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Rocket scientist takes career woman award
Institute of Physics Press Release
PR25 (09)
Fri, 5 June 2009
Four female early career physicists, family, colleagues, friends and members of the Institute of Physics (IOP)’s Women in Physics Group came to the Institute of Physics (IOP) on Wednesday, 27 May, to hear who would be awarded 2009’s Very Early Career Woman Award.
The award, sponsored by Shell, is aimed at recognising early career women working in physics-related fields and highlighting how their skills, ambition and desire to inspire others in to physics-related pursuits are already bearing fruit.
The four shortlisted candidates presented slides about their work which were as varied as they were enthralling: one about her research towards building particle physics accelerators which intend to zap inoperable tumours; another on the study of the effect of light on butterflies’ wings; one more on understanding dark energy and star formation; and, finally, one from a rocket scientist currently involved in designing the attitude control for a spacecraft.
It was stressed by Dr Gillian Butcher, chair of the Women in Physics Group and compere for the day’s event, that the four shortlisted candidates had been very difficult to choose between as all had already achieved so much at such an early stage of their career.
The winner however was Victoria Hodges from Astrium Ltd who explained during her presentation that she is currently working on GAIA, one of the European Space Agency’s cornerstone projects, due to be launched in 2012, which all involved hope, once construction is completed, will be able to map the billion or so stars in our galaxy and the local group.
Vicki explained her work at the event, “Once the satellite is in space its position and orientation has to be controlled, a bit like driving a car, but it’s not possible or desirable to do this in real-time. You have to make the spacecraft autonomous to overcome the gap between sending a signal and the satellite receiving it, while this is only around 5 seconds for Gaia, this is a long period of time for a spacecraft! A big part of my team’s challenge is being able to control the satellite accurately to within less than a degree (and in some phases of the mission less than a few arcseconds!) of the desired orientation – imagine trying to control the line along which you drive a car on the road to this level of accuracy!”
Also impressive to the judges, Vicki has recently spent a fair proportion of her time working on an outreach programme for school children visiting the Astrium site in Stevenage. The new programme for school kids has already been well-received by more than 500 local children, helping to inspire rocket scientists of the future.
Professional photographs of the awards ceremony are available. Contact IOP press officer, Joe Winters at joseph.winters@iop.org or call 020 7470 4815.
Notes to editors:
Contact
1. For further information or to request photographs please contact IOP Press Officer, Joe Winters:
Tel: 020 7470 4815
Mobile: 07946 321473
E-mail: joseph.winters@iop.org
Very Early Career Woman Physicist of the Year Award
2. This year’s award was sponsored by Shell and aims to recognise significant achievements already accomplished at an early stage in any female physicist’s career.
Criteria for women to enter for the award is a significant contribution to the project on which they are working, activities undertaken to encourage others into physics, named referees and a CV. Entrees are required to make their own application for the award. The winner is selected by members of the IOP’s Women in Physics Group Advisory Panel. For further information please email Dr. Carol Thompson at carol.thompson@shell.com or call 01224 818035.
Shell and their diversity drive
3. Shell operates in more than 110 countries, and has over 100,000 employees worldwide. Science, engineering and technology positions are critical for the company's success. Shell is a key player in the huge energy challenge currently facing the world, estimating that by the middle of this century the world will need twice as much energy for half the CO2. Shell sees it as their job to help deliver it - safely, responsibly and profitably.
To do this Shell needs to recruit the most talented people, against a background of hot competition. Shell draws from a diverse workforce, and the number of women in the organisation continues to increase. The company aims to ensure that we have diverse shortlists for jobs, which include well qualified female candidates - but of course the best person for the job is the one who gets it, regardless of gender.
Shell Women’s Network
4. The SWN (Shell Women's Network) in the UK (and in many other countries) aims to support women in their careers, by publicising role models, arranging learning and development events and providing mentoring opportunities.
Shell in the UK actively sponsors many scientific events, including:
- Providing science workshops to 50,000 primary school children each in around 600 schools
- Sponsorship of the Science Museum launchpad
- Sponsorship of the UK Young Scientists and Engineers fair
- One of the principal sponsors of Techfest, Aberdeen, along with BP
- A sponsor of the Imperial College Science challenge
…and now the The Very Early Career Woman Physicist of the Year.
Institute of Physics Women in Physics Group
5. A Professional Group of the Institute of Physics established to encourage the participation of women in all areas of physics and all of IOP’s activities. It aims to provide a forum for members to provide input into debate and initiatives to advance issues of particular relevance to women in the field of physics. The group provides support to female members by encouraging their professional development in industry, commerce, academia, teaching and research. Visit group page
Institute of Physics
6. The Institute of Physics is a scientific membership organisation devoted to increasing the understanding and application of physics. It has an extensive worldwide membership (currently around 34 000) and is a leading communicator of physics with all audiences from specialists through government to the general public. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in scientific publishing and the electronic dissemination of physics. Go to http://www.iop.org/.
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