Science spin 32

ISSUE 32 JANUARY 09 €3 including VAT £2 NI and UK

SCIENCE

SPIN

IRELAND’S SCIENCE NATURE AND DISCOVERY MAGAZINE

Drilling for

LIFE

Choosing science

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SCIENCE

SPIN

Octupuses began migrating to new ocean basins 30 million years ago, and their ancestors still live in the Antarctic.

Publisher Duke Kennedy Sweetman Ltd 5 Serpentine Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. www.sciencespin.com Email: tom@sciencespin.com Editors Tom Kennedy tom@sciencespin.com Seán Duke sean@sciencespin.com Business Development Manager Alan Doherty alan@sciencespin.com Design and Production Albertine Kennedy Publishing Cloonlara, Swinford, Co Mayo Proofing and web diary Marie-Claire Cleary marieclaire@sciencespin.com Picture research Source Photographic Archive www.iol.ie/~source.foxford/ Printing Turner Group, Longford

UPFRONT

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Science snaps

Winning pictures

Forestry

Deep drilling

Tom Kennedy reports that there is life below the ocean floor.

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Ocean survey

A global census of marine life

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Estimating timber volume

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Power on a chip

Radio spectrum

Seán Duke reports on energy saving chips

Seán Duke reports that rigid division could come to an end

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SUPPLEMENT Choosing science

Aurora Borealis

Marie-Catherine Mousseau talks to scientists about their careers.

Seán Duke reports on Europe’s all in one research vessel

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Lab support

Karla Lawless writes that scools need lab technicians

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Contributors in this issue: Karla Lawless, Marie Catherine Mousseau.

Articles published in Science SPIN may reflect the views of the contributors and not the official views of the publication, its editorial staff, its ownership, or its sponsors.

Geological Survey of Ireland Suirbhéireacht Gheolaíochia Éireann

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 1

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UPFRONT Out of sight

A SINGLE celled marine organism has evolved an effective defence against viral attack. The organism, Emiliania huxleyi, produces elaborate mineral scales, and the reflected light from enormous populations is clearly visible from space.

Emiliania huxleyi was already of interest to scientists as an indicator of environmental conditions, when researchers at the Laboratoire Adaptation et diversité en milieu marin, working with a number of collaborators, discovered that the organism has a very effective defence against viruses.

When attacked, the organisms change from diploid to haploid form. So instead of the normal two strands of DNA, they have just single chromosomes. In the haploid form, they do not form the distinctive mineral plates, and apart from disappearing from satellite view, they

Elaborate patterns revealed by an electronic microscope view. Bjorn Rost.

Enormous population of Emiliania huxleyi showing up as paler blue off SW coast of Ireland in May 2000. also become invisible to viruses. Later, when the danger is past, the organisms revert to their diploid form.

Haploid populations have been around since the dawn of life, and the

double life we see in Emiliania huxleyi could have been the start of the sexual revolution. Like most of the life around us, we are diploids, but our gametes, sperm and eggs, are haploid.

Nanotechnology

TEN Irish institutions have become partners in a nanoscience consortium. The Integrated Nanoscience Platform for Ireland, INSPIRE, has been allocated €31 million by the Higher Education Authority, the highest amount awarded under the current Programme for Research in Third Level Instutions, PRTLI. The partners include CRANN at TCD, MSSI at the University of Limerick, Tyndall, FOCAS at DIT, NCPST and RINCE at DCU, Lighthouse at NUIG, Cork Institute of Technology, CBNI at UCD, University of Ulster, and Queen’s

Wind power

Wind power peaked at over 800 megawatts during October. According to EirGrid, the national transmission system operator, the total demand on one day, 19th October, was 3,742 megawatts, so the wind contribution was a significant record breaker. The total wind power capacity available to the grid is now 915 megawatts, and before the end of the year this is expected to increase by another 100 megawatts.

Pictured at the awards was Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan TD with Scholarship Award Winners, Leah McCabe, Stephanie Quinn, Anna Killeen, Justine Forkin, Carol Murphy, Marie Kane, Grace Burke and Saorlaith Shuibhne. Picture: Jason Clarke Photography.

Winning women

TEN young women have been presented with scholarships to enable them to study engineering. Each of the SFI Dell Young Women in Engineering Scholarship Awards is worth €20,000, and the winners have also been presented with a Dell Precision M20 notebook computer. During their studies the students will have the support of a mentor, and in Summer they will have the opportunity to work in academic or industrial research.

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SPIN

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Right side up

Plants send shoots up and roots down, but until now no one knew what produced this sense of direction. Researchers at Ghent University working with scientists from five other countries, have discovered that plant cells react to gravity by sending a particular protein, known as PIn, to the bottom. the PIn proteins provide gateways through which a plant growth hormone, auxin, can flow. If the plant is moved, cells gather in the PIn proteins, engulf them to make little packages, which are then transported down to the new ‘underside’.

To find out how important this is to plants, the researchers disabled the transport system, so that PIn proteins remained scattered over the cell surface. When cultured, these cells grew into deformed plants in which roots grew where there should have been shoots.

Hate

HavInG found that romantic and maternal feelings of love can be associated with specific parts of the brain, researchers at University College London wondered if similar associations could be found for hate. Professor semir Zeki and John Romaya from the Wellcome Laboratory of Neurobiology at UCL found that there is indeed a ‘hate circuit’. When seventeen subjects were shown pictures of those that they claimed to hate, parts of the brain known to be involved in aggressive behaviour became active. sub-cortical areas known as the putamen and the insula became involved. as Prof Zeki explained, the putamen is involved with perceptions of contempt and disgust, and like the insula, these areas can also be activated by romantic love when a rival appears on the scene. “studies have suggested that the insula may be involved in responses to distressing stimuli, and the viewing of both a loved and a hated face may constitute such a distressing signal.” “a marked difference in the cortical pattern produced by these two sentiments of love and hate is that, whereas with love large parts of the cerebral cortex associated with judgment and reasoning become de-activated, with hate only a small zone, located in the frontal cortex, becomes de-activated. this may seem surprising since hate can also be an all-consuming passion, just like love. But whereas in romantic love, the lover is often less critical and judgmental regarding the loved person, it is more likely that in the context of hate the hater may want to exercise judgment in calculating moves to harm, injure or otherwise extract revenge.

“Interestingly, the activity in some of these structures in response to viewing a hated face is proportional in strength to the declared intensity of hate, thus allowing the subjective state of hate to be objectively quantified. This finding may have legal implications in criminal cases, for example.”

Unlike romantic love, which is directed at one person, hate can be directed against entire individuals or groups, as is the case with racial, political, or gender hatred. Professor Zeki said that these different varieties of hate will be the subject of future studies from his laboratory.

Hydrogen

One of the biggest drawbacks in trying to use hydrogen as a transport fuel is that the holding tanks have to be big and heavy. dr Robin Gremaud at the University of amsterdam has found that instead of compressing the gas into a conventional tank, hydrogen could probably be absorbed into a lightweight metal alloy.

Working with an industrial partner in the UK, dr Gremaud has been looking at how well different alloys of magnesium titanium and nickel absorb hydrogen. Previous research at the university has enabled dr Gremaud to see just how much hydrogen is being absorbed in a range of alloys. about ten years ago scientists at amsterdam University found that absorption of

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UPFRONT Radon

IReland’s approach to assessing the risk from radon gas is being taken as an example of good practice by the World Health Organisation. at a recent meeting to discuss the impact of radon on health, dr Ferid shannoun, coordinator of WHO’s radon project, said that in Ireland different agencies work together, and other countries could follow this lead.

Radon, which can only be detected by instrumentation, is the natural decay product of uranium. Over time it filters up from deeper levels to the surface, and enclosed lower floor levels in buildings can act as a trap for the gas.

Ireland has a higher level of radon than most other countries, being 6th on the WHO list. the Radiological Protection Institute has estimated that more than 91,000 homes in Ireland have radon levels higher than the recommended limit, 200 Becquerels per cubic metre. about a third of the country, mainly in the south-east and west, is classified as a high radon area. around the world, the highest levels occur in Finland, and the lowest are in Japan.

In Ireland, where high levels of radon have been detected, local councils have acted to reduce the risks by adapting public housing to avoid a build up of the gas. dr ann McGarry, chief executive of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland said that radon is responsible for 200 deaths a year. hydrogen causes certain materials to lose their ability to reflect light. Dr Gremaud has been able to make use of this discovery to examine a large number of alloy samples. the alloys are deposed as a 100 nanometre coating on a transparent film. On exposure to hydrogen, the absorption performance becomes clearly visible.

www.sciencespin.com

UPFRONT Marine research guide

THE EurOcean web portal provides a wealth of information on infrastructure and collaborative projects for marine researchers. The portal has just been upgraded and Geoffrey O’Sullivan, Ireland’s representative on the EurOcean board, the portal is now a valuable one-stop resource for anybody who wants in depth information about marine science and technology throughout Europe.

Apart from providing information on the 231 research vessels currently operating in the European area, the portal also has information about 69 underwater vehicles and 89 large instruments which are available for exchange.

Two linked and searchable databases within the portal give access to the details on 751 collaborative research projects, and the board is planning to add more information on policy, training and education opportunities.

Access to equipment, said Geoffrey O’Sullivan, can be a big help to researchers, and knowing who is doing makes it a lot easier to identify potential partners. “Publications,” he said, “tell you what has been done, but it is only by attending conferences or accessing databases, such as those hosted by EurOcean, that one can find out what is being done right now.”

The EurOcean website is www.eurocean.org

Fuel from fungi

A SOUTH American fungus has been found to have the ability to turn cellulose into the equivalent of diesel fuel. Professor Gary Strobel from Montana State University believes that the fungus, Gliocladium roseum, which grows inside Ulmo trees of the Patogonian rainforest, has the potential to become a major source of ‘green’ energy.

When Prof Stobel began to examine Gliocladium roseum he was surprised to find that it was producing a whole range of long chain hydrocarbons. Other wood dwelling fungi also produce hydrocarbons, but in this case he was amazed at the similarity to diesel fuel.

This ability, he noted, gives the fungi a considerable advantage when compared to growing crops for biodiesel.

“Gliocladium roseum can make myco-diesel directly from cellulose, the main compound found in plants and paper,” he said, and this means that an entire stage of production could be eliminated.

Enormous volumes of cellulose are produced as the undigestable parts of food crops, and at present some of this is bring broken down by enzymes into sugars which are then fermented to yield ethanol. With the fungus, there is no need to break down the cellulose.

Compared to sugars, the yield from cellulose is lower, reports Prof Strobel, but he is confident that genetic engineering could boost performance. “In fact, the genes of the fungus are just as useful as the fungus itself in the development of new biofuels.”

The fungus may also lead scientists to reassess theories about the origin of fossil oil. The prevaling notion is that great heat and pressures were involved in creating oil, but as Prof Strobel observes, “if fungi like this are producing mycodiesel all over the rainforest, they may have contributed to the formation of fossil fuels.”

Scottish turtles

TURTLES once swam in lakes and lagoons on the Isle of Skye.

Well preserved fossils, found by researchers from the Natural History Museum and University College London, are the remains of turtles that lived 160 million years ago in the Middle Jurassic period. The species has been named Eileanchelys waldmani by the scientists who believe the turtles lived together with sharks and salamanders in a warm environment made up of low salinity lagoons and floodwater plains.

According to PhD researcher, Jerémy Anquetin, who works at the Natural History Museum, the find of four well preserved fossils shows that turtles were more diverse than had previously been thought from the available evidence.

Marine microorganisms

MARINE micro-organisms dating from the Mid Cretaceous have been found as fossils in amber at Charente in France. A team of researchers working in collaboration with the Géosciences Rennes laboratory were surprised to find marine microorganisms in amber. Normally only terrestrial insects occur in amber because it is a forest product. Scientists speculate that the micro-organisms may have been washed up into conifers close to the coast in floods or during storms.

The researchers reported a big diversity in marine microorganisms, includinng diatoms, traces of animal plankton such as radiolaria and a foraminifer. The finds push the earliest records for diatoms back by 10 to 30 million years.

