time at the University, the relaxedatmosphere and the vast amount of equipmentand experience on offer has made for a veryenjoyable University experience.

Write for the NewsletterIf you would like to contribute an article to thisnewsletter please contact Russell Weeks byemailing r.weeks@kent.ac.uk

Space School

Join the Space SocietyThe student-led Space Society is one of theoldest and most active societies on campus.It has nearly 40 members from a broad rangeof academic disciplines. It won the Institute ofPhysics prize for the best student society in2008, as well as Kent Union’s award for bestsociety at the University of Kent. For moreinformation and contact details see Kent Union’swebsite at www.kentunion.co.uk/societies/

Term datesSpring Term14th January – 5th April 2013

Summer Term6th May – 14th June 2013

Autumn Term30th September – 20th December 2013

Calendar NotesGood Friday29th March 2013

Easter Monday1st April 2013

May Day6th May 2013

Facebook and TwitterJoin the School’s Facebookgroup and follow us onTwitter and Wikidot.

Free Physics OutreachSessionsThe School of Physical Sciences offers a widerange of free physics demonstrations, talks,activities and workshops to enthuse students inthe subject. Some examples are:

• Cool Physics – A low temperature physicsdisplay using Liquid Nitrogen

• Astrodome – Tour the Universe in your ownschool hall with our mobile planetarium

• Chemical Rocket Workshop – A chance todesign, build and launch your own chemicalrockets

• Educational Lectures from the School’sacademics on topical research subjects suchas Nanotechnology, Structural Studies usingX-rays and Neutrons, Life in Space and manyother interesting topics.

For more information seewww.kent.ac.uk/physical-sciences/outreach.htmlor contact Vicky Fitzgerald by emailingv.fitzgerald-45@kent.ac.uk

For more information about any of the articlesfeatured in this newsletter, contact:

Russell WeeksPostgraduate & Recruitment OfficerE: r.weeks@kent.ac.uk

Images courtesy of:Martin Levenson, NASA, The Forensic ScienceSociety, SEPnet and Kent students and staff.

School of Physical SciencesUniversity of KentIngram BuildingCanterburyKent CT2 7NHT: 01227 823759E: spsrecruit@kent.ac.uk

8 University of Kent School of Physical Sciences

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