Submitted by Administrator on Thu, 11/03/2021 - 17:37
Marlini Simoes, PhD researcher in the fracture and shock physics group in the Cavendish Laboratory has been awarded the silver medal at the STEM for Britain 2021 poster competition.
In her research, supervised by Dr Chris Braithwaite, Marlini conducts dynamic impact tests at high velocities. Her poster “3D printing Smart Cellular Materials: Self-healing Protection for Space Applications” was recognised amongst 10 finalists in the Engineering category.
Her research work lies in the field of materials engineering, with particular emphasis on additive manufacturing, shape memory alloys and dynamic loading applications. She is funded by the European Space Agency to develop reusable energy absorbers for vehicle landing impacts and to offer self-healing protection against space debris impact.
Receiving the medal, Marlini said: “I feel very honoured to win a medal in the Engineering category, given the strong competition. The award is significant because it highlights the importance of my field of research. Among the finalists in the Engineering category, I was the only one presenting research related to space applications. Being a medallist will also be a boost for me in disseminating my work in the future.
“I hope that this award will also increase the visibility of women in my field, where we are undoubtedly a small minority. I hope that my success will inspire more girls to study a STEM subject.”
STEM for Britain is a major scientific poster competition and exhibition held in Parliament since 1997 and organised by the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee. Attracting hundreds of applications every year, it aims to give members of both Houses of Parliament an insight into the outstanding research work being undertaken in UK universities by early-career researchers.
Along with Marlini, two other finalists from the Cavendish laboratory presented their work in the competition:
Tiffany Harte, from the many-body quantum dynamics group in AMOP presented her work on ‘Weaving a basket of light for atoms’, and Alan Bowman from the optoelectronics group with his poster “How good can the next generation of solar panels be?”.
All posters are available for general view on the STEM for Britain website.