Marine Institute

Foras na Mara

www.marine.ie Marine Institute Rinville Oranmore Co. Galway telephone 353 91 387 200 facsimile 353 91 387 201 email institute.mail@marine.ie

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 4

Foras na Mara

www.sciencespin.com

Ireland wins bid to host major science event IRELAND has succeeded in the bid to host the Euroscience City of Science event in 2012. News of Ireland’s success came a lot earlier than expected, and according to Prof Paddy Cunningham, Scientific Adviser to the Government, the decision by the board of Euroscience was unanimous. Winning the bid is a major achievement for Ireland, and it means that Dublin will become the showcase for the best in European science and research during 2012.

A team of 40 people representing all aspects of science and culture in Ireland were involved in drawing up the proposals for a major event, and Prof Cunningham remarked that the high degree of collaboration

and willingness to contribute ideas had resulted in a winning plan. Of particular significance in this plan is the involvement of the general public in what will amount to a festival of science. Science will also be celebrated in the arts and on the streets A high level scientific programme will be based in the new Liffey side conference centre, currently being completed, and a wide range of supporting events will take place at venues throughout Dublin and beyond.

Commenting on the win, Prof Cunningham thanked the team of people drawn from the colleges, the institutions, industry, the arts and tourism for their support in helping to create a comprehensive plan for the event. “Our success,” he said, “crowns an exemplary campaign, delivered on time, on target, and on budget.”

Prof Cunningham said that coming up with the blueprint for the City of Science event has set the ball rolling for on-going collaboration between people

UPFRONT involved in the sciences in Ireland. The bid process brought many different people and institutions together, and Prof Cunningham remarked that this alone had been of huge long-term benefit. Seldom, if ever before, had people representing so many different interests sat around a table to discuss their common interest in the sciences.

The group that came together to work on the bid, he said, is not just going to be allowed dissappear. The group now has a proven record of success, and Prof Cunningham is determined to keep them active in the lead up to 2012.

To keep up to date on developments visit: www.chiefscientificadviser,ie

The Science Ambassador Programme

Could you inspire the next generation of Irish scientists?

Discover Science & Engineering is looking for scientists who are working in industry to join its panel of Science Ambassadors.

The Science Ambassador Programme aims to inform young people considering a career in Science, Engineering and Technology and to show how a qualification in these areas is a launching pad to an exciting and varied career.

The Science Ambassadors are an informal community of people, made up of the newly qualified and the well established, who work in science, love their work and want to help others learn about their areas of science.

If you would like to be considered for the Science Ambassadors Programme, the first step is to send an email to orla.owens@forfas.ie with “Science Ambassador” in the subject line and a brief note stating:

1. Your current job and title 2. What courses you have taken/qualifications you have 3. Why you would like to be a Science Ambassador To read more about the Science Ambassador Programme go to www.Science.ie/ScienceCareers

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UPFRONT Science summit

FOR the hundreds of researchers attending SFI’s second Science Summit in Kilkenny the news that funding levels have been secured for the next few years was welcome. However, as SFI Director, Frank Gannon, remarked, this is no reason for researchers to relax. Researchers, he warned, should not just expect to rely on SFI for support. From now on, he said, applicants will have to show that their research has backing from other sources.

Researchers who fail to produce evidence that their work has wider support are very unlikely to secure funding from SFI. In a way, he explained,we have been victims of our own success. “Although its good to get the increase in funding, there is never going to be enough money,” he said. “We can’t bank on getting more increases, yet the demand for support is going to increase. In 2007 there were about 71 Principal Investigator applications. Last year, there were over 200. So there is a greater challenge for those who apply.”

However, its not just a matter of spreading the jam thinner over more slices of bread. Researchers, said Frank, are just not making enough of an effort to tap into alternative sources of support. “They did this during the lean years,” he said, “so they have the experience of how to go about this.”

The big increase in funding for science in Ireland has transformed the research scene, but at the same time, it has made everyone settle into a comfort zone. The evidence for this, said Frank, is quite strong. During the year, said Frank, “there was not one single successful application for European Research Council funding from Ireland.”

The next time researchers apply for support from SFI, said Frank, they will have to be careful answering the question “what sources of funding have you applied for?” As Frank observed,“if people do not use SFI funding to leverage more support, the conclusions are that either they have enough money, or they are not as good as they made themselves out to be.”

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Before the announcement that SFI funding was to be increased by four per cent a study had been conducted on research performance. It had come as a great relief, said Frank, to be informed that research represents a good return on investment. Without this, he said, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to maintain support for all aspects of research. One of the significant deciding factors, he said, is that research is a big attraction for multinationals. “Last year,” he said, “forty per cent of the deals made by the IDA were in the research and innovation area.”

Research, he added, is not just for the multinationals. “It is important to make clear that this is not the case,” he said, and one of the more important aims is to create more opportunities for innovation in Irish firms.

More networking by researchers would help, and this is one of the reasons why Frank Gannon wants scientists so see SFI support being used as a lever. SFI’s head of strategy, Grahm Love, also stressed this point. Knowledge, he said, gives us the capacity to absorb, and he noted the multiplier effect. For every grant holder, he said, there are about four team members, and while some remain engaged in longer term research, many go on into industry.

Awards of Science Excellence Don’t forget – Log onto www.primaryscience.ie from January 14th 2009 to 31st March 2009 to submit your intention to apply for the Awards of Science Excellence. Get your Discovery Logs into us by May 1st for your schools chance to be in with a chance to win an Award of Science Excellence.

There are plenty of things you can do to earn an Award of Science Excellence this year like visiting one of the 28 Discover Centres, taking part in the Greenwave project, getting involved with Science Week or logging on to www. steps.ie and trying out some of their fun science and engineering activities!

This year, based on feedback from teachers and the growing number of schools applying for an Award of Science Excellence we have decided to change the format for the presentation of Awards. Instead of limiting the participation to three students from a school at a regional ceremony, successful schools will receive their plaque and certificates to allow them to make their own arrangements to celebrate their achievement. This will mean that all the pupils who participated, as well as the wider school community can participate in a celebration in school at a time that is convenient.

So why not organise an end of year party to celebrate your impending achievement! Invite the parents and local community to the school so the children can show off all their hard work and put the plaque up on the day!

Don’t forget, take pictures of your celebration day and send into us!

Red Kites

DURING the 18th century payments were made to hunters of rats, rooks, weasels, otters, cormorants and other ‘vermin’. In the current issue of the Irish Naturalists’ Journal, Ron Price and James A Robinson report that local records in the North of Ireland, dating back to 1711, list the payments, and in doing so, provide valuable information about wildlife at the time.

What caught the attention of Ron and James, was the inclusion of Red Kites. Now only seen as a rare blow in, possibly from Scotland, these birds of prey may once have been a lot more common in Ireland. Bones of the Red Kite were recovered from Wood Quay in Dublin, before the site was obliterated by a concrete bunker, and similar finds have been made at Lough Gar. According to the Ron and James, there were some distinctive Gaelic names, Preachán ceirteach, Clamhán gobhlach, Para nan Cearc, Para Riabhach nan cearc, and Preáchén nan cearc, but payment listings tended to group all the hawks and kites together.

However, Ron and James believe that the records show that the Red Kite

In Wales, the Red Kite has been adopted by Goring Tennis Club as their mascot because the birds can be seen flying above the lawns. Gerry Whitlow, who has written about the kites in the Chilterns, suggests that they may have been useful scavengers, as illustrated in his book by the artist, E Leahy. is likely to have been present and breeding in Antrim at that time.

The payments indicate how these ‘vermin’ were viewed by the local Grand Jury, a body made up of 20 or more local worthys. Rats were one a penny, buzzards got six pence, otters were worth five shillings, and four pence was paid for every kite or hawk.

SCIENCE SPIN SPIN Issue Issue 32 32 Page Page 7xx SCIENCE

Understandably, with that sort of money on offer, hunting was a serious business. In the Antrim records from 1727 to 1756 rooks head the list with 7781 heads delivered, followed by 2669 rats, and at the bottom, with just one (fortunately) was a five shilling Eagle.

SPIN

SCIENCE SNAPS

Jayne Groarke’s photo contrasting the LED lighting of Cork’s Civic Office with passing traffic.

Shane Gahan’s photograph of a wind farm and cattle in Co Wexford.

IN THE lead up to Science Week secondary school students were invited by the Tyndall National Institute to take snaps capturing the theme “science shaping our world. At tthe TCD Science Gallery the winning student in the Junior category, Jayne Groarke, from Scoil Mhuire in Cork, was presented with a laptop sponsored by the PM Group for her photo highlighting the LED lighting system in Cork’s Civic Offices.

First prize in the senior category went to Shane Gahan, a 5th year student at King’s Hospital School in Dublin. Shane was presented with a laptop sponsored by Dell for his photograph of a wind farm in Co Wexford.

This was the inaugural year for the Science Snaps competition, and Aoife O’Donoghue, Tyndall’s outreach officer, said the number, quality and geographical spread of entries was high, so watch out for a follow up event in 2009.

Awards were also presented to Shamira Solana from Mercy Secondary School in Dublin, Sinead O’Neill from St Caimin’s Community School in Shannon, Eadin O’Mahony from Scoil Mhuire in Cork, and Alastair Green from Wesley College in Dublin.

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SPIN

Estimating timber volumes for multi-purpose forest management using laser technologies

Figure 1. A terrestrial laser scanner positioned in a stand ready for a 360º scan. hese days, trees are grown in the forest for many different purposes.

Planning and decision-making for modern, multi-purpose and sustainable forest management requires up-todate and accurate information about the growing trees. This information is used to evaluate the range of potential options for the future development of a forest. At present, this information is mostly obtained by manual, ground-based methods. The use of historic data for forecasting is often restricted because of uncertainties about the inventory methods used and the accuracies achieved. Increased requirements for up-to-date, efficient and reproducible methods for obtaining high quality data, together with the need for problem-oriented data analysis methods, make it necessary to investigate new inventory systems, based on efficient, economic and objective procedures and resulting

T

Figure 2. An example of scanning data, consisting of a 3-D point cloud depicting the trees and the ground roughness and vegetation.

in multi-purpose data sets and a range of application software that will translate the data into information relevant to forest planning and sustainable management systems.

A promising new technology that could be of great benefit in multi-purpose forest inventories, are terrestrial laser scanners (TLS).

These types of scanners are used in a variety of applications where accurate 3D models are useful, including: architectural, industrial and medical measurements, coastal erosion studies and heritage preservation. The basic principles behind the operation and measurement methods appear to make this technology very suitable for highly automated multi-purpose forest inventories. University College Dublin, Treemetrics Ltd. and Purser Tarleton Russell Ltd., are participating in a COFORD funded research project entitled ‘FORESTSCAN - Terrestrial Laser Scanning Technology for MultiResource Forest Inventories’.

During the scanning process, the laser scanner rotates 360º in a horizontal direction (Figure 1). A rotating mirror redirects the laser beam vertically and allows for a 310º vertical scan. Through the simultaneous rotation of the scanner and the mirror, is it possible to produce a continuous scan in all directions except for a coneshaped area underneath the scanner.

When the laser beam hits a tree, branch, leaf, or terrain the reflection is recorded by the scanner, including the distance to the object, the horizontal and vertical angles and the intensity of the reflection.

The size of data sets created by the scanner can be up to 250MB per scan (40 million data points) and they consist of the co-ordinates and intensity values for each data point (Figure 2). The representation is easy on the human eye and is similar to black and white photography. The acquired point clouds can be displayed on a monitor in the forest so that a data check can be carried out before leaving the site. The core of the data processing consists of the allocation of individual data points to actual objects in the stand (object classification) and the creation of actual objects (object reconstruction). In order to make forest inventory methods using

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NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR FOREST RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT AN CHOMHAIRLE NÁISIÚNTA UM THAIGHDE AGUS FORBAIRT FORAOISE

Figure 3. Scanning output depicting a sloping site with deadwood present.

