Hi! I’m Louis a final year MSci Natural Sciences (Physics and Chemistry) student. This year is a lot less busy in terms of contact hours than my previous three years here, but I have a lot more independent work and so have to put a lot more effort into structuring my time!
Heat, x-rays and crystals
Half of my marks this year are based on my final year physics project. I loved lab work in my first 3 years, so I chose a very lab heavy project (from a list of around 200 options!). A large part of this involves making crystalline materials via solid state synthesis methods: I (carefully and thoughtfully!) grab some powders, grind them together and put them in a furnace which usually heats them to around 1300 oC. I then grind them up again and put them in an X-ray diffractometer, a machine that basically bombards the crystals with X-rays and helps determine the structure of the materials I’ve made. Grinding powders together isn’t the most glamourous lab work I’ve ever done, but it is a very good arm workout! Its also really exciting to make something new that no one has ever made before! I have weekly meetings with my project supervisor to discuss how the project is going and get help with any problems I’m facing in the lab or with analysing my data. I also have fortnightly group meetings with the rest of the final year project students and postgraduate students who also have the same supervisor, and this is a chance to show results, discuss papers and practice presentations.
Outside the lab
The rest of my time is spent studying other modules, with a very similar layout to previous years. Typically physics modules have 2-3 lectures per module per week, a weekly workshop session and a weekly problem sheet. This gives loads of opportunities to ask questions and solve problems – a great way to make sure you understand what you are being taught. This year all of my contact hours are between 9am-2pm, leaving my afternoons fairly free to consolidate my lecture notes, do coursework or problems sheets or go for a run (depending on the weather!).
From batteries to bridges…
Over the last two years I have been lucky enough to have two fantastic internship opportunities. The first in the summer of 2022 was with the Faraday Institution at Imperial College London, looking at lithium-ion battery degradation. I got to publish a poster on the Faraday Institution website and get my first taste of academic research, while getting a chance to experience living in London. This summer I did an internship with the Earth Sciences department here in Durham, using Geophysical methods to assess water infiltration on Prebends Bridge – a very pretty 18th century bridge just outside of the city centre. I submitted a report to Historic England summarising the results and I am currently writing an academic paper discussing the work which will hopefully be published!
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