The FORESTSCAN project is part of the PLANSFM forest management and planning research programme funded by COFORD. scan data economically viable, the object classification process must be automated.

Prof. Maarten Nieuwenhuis of the School of Biology and Environmental Science is the project coordinator and PhD student Taye Mengesha has recently joined the project. Taye is currently finding out more about the basic principles of terrestrial laser scanning technology and its applicability to multi-resource forest inventories. The project is also evaluating existing data analysis software for forestry applications. The development of new software for a range of applications, both in relation to timber measurements and for nontimber, sustainable forest management purposes, is being investigated. The project will run for another three years and will also investigate issues such as the impact of wind and precipitation on the applicability of the technology and the effect of terrain complexity and understorey vegetation on the capability of the system.

Prof. Maarten Nieuwenhuis maarten.nieuwenhuis@ucd.ie

Taye Mengesha Taye.Mengesha@ucdconnect.ie

PLANSFM Programme Manager Charles Harper, UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science.

Charles.harper@ucd.ie.

For more information go to

www.coford.ie

SPIN

ENGINEERING

Saving the world ...

one watt at a time Seán Duke reports that small savings could dramatically reduce our demand for power. he current methods of providing power to microprocessors are highly inefficient, with almost half of all energy lost before it gets to where it’s needed. A breakthrough technology called ‘power on a chip’, developed at Tyndall National Institute, can massively reduce energy loses by embedding the power source within each microchip.

One of the biggest issues facing the world today is the issue of energy.

How do we meet our ever growing energy demands as oil and gas supplies dwindle? There is a lot of talk about alternative energy, such as wind and wave power. But, there is another way of looking at the problem. If we could become more efficient in our use of energy, then our energy demands would not be as big – achieving more with less.

This brings us into the world of electronics. In this consumer world, we all have lots of portable electronics in our possession, such as laptops, and mobile phones. At any time we might have two phones charging, and a laptop in waiting mode in the corner.

Think of every household in every developed nation doing something similar, and we are talking about massive energy usage. If the energy requirements for portable devices could be reduced, it would represent huge energy savings worldwide.

The use of power within portable devices is highly inefficient at present, with 50 per cent loses of energy as it flows from the battery to the various components. Tyndall National Institute researchers, lead by Cian O’Mathuna, Head of Microsystems, have developed a way of increasing the devices’ energy efficiencies by 30 to 35 per cent.

Silicon wafer of batch fabricated inductors for future power supply on chip products.

Based on their small size and the fact that they are processed on silicon, they will enable the assembly of inductors on top of silicon circuited for future supply on chip products.

T

Power

One of the great issues with electronics is the requirement to deliver power to the various electronic components.

The delivery of power requires the regulation of voltage from the battery to the integrated circuits. In mobile phones, for example, it is increasingly the case that there are different voltages for different circuits, as the phones become more complex and offer more features. The RF (radio frequency) chips, needed for wireless communication between phones, will have a different voltage from the microprocessor chips, or from the phone displays, for instance.

The current method of controlling power delivery from the battery to the circuits within an electronic device is through the use of what’s called ‘linear regulators’. These are very

“If the energy requirements for portable devices could be reduced, it would represent huge energy savings worldwide” SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 10

cheap, which is one reason they are widely used for this task, but they are highly inefficient, with about 50 per cent efficiency – which means that 50 per cent of the power is lost by these regulators. That represents significant losses.

There is a better way of delivering power, and this involves the use of a higher efficiency power converter called a ‘switch mode power supply’.

The use of this method will reduce losses and extend the life of a battery significantly, as less power will be drawn from it over any given period of time. The typical switch-mode power supply would have power efficiency of up to 80 or 90 per cent. This means that just 10 or 20 per cent of the power is being lost – a big improvement on linear regulators.

So far so good, but there is a catch with switch mode power supplies – they require more circuitry and more components, and this means they can be bulky. In the context of a world where components are being constantly miniaturised, bulky is not good. One of the bulkiest of all the components are the inductors and capacitors – used for filtering power and energy storage. These must fit around the switch mode power supplies. The inductors are wirewound components, and quite large, for example.

SPIN

“The name of the game is to demonstrate high power efficiency, and a small footprint, and Tyndall has managed to achieve that”

Magnetics on silicon technology enables significant miniaturisation of the inductor components and allows them to be assembled on top of silicon circuits. Tydnall’s goal is to achieve a foot print 1mm2

Challenge

The challenge that Cian O’Mathuna, and his team set themselves, starting about 10 years ago, was to miniaturise the inductors and capacitors, to allow switch mode power to be used in smaller electronic components. It was a huge challenge, and many felt it couldn’t be done.

The inductors and capacitors are socalled ‘passive components’ and they come with associated magnetics. For the frequencies at which power needed to be delivered it was going to be necessary to have a magnetic material around the coil of the inductor. This would allow for a ‘smaller footprint, while also containing the electromagnetic fields that result from having a high current travelling through that inductor.

What the team at Tyndall have managed to do, said Cian O’Mathuna, is to miniaturise the inductor so that it has a similar ‘footprint’, or area, to the silicon control circuitry, or the silicon switches. This was a big advance as it meant that the inductor could be assembled on top of the silicon. The power source could be integrated into the chip.

Cian said that Tyndall researchers, in the last year, have managed to demonstrate power efficiencies up

around 80 to 85 per cent, with a roadmap to achieve efficiencies up to 90 to 95 per cent. That represents massive power savings as compared to linear regulators, and at the higher level, it means just 5 per cent of power is being lost.

The name of the game is to demonstrate high power efficiency, and a small footprint, and Tyndall has managed to achieve that through the expertise of a talented multidisciplinary team. This more efficient way of delivering power – delivering it locally at source on the chip to exactly where it’s required – is naturally of interest to companies like Intel that are focussed on microchip processing. If power can be provided to their chips more cheaply and effectively they are certainly interested.

Processing

The processing of energy is a big problem for Intel and others that are interested in making things smaller and more powerful from a processing point of view. Think of a laptop that heats up after a few hours of usage.

That is due to the heat being lost from the processing going on in the microchips. The generation of chips that can process more powerfully must go hand in hand with an ability

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 11

to remove heat efficiently from the processing process, or otherwise laptops and mobile phones will become red hot.

A way must be found to dissipate energy from increasingly powerful processing activities, or a way must be found to reduce the energy inputs into the process.

In a mobile phone there is an RF chip for the wireless communications, a processor for processing the data and a graphics chip. Each has a local power requirement.

Cian O’Mathuna states that work at Tyndall, which provides for locally embedded switch mode power supplies – this is what’s called ‘power on a chip’ – are far more energy efficient than the ‘traditional’ linear regulators, have a small footprint and can be manufactured, in conjunction with industry partners, in a costeffective manner.

Greater control of all the power within a device would mean far better management of its energy usage. The parts of the mobile phone that are not required at any point in time could be shut down, or put to sleep for a while, for example, thus saving energy.

This approach to energy would also be well suited to current developments in the microprocessor industry.

Companies like Intel are looking for ways to make computers work faster, and to do this they are talking about developing ‘multi-core’ processors.

That means that instead of having one processor on a microchip there will be several, all performing different tasks, or perhaps working in parallel.

Future

A chip of the future might have an array of tens of ‘cores’ – each core being a processor. This will make everything go fast, but it will be necessary too to control the power delivery to each individual core. The technology developed at Tyndall should enable this to happen, by having a system that processes power locally each core, making them more energy efficient. As well as saving energy, the reduction in heat losses is crucial with more ‘cores’ to prevent devices overheating.

For Intel, the big question is: if we move to a multi-core processor how can we deliver power effectively to each of the cores. The Tyndall researchers, with their ability to put magnetics directly onto silicon

– enabling power supply on a chip – believe that they have the answers a way around this ‘technology roadblock’.

The Tyndall researchers have shown that they can get the passive components, the inductors and capacitors, onto silicon and that one piece of silicon could have its own power supply. Going a step further, the vision is to take the discrete power supply on a chip, and make it part of each microprocessor, or ‘core’ – of which each chip will have many in the future. The power supply would sit on top of each microprocessor, embedded within it. So, each core then would have its own power supply. This is the challenge for Tyndall and others operating in the same research ‘space’ in future.

“The processing of energy is a big problem for Intel and others that are interested in making things smaller and more powerful from a processing point of view”

Industry

For micro-processor oriented companies like Intel and IBM – who are primarily interested in information processing – power is a pain. What they want, said Cian O’Mathuna is to have power delivered without taking up space, costing nothing and lasting forever. That might sound impossible, but with the power supply on a chip, or the magnetics on silicon idea, he

Switch mode power supply is a circuit for efficiently converting one voltage level to another. In a typical electronic product such as a mobile phone, the power source is a battery which may have a voltage of 3.6V. Many of the phone subsystems such a processor, camera, or screen, require different voltage levels for efficient operation. Hence power or voltage converters are required in order to change the battery voltage to the required sub-system voltage.

The switch mode power supply works by placing a switch followed by a filter or smoothing circuit, between the input DC voltage level and the output.

The switch rapidly turns on and off, effectively connecting and disconnecting input from output and chopping the DC voltage into a square wave voltage.

The rate at which the switch turns on and off can be up to several million times in a second, and is called the switching frequency. The switching period is therefore a fraction of a micro-second (one millionths of a second). Over a longer time period, the filter smoothes this chopped voltage into a DC voltage again, which is effectively the average of the chopped voltage.

The output DC voltage level is therefore controlled by the fraction of the switching period for which the switch is on or off. Thus with the switch on for the entire period the output voltage would be equal to the input, or if the switch is on half the period and off half the period then the output voltage would be half of the input voltage.

The filter or smoothing circuit consists of an inductor and a capacitor. These components store energy during the switch on period and supply it to the output during the switch off period. In this way, even though the switch periodically disconnects the input from the output, the electronics being supplied by the output still get a continuous and regulated energy supply.

said, the technology takes up very little space. Silicon its enabling the technology to last a long time if not forever. On cost, the technology is getting cheaper because of the batch processing nature of silicon. It is also possible to embed the magnetics with the silicon circuitry, thus avoiding extra cost in the assembly of the inductor or the capacitor next to the silicon in a single package.

At a recent conference about ‘power on a chip’ Tyndall was overwhelmed with interest – expecting perhaps 40 people, but getting 120. This included representatives from Intel, Qualcom and ON Semiconductor. Tyndall is having ongoing discussions with about four companies, one of which is evaluating the technology to see whether it can be industrialised. This interest from multi-nationals is good for Tyndall and also good for Ireland Inc., said Cian. Ideally, Tyndall would like industry partners to set up in Ireland, with industry suites available at its Cork HQ. A big issue for mobile phone manufacturers, is how can we make the battery in the phone last longer so you don’t have to charge it as much?

Laptops too, are constrained by their batteries, which last typically about 3 hours before they need recharging.

“If there was better control over the different functions within these mobile, portable electronic systems we would be able to enhance the efficiency of the power delivery and, therefore, enhance the lifetime of the battery,” said Cian O’Mathuna.

“All these big companies are talking about how would they save megawatts, or how would they generate megawatts from wind farms If you even think of all the chargers we have now in the house for phones, Nintendos - nobody plugs those out.

All the stuff that’s on standby, it’s a waste of energy.”

This is where Tyndall comes in, saving the world, one watt at a time.

SPIN

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The scientist within Marie-Catherine Mousseau looks at how and why different people have chosen to make science part of their life Science investigates everything, that is everything that we can detect. Through its different branches, it shapes the way we understand the Universe, our planet, ourselves, and other living things. No wonder scientists have to specialise, and are characterised by the field of science they are into. But independent of their area of expertise, people can have many different approaches to science as a whole – the way they look at it, what they expect from it, what they enjoy doing, all these may vary from person to person.

Here are a few examples of people who are scientists, or used to be scientists, each of them having started with a different approach and various expectations.

Let’s follow their paths and look at where they are now.

SPIN

William Cirillo

Solving Problems

William Cirillo’s interest in science led him on a totally different path illiam has always loved problem solving and building things. “I had always liked science and science fiction as a kid. I had originally wanted to do an Electronics Engineering degree, as I had always loved gadgets and it fed my dreams of making the things that I saw in all those Sci Fi movies.” But my science teacher really managed to get me interested in the options of a science degree so I thought … “Why not?” If I don’t like it I can always change. Besides I have to admit it, I quite liked the idea of being a “Mad Scientist”; it sounded even then way cooler than being a boring doctor or fireman. After the first year I was hooked and stuck with it.”

W

The beginnings

William did a BApp.Sc. in Applied Physics at the University of South Australia . When he finished his degree, he got a research positions with DSTO (Defense Science Technology Organization), one of two major government research

laboratories in Australia. It looks like there you don’t need a PhD to get into attractive research positions. “At DSTO I worked on many interesting projects with very any excellent researchers,” William says. “I really learned a lot and developed my analytical and problem solving skills.”

Software development and travelling

“My second (first?) love is travel.

When I left Australia, I learned that my skills in analytical thinking and problem solving were ideally suited to software development and design too.

These served me well to get into other research positions with the Center for Imaging Science in Rochester , N.Y,” William explains. He worked there for the Astronomy department, doing hardware research as well as writing the code to control the equipment and process the sensor data.

“Then I went to Europe and set up as an independent software consultant

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

where my background again gave me credibility in a number of different business sectors”, William continues.

As such, William worked in New Zealand, Scotland and England in addition to his experience in NY. He’s now been living in Dublin for the last 8-9 years and working as an independent consultant with various companies on different projects.

Science definitely helped him in his career path. “I would still go as far to say that even now in many software companies I have worked in, science degrees and engineering degrees would have been held in higher regard than a pure IT degree as they would have been seen as more “practical”...

Certainly places like www.Havok.ie who make the physics engines used by many (most?) modern games employs predominately physics graduates,” William points out.

He added that many notable Irish physicists have moved into the software world. One that comes to his mind is PJ King. “He is a physics graduate from trinity who set up his own software company in 1995 and went on to make his millions from it,” says William. And he is now one of the five Irish people who are booked to fly into space on Virgin Galactic, he adds.

An “applied” sort of person

While he might have some regrets, William thinks what he’s doing suits his personal approach to science. “I do miss research some days but I see that I am now more interested in research to solve specific real world problems rather than pure research... I was always an “applied” sort of person and I was never attracted to the pure theoretical aspects... I suppose mainly because I hated a lot of the heavy pure maths.”

William Cirillo (BApp.Sc. in Applied Physics) is a Software Consultant

Think smart g n i y d u d t n s a f o g n i k Thin e s o o h c ? e g e l l o c n i e c GMIT ! scien The Department of Life & Physical Sciences at GMIT offers the following honours degrees: l APPLIED FRESHWATER & MARINE BIOLOGY

GA 780

l APPLIED BIOLOGY & BIOPHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE GA 781 l CHEMICAL & PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE GA 782 l PHYSICS & INSTRUMENTATION

GA 783

BE MORE THAN JUST A NUMBER !

While other colleges may have a few hundred students in year 1, we target approximately 100 students for our first year intake for the above courses combined, and furthermore students are in groups of 16 for laboratory work.

This ensures the best of both worlds – the low student numbers provide an excellent teaching environment and help ensure that you are successful in your studies. While, at the same time, you are in a college of over 6000 students in the student capital of Ireland!

DO YOU WANT TO GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY ?

In GMIT our courses are unique in that students do project work from year 1 onwards. With many miniprojects and a number of major projects completed over the course of your degree you will learn vital skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and project management – skills much sought after by employers.

Practical work also forms a large element of our courses, and students gain excellent experience in completing laboratory practicals in state of the art

laboratories. Also, with many marks going for lab work, you can have accumulated a large percentage of your final mark before you sit any exams.

Other features of our courses:

WORK PLACEMENT Paid work placement is extremely valuable in providing work experience and job opportunities – many companies recruit the students that they have taken on for industrial placement.

APPLIED NATURE OF OUR COURSES The course material is designed in conjunction with employers and our courses are all applied in nature – giving our students an advantage when starting their career.

MODULARIZED COURSES This allows students more choice in which subjects they study.

CHOICE OF WHICH COURSE YOU WISH TO PROGRESS TO IN YEAR 2 At the end of year 1, irrespective of which course you started, you can switch into year 2 of any of the above courses. This allows you time in year 1 to determine where your interests and strengths lie and to make a more mature decision with regard to your future studies (choice subject to availability of places).

More Info?

Phone: 091 742178 E Mail: science@gmit.ie Web: www.gmit.ie/science See also our distance education courses at www.gmit.ie/science

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

B.Sc. Honours in Applied Archaeology at the Institute of Technology Sligo Archaeology is the study of the past through the discovery, analysis and interpretation of material remains. Over the last twenty years, the application of high technology and scientific analysis has radically altered our ability to extract information from archaeological remains, enabling us to better reconstruct how our ancestors lived and died. This technology includes the use of ground penetrating radar to produce pictures of what lies sealed beneath the ground, 3D laser scanning to digitally record artefacts and bones, in addition to the use of a whole suite of laboratory techniques including the extraction of ancient DNA, the chemical and physical analysis of archaeological materials and the conservation of ancient remains.

All of this and a lot more is taught at Institute of Technology Sligo as part of the B.Sc. Honours Applied Archaeology. The course was developed in response to these changing needs in Irish archaeology, establishing the state’s first science based archaeology degree in 2003. Through a combination of traditional archaeological instruction, training in the use of exciting new technologies in scientific analysis, and lots of practical experience, IT Sligo offers a unique archaeology course specifically designed to train our students for both the archaeological workforce and further specialisation.

Visionary step

r Kay Nolan from UCD points out that dogs can provide valuable clues to the origin and cause of some human diseases. Dogs, she notes, have been our companions for so long that we share a history, and indeed, some serious diseases. We could have a lot to learn about our own illnesses, she said, by studying the genetic origins of diseases in our faithful companions.

Kay, is now a senior lecturer at the College of Life Science at UCD, but as she recalled, becoming a scientist in the first place had involved an element

D

The course is highly flexible and although students register for a four year Honours degree they can leave with a B.Sc. Applied Archaeology embedded award after three years. Like all courses in the School of Science, the BSc. (Honours) in Applied Archaeology is fully semesterised and offers many unique modules.

These include Geology, Materials Analysis, Geophysical Surveying, Zooarchaeology (study of animal bones), Osteoarchaeology, Artefact Conservation and Forensic Archaeology to name but a few. All first year students take part in a training excavation that can lead to lucrative summer work on commercial excavations.

The last twenty years has seen a dramatic increase in the need for qualified archaeologists to fill positions in commercial archaeology, the state sector including government bodies, local authorities and museums, Heritage and Education, as well as archaeological research. At IT Sligo, we believe our students are better trained and better prepared for the archaeological challenges of the 21st century. For more information, visit the archaeology page of our website (www.itsligo.ie) and download our complete course manual (CAO Course Code SG446).

of good luck. “There was no tradition of science in the family,” she said, but in the same year that she entered the Convent of Mercy secondary school in Enniscorthy, the nuns there took what she described as a visionary step by appointing a science teacher. At the time, said Kay, very few schools anywhere, and especially those for girls, taught science, but then the nuns went further, and by Kay’s final years there, she had a chemistry and a biology teacher. “It was school that opened the door to science for me,” said Kay. Kay headed for UCD, where she recalled the then Professor of Zoology, Carmel Humphries, asking her a loaded question: “do you want to work with the best?” Answering “yes” could only mean one thing, zoology, but as Kay explained Prof Humphries was thinking well beyond traditional zoology and she went out of her way to recruit the sort of people who would bring a whole range of new skills and knowledge into the life sciences.

For her second subject, Kay took biochemistry, and that immediately gave her another way of looking at life processes.

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

Christopher Read and Jeremy Bird School of Science Institute of Technology Sligo

On getting her primary degree, Kay had to make a career choice between teaching and research. Kay signed up to a HDip and a PhD, but a day before the classroom convinced her that teaching was definitely not for her. Kay’s future, without a shadow of doubt, lay in research.

Money and security had nothing to do with that decision. In those days, she remarked, “we were oblivious to funds,” the money was simply not there, and “we were not very international.” However, that began to change when Kay had her PhD. She was invited to join a team of researchers at St Louis in the US. For six years there, Kay worked on gene related human diseases, before heading back across the Atlantic to Imperial College in London.

In the early 90s Kay made a return to her alma mater. As her former professor, Carmel Humphries, had predicted, the life sciences there had been completely transformed, and Kay, with her valuable experience, feels very much at home conducting research that commands international attention.

Tom Kennedy

why certain things were happening. I also enjoyed the process of writing and publishing journal articles.”

In addition to his research experience, Paul has some teaching experience, having lectured in Physical Chemistry at UL for a semester after his PhD. But his path didn’t stop at research and teaching.

Industry

Paul Miney

Coordinating Research (or just ‘Coordinating’)

Paul’s multiple experiences leading to research coordinator aul enjoyed chemistry more than the other science subjects. “I had a good chemistry teacher in secondary school. This convinced me to study chemistry further at university.”

P

Beginnings

Paul received a B.Sc in Industrial Chemistry and a PhD in Physical Chemistry (Semiconductor Electrochemistry) from UL. Then he did a post doctorate in the University of South Carolina in the electrochemistry

INSPIRE

of molecular wire “Candidates”. This falls under the area of nanotechnology or molecular electronics. “These molecules were being tested as potential building blocks of electronic wires of the future,” Paul explains. The idea was to make electronic components much smaller (molecular level) in order to fit more of them onto chips, speed up processors and increase computing power.

“During my research years I enjoyed getting new results and coming up with new theories as to

INSPIRE (Integrated NanoScience Platform for Ireland) is a project which aims at putting together a consortium of ten institutions throughout Ireland with expertise in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Officially launched on the 30th of October this year, the €32M project is the largest HEA funded consortium under the recent Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI 4).

The objective of the consortium is to pull all expertise available in a particular area –in that case nanoscience and nanotechnology. The idea is to increase research efficiency and creativity by setting common goals and making sure to use the best resource and expertise across Ireland in three key research domains: Nanoelectronics, Nanophotonics and Bionanoscience.

“This means that the top instruments in the world would now be accessible through all Irish universities .This also means experts across institutions would meet on a regular basis to ensure optimal collaboration”, says Paul.

“After I finished my postdoc, I worked as an Integration Engineer at Intel Ireland for three years. This involved managing the operation of a segment of the process and leading a team of approximately 20 process engineers,” Paul says. “I particularly enjoyed the project management aspect of the job and working with people, so when I saw the chance to become a project manager in a world class nanoscience research centre such as CRANN, I was very interested in getting the job.”

Project manager in CRANN

Paul is currently a project manager in CRANN (Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and NanoDevices) at TCD. “I manage a HEA-funded programme within CRANN and am also involved in getting operational a consortium of ten institutions throughout Ireland, including two from Northern Ireland, with expertise in nanoscience and nanotechnology,” he says. The consortium is called INSPIRE (Integrated NanoScience Platform for Ireland).

Another aim of the consortium is to develop a Europe’s leading PhD programme involving all ten institutions. Paul explains: “If for example one of the best experts in nanophotonics is in NUIG, his lecture would be made available to the other Irish institutions through videoconferences so that all of them can benefit from his expertise.”

The challenge is significant. A similar nanoscience consortium exists in the United States whose coordinator recently came to Dublin to provide some highlights on the US experience. “He made us aware of the amount of work needed to keep it up and running,” says Paul.

Setting up and operating such a large consortium definitely requires a lot of commitment, coordination and cooperation on everyone’s part. But the potential benefits are worth the effort – establishing Ireland as an international leader in innovation and technology development.

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

“This project is the first attempt to get Ireland’s leading nanoscience research institutions working together to address some of the world’s most cutting edge and complex problems”, he explains. The aim is “to increase Ireland’s place in the International rankings” (see box).

“My role involves working with academics and project managers in the INSPIRE consortium throughout the country. It is quite varied and involves meetings here or at other universities throughout Ireland to progress various aspects of the consortium”.

Willie’s second career in neurophysiology

Strategic approach

Though he agrees that at certain times of the year detailed reports need to be written that demand a lot of time at the computer, he enjoys his position.

“I enjoy the opportunity of being involved in an exciting and ambitious project such as INSPIRE”. Paul also likes that he is still being involved with science and keeps abreast of the breakthroughs in his field.

He nevertheless agrees that he is not doing core science any more or solving problems; but he still has to understand these problems to facilitate the solution.

“The scientists involved obviously know their science better than I do, but I try to make sure that everybody plays their part and achieves project goals”.

As he sees it, he’s more of a facilitator.

“I got tired of the bench; I always thought I would spend my working life in laboratories doing experiments, but I haven’t done that in a while. This is more a strategic approach to science.”

Mixture of experiences

Paul thinks that such a role requires a mixture of experiences. According to him, there needs to be a combination of (1) a scientific background in order to have a working knowledge of the scientific research going on, (2) experience in project management in both industry and academia, (3) people skills and (4) report-writing skills.

“It was not difficult per se, once you have an interest in science and trying to make things happen,” he concludes.

Paul Miney (PhD in physical chemistry) is project manager at the TCD research centre CRANN and project coordinator of the nanoscience consortium INSPIRE

or Willie science and healthcare was a second career (or even a third). He was an accountant for eight years before opening a restaurant in Kerry with his brother for another 4 years. He then moved to the States and started to think about what to do next.

F

Beginnings

“I did my research and liked the idea of a career that would allow me to help people in a meaningful way”, he said. “I found a book called the Occupational Handbook and read about the various careers available to me as an adult. I then visited some local hospitals and visited departments performing the work – nursing, radiography, neurophysiology, and some others. Neurophysiology looked the most interesting and I went looking for and found a training position in a University Hospital which was a path available at the time”. Willie became State Certified in Electroencephalography (EEG).

He then began further independent study leading to post grad national credentials in neurophysiology, before coming back to Dublin.

Neurophysiology at the Mater Willie’s current position is Chief Neurophysiology Technologist at the Mater University Hospital. “I was recruited to perform neurological monitoring during spine surgery and to take charge of a growing Neurophysiology Lab.” His tasks now include performing EEGs in outpatient and Intensive Care Unit settings. He’s also involved in supervising technical staff and mentoring DIT students to

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

assess comatose patients. In addition, he attends early morning educational conferences with neurologists, senior house officers and consultants to review interesting case studies and EEG tests. Then on surgery days, he sets up and performs neurological monitoring on patients undergoing surgery to correct spinal deformity, “usually an all day affair,” he says.

Teaching and working with people In addition to his main role at the Mater, Willie also delivers tutorials in neurophysiology in the hospital to students from the DIT and elsewhere, and he very much enjoys this part of his job. “My interaction with students keeps me on my toes.Their questioning keeps me aware that my own journey continues and that learning is a life long process,” he says.

Willie seems happy with his new path. “I enjoy bringing to bear the technical skills I have developed over the years to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with neurological problems”. When looking back he understands why. “I chose carefully, based on lots of reflection and research.

This career has allowed me to combine my interest in working with people, electronics, and the human body and get paid reasonably well in the process.”

Willie is (Diploma in Clinical Neurophysiology Technology) Chief Neurophysiology Technologist at the Mater University Hospital and Senior Demonstrator and Tutor in Neurophysiology for the Dublin Institute of Technology.

Tuathan O Shea

NUI Galway’s new € 22 million Sports Centre

Science at NUI Galway Science at NUI Galway has a long and proud tradition for teaching and research. Our graduates play a vital role in today’s high-tech knowledge based society. Our postgraduate programmes are led by world-class scientific research groups.

NUI Galway offers both Undenominated (GY301) and Denominated Science degrees programmes. Undenominated Science is offered to students who wish to pursue a career in science but who have not yet decided on an area of specialism.

The Undenominated programme allows students to choose from a broad range of subjects in YEAR 1 and features progressive specialisation in subsequent years.

Denominated programmes allow students to pursue defined courses of study. Current programmes inlude: • GY303: Biomedical Science • GY304: Biotechnology • GY306: Computing Studies/ Mathematical Science • GY308: Environmental Science

Sean Connaughton

Sean is originally from Gurteen, Co. Sligo. He started out as an Undenominated Science student and graduated from NUI Galway with a BSc in Microbiology in 2001. Sean subsequently enrolled in a PhD in Microbiology at NUI Galway. In 2007, Sean took on the post as Laboratory Manager at Waste Solutions in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Sean: “My focus and interest was always science and the environment. My

• GY309: Financial Mathematics and Economics • GY310: Marine Science • GY313: Health & Safety Systems • GY314: Earth and Ocean Sciences • GY315: Physics and Applied Physics • GY316: Physics with Medical Physics • GY317: Physics with Astrophysics • GY318: Biopharmaceutical Chemistry In response to an increasing demand for Medical Physicists, the College is offering a new B.Sc. in Physics with Medical Physics. There has also been a refocusing of two programmes now entitled Physics and Applied Physics and Physics with Astrophysics. The new denominated BSc in Biopharmaceutical Chemistry will prepare students for the Biopharmaceutical Industry, which focuses on the production of therapeutic drugs by biological fermentation processes rather than by traditional chemical synthesis.

Graduates will gain a wide range of expertise tailored to this industry. We hope to attract students who have an interest in both Chemistry and Biology.

work now is so much more than being the manager of a lab; I’m actually in a position where I can implement environmental solutions I really believe in. We show companies how to use techniques like anaerobic digestion so they can treat their waste streams in a clean, green manner, while also producing renewable energy in the form of biogas. In what other industry could you have such an impact on the environment all around you?”

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

Tuathan is originally from Moycullen, Co. Galway, and graduated from NUI Galway with a BSc in Physics & Applied Physics in 2005. Tuathan subsequently enrolled on the MSc in Medical Physics programme at NUI Galway.

Upon finishing his MSc in 2006, Tuathan received a College of Science Fellowship to undertake a PhD in Medical Physics at NUI Galway. Tuathan is currently on a 1 year study spell at the University of California, San Francisco as part of his PhD. Tuathan: “Studying Physics at NUI, Galway has enabled me to learn this core science subject, as well as, great transferable problem solving skills.

Physics finds application in many areas. I decided to apply Physics in the field of Medicine, in particular, the treatment of cancer patients with Radiation Therapy. NUI Galway is a great learning environment, with lots of opportunity for social and sports activities. In November 2008, NUI Galway officially opened a € 22 million Sports Centre which includes a 25 metre 6-lane swimming pool.

Postgraduate studies in Medical Physics at NUI, Galway have enabled me to travel to and study at one of the best cancer centers in the United States.”

For more information visit

www.nuigalway.ie/science SPIN

'PSGgT

/FX 3FTPVSDF GPS *SFMBOE´T 'VUVSF 4DJFOUJTUT I reland’s new careers website, CareersPortal.ie is a resource dedicated to those who want to plan their career. Designed for school students, college graduates and adults considering a career change, this website collects and presents the most useful information available to help along the way. The website, created by Durrow Communications Ltd., profiles all employment sectors in Ireland, including the Science and Technology industries - specifically the Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Electronic & Electrical Engineering; and Mechanical Engineering & Manufacturing.

Discover Science & Engineering (DSE) is the key sponsor and coordinator of the Science and Technology sectors on CareersPortal.ie You can watch video clips of DSE’s Science Ambassadors talking about their careers in science, demonstrating the diversity and flexibility of a qualification in Science and Technology.

The site can be viewed at www.careersportal.ie

%JTDPWFS 4DJFODF BOE &OHJOFFSJOH is working to build a momentum in science awareness in Ireland, establishing a culture of scientific and technological innovation.

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Discover Science and Engineering is an Integrated national science awareness programme managed by ForfĂĄs on behalf of the Office of Science & Technology in the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment. Discover Science & Engineering brings together many science, engineering, technology and innovation awareness activities that were previously managed be different public and private bodies. DSE aims to build and expand on these activities and to deliver a more focused, strategic and quantifiable awareness campaign.

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Harvesting energy D

DSE Careers ad (half page).indd 1

r Martin Leahy from the Univerity of Limerick, said that growing up on a farm has its advantages. Because his own parents were farmers in west Limerick they had to be adaptable.

As Martin pointed out, they had no involvement in science, but to survive they had to be good at a lot of different things. “Your average farmer,� he said, “has to be a bit of a builder, a driver, and even a midwife.�

Martin, who now directs a big energy research group at UL, said that he can often tell which of his students come from a farming background because they are natural problem solvers.

His own progression into science began in school. “I had a very good physics teacher,� he said, Physics caught his attention, and as he remarked, “I am still at it.�

At the time the opportunities to go on to third level were limited, and as Martin explained, it was actually cheaper for him to study at Oxford.

His first student job there, in the Buttery Bar, he said, was a great introduction to the social life of Oxford. Not that this deflected him from his focus on photonics and fluid flow. He had been using photonics and lasers to measure fluid flow, first on a small scale with blood, then with fluid in pipes, and this in turn led him onto wind and energy. After ten years and a PhD in photonics from Oxford, Martin decided to go back to Limerick, where he was keen to follow up his expanding range of interests including energy systems. That interest in turn led to Martin heading up an important renewable energy group under the Charles Parsons Initiative.

This recently launched group, he said, draws together expertise in wave turbine technology, electrochemical storage, thermochemical conversion, biomass, and wind. “Wind,� he said, “is now a significant part of my work,� and he practices what he teaches. On his return to Limerick, Martin bought a farm, which, he said, �is 100 per cent self-sufficient, and in fact we export to the grid.�

The CPI energy group, he said, is focused on one of our national

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

priorities. Sustainable energy, 04/11/2008 he 11:34:44 said “is the greatest scientific and engineering challenge of our time,� and he believes it is possible to make considerable progress on solving some our most pressing problems through research. Taking wind as an example, he said that the barrier now is not in turbine design, but in storage. The turbines, he said, are probabloy as efficient as it is possible for them to be, but a lot can be done on storage.

At UL, Martin has been working on what are known as Vanadium Redox Flow batteries. The big advantage of these batteries is that they are highly efficient, storing up to 90 per cent of the energy. The down side is that they are bulky, but as Martin pointed out, that’s not a problem on wind farms where there is plenty of space available.

Martin admits that one of the things that drew him back to Limerick was the rugby, but more than that was the draw of the land. “Farming,� he said, “is the ultimate in interdisiplinarity�, and harvesting renewable energgy has a great appeal to him.

Tom Kennedy

College of Science, Engineering & Food Science

Looking ahead?

Then think SEFS @ UCC = (SUCCESS)24u for course and career options as individual as you are Scientists and engineers live on the edge of imagination and creativity. They are explorers and discoverers, illuminating the way ahead, towards an increasingly uncertain future. Why not discover a world where it’s the individual who matters most and where you can truly make a difference? It’s only the beginning of your career path, but a degree in science or engineering is your passport to a much wider world of choice and opportunity.

A-Z Level 8 Degree Programmes offered through SEFS Applied Mathematics & Physics Architecture Astrophysics Biochemistry Chemical Physics Chemistry Chemistry of Pharmaceutical Compounds Chemistry with Forensic Science Civil Engineering Computer Science Computer Science & Economics Earth Science Ecology Education in Physical Sciences Electrical & Electronic Engineering Energy Engineering Environmental Plant Biotechnology Environmental Science Financial Mathematics & Actuarial Science Food Marketing and Entrepreneurship Food Science Genetics Geography Geology International Development & Food Policy Mathematical Sciences Mathematics & Physics Microbiology Neuroscience Nutritional Sciences Physics Physiology Process & Chemical Engineering Zoology

Why Science or Engineering?

• Excellent career prospects and progression routes for SEFS graduates • Employment opportunities in Science & IT sectors well above national average & continue to grow • Wide variety of customised job opportunities to suit a broad range of interests, skills and career plans

Why UCC? • In top 5% of university world rankings according to 2007 Times Higher Educational Supplement • Stunning campus environment • Excellent accommodation/sports/ leisure facilities • Friendly student atmosphere • City centre location • Good transport links • Great clubs/societies & entertainment on offer

Why SEFS? • Leading science & technology research in the state • Strong tradition of student-centred teaching underpinned by cutting edge research • World class facilities • Excellent industry links for graduates • Positive & supportive staff/student relationships • New programmes introduced to reflect market demand • Work placement in many programmes

A-Z sample of jobs obtained by 2007 SEFS BSc/BE graduates Actuary (Trainee) Biochemist Biomedical Scientist Blue Tooth Development Engineer Business Analyst Chemical Engineer Chemist Civil Engineer Database Analyst Design Engineer Drilling Engineer E Marketing Manager Electrical Engineer Environmental Consultant Food Technologist Games Programmer Geologist Geoscientist Geo-Technician IT Consultant IT Programmer Logistics Manager Medical Laboratory Scientist Microbiologist Network Engineer New Product Development Manager Quality Assurance Analyst Quality Control Analyst Process Analyst Process Engineer Production Chemist Software Developer Software Engineer Structural Engineer Web Developer Validation Engineer Zoologist

College of Science, Engineering & Food Science, UCC Tel: 021 490 3075 — Email: sciencefaculty@ucc.ie — Web: www.ucc.ie/sefs SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 CHOOSING SCIENCE

SPIN

Helping People Tara’s approach to diseases

ara Kelly also had a fundamental approach to science, but more tuned towards living things. What makes her tick “is the ‘wonder’ of nature…of what is going on inside the body, why someone is sick. “I love the limitless possibilities of science– everything (especially living) can be called science,” she enthuses.

T

Beginnings

She started with 1 year of engineering in UCD before moving to do a BSc(Hons) in biochemistry at NUIG which included a BSc(Gen) in zoology.

“I chose science after engineering because it had been science that had interested me in the first place and I had only tried engineering thinking it was a ‘type of science’ and found out it wasn’t!”, she said. “I truly loved animals – mammals, but found studying them was removing my ‘wonder’ and was not as challenging to my mind perhaps as biochemistry.”

Then she completed a PhD in microbiology (virology/immunology) at TCD, studying how the Dengue virus causes Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever/Dengue Shock Syndrome. “It was excellent. I loved the scariness of it. The danger,” she says. “Working with the smallest living organisms that can kill the largest! Even now - wow! Working with umbilical cords and growing artificial veins to use as models was amazing. As was the thought that I was helping children in the third world who were dying from this disease.”

Then she became a lecturer (parttime) in the US along with doing a postdoc “to see if I really wanted to be an academic and I was hooked. I loved it – I could teach what I loved and get paid for it!”

Turning point

However, on coming back to Ireland her academic aspirations were a bit dampened by reality. “Unfortunately I realised after 6 years postdoctoral research that it was difficult to get a permanent position in academia in Ireland and I didn’t have the opportunity to secure funding any longer,” she says. “I needed some stability as I got older.”

Also, while she loved teaching, like Cormac she was not so keen on experiments. “My spirit wasn’t at ease when I had to dissect animals or saw them being used for human improvement – in fact this is one of the reasons I finally left research. I loved seeing the insides of animals – everything about the intricacy of the living organism and the techniques even, it was just the killing of them to do so, that upset me so much.”

The HPSC

Fortunately for Tara, she could find a job outside academia while keeping in touch with her primary interest (disease development). “I am a surveillance scientist in the Health Protection Surveillance Centre which was called the National Disease Surveillance Centre. We carry out surveillance of all notifiable infectious disease and their outbreaks in Ireland.”

Tara’s role is to administer the ‘business’ content of the national database (Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting system - CIDR).

“This means I design and develop reports which pull data from the system and can be used by the public health departments and hospital and reference labs in Ireland.”

She also supports a helpdesk for surveillance scientists and medics, answering questions such as ‘what do I do with a notification of Hepatitis B now that the patient has moved address?’ to ‘how do I link three notifications of Salmonellosis on CIDR because I think they belong to an outbreak?’.

Improving health

Tara enjoys the security of her job but not only that. “I enjoy the professionalism of everybody who works here. I enjoy liaising with different people from all over Ireland with different backgrounds and concerns. I enjoy solving problems with the system. I enjoy interpreting the system for others to use.”

And most importantly, “I enjoy the fact that the work has an effect on improving Irish health.”

Tara Kelly (PhD in Microbiology) is a surveillance scientist in the Health Protection Surveillance Centre

Tara Kelly Working with the smallest living organisms that can kill the largest!

Hi ! We’ve never met, but …. ….. We are the people your doctor depends on to help make the correct diagnosis of your illness.

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Medical Scientists

The FIRST four year Accredited Biomedical/medical Science degree in the country.

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There are only 3 colleges ACCREDITED to teach courses that allow graduates to work as a medical scientist / medical laboratory scientist in the country’s hospitals.

This new 4 year honours degree in Medical Science has replaced our existing Certificate in Medical Laboratory Science.

These colleges are DIT, CIT / UCC and GMIT.

Cell and Molecular Biology, Immunology Medical Microbiology Clinical Biochemistry Haematology & Blood Transfusion Science Cellular Pathology

CONTACT: Seamus Lennon, Head Head of Department.

Email: seamus.lennon@ gmit.ie Phone 091 742081

STUDENTS STUDY:

HOSPITAL PLACEMENT There is a 30 week placement in a hospital laboratory in year 3.

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In recent years there has been an increasing demand for medical laboratory diagnostic services and for the development of new services.

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To work as a Medical Laboratory Scientist / Medical Scientist you must study an honours degree which has been accredited by the Academy of Medical Laboratory Science.

There are only 3 such honours degrees – CIT/UCC, DIT and GMIT. The GMIT honours degree is the first 4 year honours degree accredited by the Academy of Medical Laboratory Science

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SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

SPIN

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Visit us on: http://www.itsligo.ie/prospective_students/index.htm Telephone Admissions on: 071-9155379 Prospectus from: Admission Office, Institute of Technology Sligo, Ballinode, Sligo

Rocky road L

aura Byrne had a busy weekend at the beginning of December. On Friday she was over at the Geological Survey of Ireland to collect an award for her mapping project, on Monday she was out at UCD for her conferring, and the next day she was off again to her job at an iron mine in Darwin, the hot and steamy north of Australia.

Neither of Laura’s parents are scientists, but as she recalls, the discussions across the dining room table back in Dublin tended to be intellectually stimulating. The challenge and adventure of geology drew her to UCD, and by her third year she was already planning her award winning project to map the Dingle Peninsula.

Laura was one of the two winners in this year’s Cunningham Awards. This is an award presented for outstanding work in geological mapping, and while Laura’s project concentrated on the Dingle Peninsula, the other young geologist, William McCarthy from UCC, mapped an area in Connemara.

Going out to map the Dingle Peninsula, explained Laura, had

involved weeks of trecking across the landscape, taking notes and watching out for anything of geological significance. The area, she said, has been marked by a succession of major events. Over an immense period of time land, which lay under the sea, was uplifted, and in turn new rivers formed, and laid down additional layers of sediments. There were also volcanic upheavals, and one of the interesting features noted by Laura were the depressions made by falling ‘bombs’ of lava. Another feature of the Peninsula are the pudding stones, conglomerates made up of rocky rubble washed down by erosion of the new land.

As Laura explained, mapping follows a tried and tested tradition.

Carrying around a lap-top, she said, is

still no match for the note books that can survive the harshest conditions, including, as happened, a quite dip in a mountain stream.

Going from Dingle to Darwin is quite a jump, but as John Gamble, professor of Geology at UCC, who supervised William McCarthy’s project, remarked, travel is part of the job. Wherever there are mines, he said, there is always a big demand for geologists.

Tom Kennedy Laura Byrne with, from left her mother, Peadar McArdle, Director GSI, Mike Garvey, and her father at the Cunningham Awards. Photo: Fennell. Left, Laura out mapping in Dingle.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 CHOOSING SCIENCE

SPIN

Science @ DIT HElPINg TO SHAPE THE FuTurE S

cience is about pioneering the future shape of society throughout the world.

Over the past 500 years science has led to the development of a myriad technologies through which humankind interacted with nature in all its aspects. Science and scientists now influence and affect virtually every facet of modern living.

When you choose a career in science, you will be a key citizen in your country, truly a mover and shaper of society, during the first half of this new century.

Within the Faculty of Science in DIT there are five discipline-based Schools – Biological Sciences. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science, Computing, Mathematical Sciences and Physics.

Programmes are offered by these Schools leading to exciting careers in these broad disciplines and in new and vital interdisciplinary areas. Undergraduate taught programmes (three-year ordinary

degrees, four-year honours degrees and top-up honours degrees for students with an ordinary degree or equivalent), postgraduate taught programmes as well as postgraduate research programmes are offered, to cater for your career ambitions at many stages in your life. Taught MSc programmes are normally of 1 year duration. Postgraduate research in Science is vigorous, with over 100 postgraduates students and 10 postdoctoral fellows. We off many opportunities to you to develop and reorient your career path.

The highly interdisciplinary programmes in the Faculty determine its three particular strengths in Biomedical/ Paramedical, Analytical/Environmental/ Materials Science and Computing/ Information Technology areas. If you plan to build your career in one of these broad areas, consider the programmes in DIT’s Faculty of Science.

More info on www.science.dit.ie

Programmes within the Faculty that you should consider Biomedical / Paramedical Disciplines DT204 BSc (Biomedical Sciences) Honours Degree, 5 years- 1 year hospital placement.

DT223 BSc (Human Nutrition & Dietetics) Honours Degree, jointly with Trinity College Dublin, 4.5 years DT224 BSc (Optometry) Honours Degree, 4 years.

DT229 BSc (Clinical Measurement) Honours Degree, 4 years- 1 year hospital placement.

DT235 BSc (Physics with Medical Physics & Bioengineering) Honours Degree, 4 years.

DT226 (Option 1) BSc (Biochemistry, Molecular Biology & Biotechnology) Honours Degree, top-up, 1.5 years.

DT226 (Option 2) BSc (Medical & Molecular Cytology) Honours Degree, top-up, 1.5 years.

Computing/Information Technology Disciplines DT228 BSc (Computer Science) Honours Degree, 4 years.

DT211 BSc (Computing) Ordinary Degree, 3 years.

DT205 BSc (Mathematical Sciences) Honours Degree, 4 years.

Analytical/Environmental/ Materials Science DT203 BSc (Forensic & Environmental Analysis) Honours Degree, 4 years.

DT222 BSc (Physics Technology) Honours Degree, 4 years.

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

DT212 BSc (Science) Ordinary Degree, 3 years.

DT227 BSc (Science with Nanotechnology) Honours Degree, 4 years.

DT259 BSc (Biosciences) Ordinary Degree, top-up, 3 years.

DT260 BSc (Industrial & Environmental Physics) Ordinary Degree, top-up, 3 years.

DT261 BSc (Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmaceutical Sciences) Ordinary Degree, top-up, 3 years.

Contact Details: Blathnaid Sheridan, Science Promotion & Recruitment Coordinator, School of Mathematical Sciences, Dublin Institute of Technology, Kevin St, Dublin 8.

Tel : (01) 402 4828 Email: science@dit.ie

SPIN

Teaching and writing

Being now a lecturer in physics at Waterford Institute of Technology, Cormac found what he was looking for – thinking, talking and writing about core science outside the bench.

“I now teach simple introductory courses in both cosmology and particle physics, and that’s great fun”, he says. “On a typical day I’ll give two or three lectures in the morning, with a practical or a meeting in the early afternoon. I then retire to the office from 4 to 7 pm where the real work is done. I used to spend this time writing up research results, but I’ve recently taken a break from technical research in order to do some writing about science.”

Cormac O’Raifeartaigh

Communicating science Cormac’s path to teaching the cosmos

first approach to science, maybe the most basic and fundamental, relates to people primarily concerned about understanding the universe, wondering about surrounding nature and answering the big questions about the universe’s history, future and our place in it. This has been Cormac O’Raifeartaigh’s constant interest. “I like the imagination part. It’s hard to believe most of the atom is empty space, or that a telescope looks back in time as well as out in distance. It’s even harder to believe that time and space are dynamic, not a fixed stage on which life is played out”, he says.

A

Beginnings

Cormac has dedicated most his student years and professional life to science.

He explains how it all started. “I was far better at languages and classical music than science, but I found science fascinating. I started in medicine in University College Dublin (UCD),

hated it and switched to science after a year”. He then opted for physics.

“Physics in college seemed more about core ideas than the other sciences. I liked the out-there stuff that forced you to think, like relativity and quantum theory.

I never thought about a future career.”

But Cormac’s passion for science was always more about theories and ideas than experiments. “I did a PhD in experimental physics at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), using magnetic resonance techniques to study the quantum behaviour of electrons in solids. I loved the college, but the work was hard and sometimes dull.

I’m definitely not the most patient of experimentalists! I then did a postdoc in the University of Aarhus. Again, I loved Denmark, but didn’t really enjoy the labwork that much”. He explains: “I sometimes feel that the discoveries of science are a lot more interesting than the getting of those results, due to the specialisation required in order to uncover something new”.

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

Freedom and stimulation

Cormac is happy with his role, and enjoys the freedom that goes with it.

“What every academic treasures is that the balance of teaching, research and outreach is to some extent selfdetermined”, he says. “More generally, I just like being in a third-level college - I love the atmosphere, and the fact there is always something of interest going on somewhere”. Though he was lucky enough to get the first academic position he applied for when he came back to Ireland, he recognises that the academic career path is difficult. “A four- or five-year PhD followed by a few years postdoctoral research is not to be sneezed at. I don’t know any shortcuts.”

Dr Cormac O’Raifeartaigh (PhD in experimental physics) lectures in physics at Waterford Institute of Technology and is the author of the blog ANTIMATTER

Are you

LEAVING interested in but CERTIFICATE Science, unsure of STUDENTS ! which Science discipline to study?

If you apply for any of the following courses, you enter a COMMON FIRST YEAR. At the end of first year, irrespective of which course you started, you can transfer into year 2 of any of the other courses subject to availability of places.

GMIT offers four HONOURS DEGREE (Level 8) COURSES in: l Applied FRESHWATER & MARINE BIOLOGY (CAO Code GA780; Points in 2008 – 310; Median point level - 375) l CHEMICAL & PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE (CAO Code GA 782; Points in 2008 – 325; Median point level – 355) l PHYSICS & INSTRUMENTATION (CAO Code GA 783; CAO points in 2008 – 355; Median point level – 355) l APPLIED BIOLOGY & BIOPHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE (CAO Code GA 781; CAO points in 2008 – 310; Median point level – 360).

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRADUATES OF THESE COURSES:

Graduates of Applied Freshwater & Marine Biology: Employment opportunities in: Environmental Consultancy / Management, Marine Biology Research, Marine Fisheries Management, Oceanography, Aquaculture Development, Public Sector Agencies such as Environmental Protection Agency, Fisheries Boards, teaching (this course is recognised for admission to the higher diploma in education, H Dip Ed), Marine Institute.

Graduate, Imelda Hehir: Currently works in the Marine Institute in Galway in Marine Biology Research. “The Freshwater & Marine Biology course is an excellent course for anyone interested in this exciting branch of Science.”

Graduates of Physics & Instrumentation:

Graduate Jacqueline Keane: Currently working with NASA in California – “The common first year in GMIT Science is a great system – it allows one to change their mind after one year in college. My job with NASA involves exploring space, stars and heavenly structures from the NASA base in California.”

Graduates of Chemical & Pharmaceutical Science: Employment opportunities in: Pharmaceutical Sector, Food Industries, Chemical Sector, Biotechnology companies, Biomedical Sector, Research & Development.

Teaching – this course is recognized for admission to the higher diploma in Education (H Dip Ed.). Public sector employers include Public Analyst Lab, Environmental Protection Agency.

Graduate, Peggy McGlynn: “I studied Chemical & Pharmaceutical Science at GMIT and currently work as a Forensic Scientist in the Forensic Science Laboratory in Dublin. I found GMIT a great place to study with a low student / staff ratio which provides a great learning environment.”

Graduates of Applied Biology & Biopharmaceutical Science: Employment opportunities in: Biotechnology Sector, Diagnostic Companies, Pharmaceutical & Biomedical sector. Public sector employers such as Irish Medicines Board, Environmental Protection Agency, Public Analysts Lab. Teaching – this course is recognized for admission to the higher diploma in Education (H Dip Ed.).

Graduate, Bryan Cavanagh: “I had a job before I completed my final exams – as did many of my class mates. My job is in Regulatory Affairs. The day to day work involves project management and people management. I highly recommend this course.”

Employment opportunities in: Biomedical & Pharmaceutical companies, Medical Physics, Astrophysics, Semiconductor Sector, Nanotechnology, Software Development, Biotechnology Sector.

Teaching – this course is recognized for admission to Further information: Log onto www.gmit.ie/science. the higher diploma in Education (H Dip Ed.) Email: science@gmit.ie Phone 091 742178 SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

How?

Interestingly, whether their approach to science is theoretical or practical, whether they are more tuned into communicating core science or helping people, solving problems or understanding the universe, the first spark that got them into science was similar… that is their natural quest for understanding - the ‘how’ question…

Tara: “I always wanted to know why something happened… why someone was sick – not just what disease they were suffering but how – really how – did the microbe do it. How our bodies did what they did.”

Willie: “I have always been interested on how things work (took radios and TVs apart at a young age, dissected frogs in my kitchen).”

Paul: “When I was younger, I was always interested in understanding what was going on around me.”

William “As a kid I always liked to understand how things worked … or why things happened.”

Anthony: “I simply loved the question ‘how?’”

Interaction What’s also interesting is that most of them, whether teaching the history of cosmos, monitoring the brain, conducting disease surveillance, working in electronics, or as project coordinator, seem to have kept their enthusiasm for science and their drive to learn, even outside their main job.

“I do keep up with physics research and I am still a member IOP (Institute of Physics) as well as IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers),” says William. He adds: “my best friend (he finished his PhD) who worked with me in Rochester is an astrophysicist based in Tenerife Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). He has also found a few planets.

And my boss in Rochester is the head of the astronomy department there. So I keep up to date on most astronomy issues.”

As to Willie, he is a member of different organisations related to clinical neurophysiology both European and American. Through these he enjoys learning about international standards and how practices in Ireland compare to those abroad. “I usually come home from conferences with new ideas and with a fresh attitude to my work,” he says. “In the online group I share experiences with my peers and learn about new developments.”

They all agree that in their development, interaction and communication through science plays a central role. As it does in their life in general.

“Since the start of my career I have been a great believer in networking and have found it invaluable as resource for my own development; it

In a lavishly illustrated paperback, Margaret Franklin and Tom Kennedy explain how we live in a colourful world. The physics, the chemistry and the art, all is revealed. €15 (112pp)

provides great satisfaction and I have also made many close friendships across the world as a result,” says Willie.

“I write occasional science pieces for magazines and newspapers, including The Irish Times. I also give regular public talks on science, on topics like Big Bang cosmology and particle physics. A while ago, I started a science blog (ANTIMATTER) and find it surprisingly useful – it’s a great way of communicating science to people all over the world,” says Cormac, adding that he feels communicating the ideas of science to the public is critical; “it plays such an important role in everyone’s life now, from action on global warming to debates on nuclear power.”

Their drive to communicate science became even more obvious when I asked the question: What are you looking at doing in the future? “More teaching and writing a text book,” says Willie. “My next project is a short book on particle physics, aimed at the layman – there are several such books on cosmology, but very few good ones on particle physics,” says Cormac.

“Teaching, maybe someday getting married and having children. Never stop learning in whatever realm that may be,” says Tara.

But for some the technical application remains important: “Eventually I would like to one day apply the techniques I am studying to build a software product, or to consult companies in how Machine Learning can help them,” says Anthony.

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Sound Advice

Think first, then go for it!

When advising students who would like to follow their different paths, they all seem to agree on one thing: think hard first to make sure it is what you really enjoy doing.

Willie: “Working with sick people is both challenging and rewarding. But it requires dedication and patience, so be honest with yourself in making the choice.”

Anthony: “Be picky about what you decide to do, I rather foolishly didn’t really know what I wanted to do and didn’t spend the time properly checking out my options….I think if I had done the reading beforehand I would have made a better choice sooner.”

Cormac (about the academic path): “Be sure you enjoy teaching.

Be sure you enjoy research. Inner satisfaction is far more important than salary or holidays.” Talking about his experience: “I’m beginning to find that

I’m happier writing about science than doing it and perhaps I should have explored this earlier!”

Tara (about doing a PhD and takeing an academic path): “I think if it’s something you’ve always wanted to do and are passionate about, then do a PhD; but if you are not sure and think you should do it for the sake of it, then don’t.”

But it is not a given for every college student to know straight away what they would really like to do. Paul’s position as a coordinator benefited from having tried different paths. “I would suggest that if a student has a particular interest in science and research and wants to get a PhD, they should get it as early in their career as possible”, he says. In doing so they will have more scope to try other things.

“I think it is important to try various types of jobs and work in different

Keeping patients on the move

Tony O’Donovan is working on the radio connections ireless connections could cut down on the inconvenience of being ill. Tony O’Donovan, a researcher at University College Cork, explained that in many cases there is no real need to keep patients wired up to a monitor. Technically it should be possible to transmit the data generated by sensors, and Tony’s aim is to make this into an affordable, everyday reality.

Sensors might have to stay in place for a long time, so they have to be small and robust, but this is not the biggest problem. They need to consume a minimum amount of power, and as Tony explained, most of the energy goes into transmission.

Because of this he has been looking at how to develop more efficient communication protocols, cutting power demand without sacrificing reliability. Setting priorities, he said, is a good way of conserving power.

A sensor does not have to transmit data all the time, and apart from setting time limits, the device can be programmed only to send out an alert

W

when triggered by something such as a rise in body temperature.

Tony was always keen to work with computer technology, and with a degree from UCC he went to work with a software company in Cork. He did well, and as he said, “I found it challenging, but I was not completely satisfied because all the technologies were already well established and mainstream.” He realised that the best solution was to become involved in research, and that brought him back to UCC. One of the projects for his masters involved networking of sensors, and as he explained, this was just the sort of area that he wanted to work in. Non-contact sensors, he said, have become a hot topic, and he was attracted by how close research in this area is to application. Linking up to Microsoft through IRCSET as his industrial partner was ideal for Tony.

“In the very near future there are going to be a lot of wireless sensor networks, ” he said.

Monitoring patients while keeping them on the move is just one of the

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

environments within science and not to get too focused too early. That way, there can be many opportunities.” Paul has tried research, teaching, project manager in the industry before getting his project manager job in Trinity and he is not 35 yet.

So, in which category are you? Do you enjoy theory or practice? Do you prefer helping people or building things? Are you a communicator, or a project manager/coordinator type of person?

Whatever the answer is, all the people I interviewed agreed on one thing: once you have found what makes you tick, as Willie put it, “go for it!”

“My advice is go and do what you want to do, there is always a path to something else and if you are doing what you want, you are probably not too far off the mark,” says Anthony.

He concludes: “Don’t let fear ever hold you back….People don’t discover things through fear.”

numerous applications, and in one test Tony worked with Tyndall on setting up a car park management system at UCC. “Tyndall did the hardware, and we did the software,” he said, and by detecting the presence or absence of cars, access to the park could be controlled automatically.

With radio links, sensors can be deployed almost anywhere, even in volcanoes. However, power consumption, said Tony, has always been a critical issue.

Keeping the distance down, he explained, helps, and as long as there is a communications network close, the data can be picked up and transmitted via the internet. In a factory, or in environmental monitoring, he said, a large number of sensors might be deployed, but while they might all be in contact with each other, only one or two of these might be required to pass the data along. Keeping everything simple, he said, could also help to lower costs. Companies such as Microsoft and Intel are keen to develop that market, he said, and we can expect to see a lot more happening as soon as researchers delivers lower costs combined with higher performance.

Tom Kennedy

Anthony Brew What’s nice is that I am learning a bag of tricks that I think are applicable to loads of real world problems.

Anthony’s path — building large ideas from small ones nthony’s approach to science is somewhat similar to William’s, with the difference that it has now led him back to academia. “When I was young my parents were always keen on things like lego and science kits.

As I got older I found that I was good at maths and physics. The reason was that I was able to derive a lot of the rules you needed from other rules. I found beauty in being able to build up large ideas from small ones and I think that’s what led me into college, wanting to continue this mix of maths and physics.

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Beginnings

Anthony started by studying Theoretical Physics in Trinity. After 2 years he found he enjoyed the maths part of his course so he switched to maths. “At the end of it, I decided that to make myself employable I needed to learn to be able to write computer software, so I stayed in the maths department at Trinity and studied a masters in High Performance

Computing there,” he explains. “I really enjoyed learning to code. It’s logical, and it is based on this idea of building large things from small and easy to remember components.”

Writing software

After the masters he asked himself the question “should I do a PhD or go into the real world?” He opted for the real world. He worked for a year as an open source software consultant before joining a financial software company in Dublin.“ At the start the work really satisfied me, but also the paycheck. This was essentially a very fast learning curve and after 2 years I feel I can say I am a good software engineer.”

Back to academia

It dawned on me I had learnt all I could in the firm I was in and I wanted to learn something new. Also people would be telling me what to do, write financial software, write

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

billing software or whatever. I wanted to do what I wanted, or at least have that possibility. So thoughts of a PhD returned.

Solving real world problems

Anthony is now studying for a PhD in Machine Learning. He explains how the idea came about. “After this spell in the real world I realised that we are now generating more data than ever before. But extracting interesting information from databases containing everything from medical images to who you email is hard.”

Machine Learning is the study of learning information from data to be able to infer information about unseen data. “Spam is an example”, he says, “we can see loads of good emails and loads of spam, and given this, can we learn a rule to automatically label something as spam or not? The uses are endless.” He continues: “I am currently working on verifying the identity of someone speaking and others in my group are working on prostate cancer and mining information from the human genome.

What’s nice is that I am learning a bag of tricks that I think are applicable to loads of real world problems and I hope after I finish I will be able to go back out into the real world on my own terms and ply my new information trade.”

Sense of ownership

Like Cormac, he enjoys the freedom and stimulation of academia. “I am thoroughly enjoying the PhD, I constantly see new ideas and get to work on my own projects. There are always interesting talks to go to and ideas to hear about.”

“The thing I like about academia, as compared to the outside world, is that people are very passionate about the work they are doing as they have a truly complete sense of ownership of it.”

Anthony Brew is doing a PhD in Machine Learning

Recession, what recession?

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he School of Science at GMIT completed a review of the job vacancies in Ireland in August and identified several hundred jobs available for Science graduates. Dr. Seamus Lennon, Head of Department of Life & Physical Sciences at GMIT says: “We identified several hundred current vacancies for science graduates, and the true figure for vacancies is probably much higher.”

“A government expert group on future skills needs has identified a shortage of graduates in the disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics and software. For example, this group predicts a shortage of 900 biology and chemistry graduates next year, and the following year. This predicted shortage, together with the high level of current vacancies in the sector will result in a great career potential for graduates of career-focused science degrees.”

GMIT has an excellent reputation for the skills set of its science graduates, with many students gaining employment immediately upon graduation. The

quality of its programmes is reflected in the prestigious national chemistry competition (Eurachem) open to all Institutes of Technology and Universities in Ireland, where for the fourth time in five years GMIT science students finished in the top two places.

A recent survey by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) found that 61% of science students who graduated in 2005 earned more than €25,000, with 15.4 % earning more than €33,000.

Dr. Lennon adds: “The message is simple — students who complete programmes designed to provide a core science education together with good practical skills, project work and industrial placement will be well placed to develop rewarding careers in the knowledge economy.”

Dr. Lennon adds: “Most of our programmes now have an industrial placement component and this together with the high level of practical and project work in our degree courses means that our science graduates are well equipped to start developing a well paid and very rewarding career upon graduation.”

For further information about science programmes in GMIT, see: http://www.gmit.ie/science/index.html and, or email: science@gmit.ie; or telephone 091-742178.

“In recent years over half our Biopharmaceutical Science graduates have gained employment before their final exams. Employers are looking for science graduates with ample practical skills, and with good experience in project management, critical thinking and decision making. Our programmes are designed to give the students these skills”.

James Delaney from Monivea Park, Galway, and Maria White from Lifford, Co Donegal, achieved first prize in the Eurachem Chemistry competition.

GMIT students have an enviable reputation for success at national science competitions.

GMIT physics student Damien Howard is presented with an international physics award by Minister Michael Martin. Two GMIT students won awards from the ISA for best physics project at ordinary degree and honours degree level.

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

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Giving molecules a natural twist

The IRCSET enterprise partnership has helped Sinead Milner work on industrial R&D ost drugs can exist in two forms, often referred to as mirror images of each other. The reason for this, explained Sinead Milner at UCC, is that molecules, can twist to the left or to the right. Those differences, she said, referred to as chirality, can be extremely hard to detect, yet they are of enormous significance to the pharmaceutical industry. Although both forms appear to be chemically the same, only one chiral form may be safe to use, and the other, if active at all, may actually be harmful. Undoubtely the best known example of this comes from Thaladimide where failure to separate the two forms turned an apparently safe drug into a disaster.

As Sinead explained, manufacturers are now extremely careful to avoid anything like that happening ever again, and before any new drug is approved, both chiral forms have to be tested separately. However, making chirally pure drugs is not easy, and sometimes the only route open is to separate after making a mix. “It’s very laborous,” said Sinead, “and you immediately lose fifty per cent of your production.”

While it is possible to modify some manufacturing processes, Sinead pointed out that the solution for many of these problems could already

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exist because chiral preference in synthesis is universal in nature. As she explained, ordinary fermentation with bakers yeast is a very effective way to produce chirally pure substances.

Fermentation, she said, has great potential for producing drugs. “At present,” she said, “all I am using is ordinary water, sugar and off the shelf bakers yeast, Sacromycetes cerevisiae.”

As she explains, there are many different varieties of yeast, and with genetic engineering their actions could become highly specific. For example, selecting for for a particular enzyme to transform a keytone into a chirally pure alcohol could be a good way to start off a drug production process.

It might be possible, explained Sinead, to go through a chemical process to produce a similar product, but it could be a lot more difficult, and the results might not be so pure. Some of the best results are currently being obtained using metal catalysts, but as Sinead observed, manufacturers have to be careful not to allow the slightest contamination to pass on into end products. With fermentation, she said, that risk could be eliminated.

Sinead has always found the subject fascinating, and she regards herself as fortunate to have had both a career focus and an excellent teacher at

school. On going to an open day at UCC she had no hesitation at all in signing up for chemistry.

As part of her course, Sinead had to work on industrial placement, and as she remarked, this made her realise the value of practical research. It also made her aware of the growing importance of chiral chemistry in the manufacture of new and more powerful drugs, so when she continued working for her PhD, she was keen to stay in contact with industry. The IRCSET enterprise partnership scheme proved to be ideal, providing financial support while bringing her into a working relationship with industry. Working with Pfizer brought home some of the essential differences between industry and academia. For example, in industry Sinead discovered the importance of crystals. In pure research, she explained, scientists might be quite happy to work with liquids, but people in industry know that successful marketing and distribution usually depends on getting the same product into a tablet.

Industrial and academic researchers, said Sinead, can see things from a completely different viewpoing, and she is glad to have had the opportunity to gain experience on how both sides operate. PhD researchers, she said, have a lot of transferrable skills, but most of them could benefit enormously from this type of exposure to industry.

Tom Kennedy

Don’t miss out, for just €18 you can keep ahead of science Six issues a year packed with features and news about everything in Irish and international science, from astrophysics, biotechnology, and geology to marine life and zoology.

www.sciencespin.com NI sub £12, and for overseas rates see web site

SCIENCE IN AIT

BUILDING FOR A BRIGHT FUTURE

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umerous studies have shown that possession of a strong science qualification represents a very resilient and flexible position to be in regarding the knowledge base and eligibility for a host of career choices. According to the American educator and philosopher, John Dewey, ‘Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of the imagination.’ It is this boldness of vision and unique approach to looking at the world that ensures that science graduates are amongst the most keenly sought by employers.

Of course, selection of a course should obviously be heavily influenced by pure subject interest, as well as pragmatic issues such as a viable future jobs market.

For students who are now selecting a primary degree to ensure a positive future, a science degree represents a secure

choice, which supports many versatile progression options.

A primary science degree innately equips a graduate with a capacity to understand, to process, to analyse and to integrate complex information.

Furthermore, science students learn how to adopt logical approaches to problem solving, to handle data, to appreciate a basis for accuracy and precision, to present an argument and critically review.

These qualities and capabilities are recognised and appreciated by virtually all employers.

The Irish model for national development in the 21st century has as a core assumption that the country will have to increasingly engage in more fundamental R&D and generate and apply new technologies and create more consequential indigenous companies.

A major driver for this process has to be the graduation of creative scientists and engineers. Athlone Institute of Technology provides an intellectual and resourced environment that ensures a stimulating, challenging but enjoyable experience.

The School of Science at AIT offers a unique and very diverse range of courses. It is still the sole provider of a degree in toxicology. Toxicology is a very multidisciplinary subject, which is designed to rigorously establish the safety of virtually all products as well as drugs and medical devices. Historically, AIT graduates in this discipline have enjoyed varied and successful careers.

The School also offers programmes in chemistry and biotechnology to ordinary and honours degree level – both key disciplines that reflect the stability and strength of Ireland’s major exporters in the pharma, biopharma and chemicals sectors.

The other dimension of the School offers a range of care orientated programmes – accredited clinical nursing (general and psychiatric), an established veterinary nursing programme, dental nursing and pharmacy technician. These courses comprise two, three and four year options in many cases, and all incorporate close functioning relationships with professional employers, whether clinical or industry.

Students at AIT also benefit from the close-knit community spirit that pervades the campus. Home to some 6,000 students, AIT provides a cuttingedge third level experience in a modern friendly campus. In addition to the broad range of academic programmes, there are also numerous opportunities for new experiences and making new friends. Partnerships with more than 200 colleges around the world, ensure that AIT offers a science education with a truly international perspective, located in the heart of Ireland.

There is probably an option here that will appeal to you. To find out more about AIT science programmes, visit —

www.ait.ie Paul Tomkins

SCIENCE SPIN CHOOSING SCIENCE

SPIN

Science Foundation Ireland Scholarship 2009 School leavers Deadline for applications is June 26th 2009

Young women in engineering The Dell laptop is a powerful workstation class portable PC and is certified to run with a wide range of engineering class software applications. Additionally, with the latest mobile technology and OpenGL graphics, this lightweight laptop lets you experience genuine workstation power on the move. Office applications like email and Word are available as standard. The laptop comes complete with a backpack and the security of three years next business day onsite warranty from Ireland's largest computer manufacturer.

PART OF A PROGRAMME TO INCREASE THE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH IN IRELAND

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) with support from Dell is awarding research driven scholarships to encourage more young high-achieving women into engineering.

Up to 10 scholarships will be awarded in 2009 to women entering designated engineering degree programmes in Ireland.

Scholars will receive an annual award of â‚Ź2,000; a Dell laptop; the support of an active researcher as a mentor throughout their undergraduate career; and at least one summer research-internship in an academic research laboratory or an industry R&D laboratory during their degree.

Full details of the objectives and eligibility requirements, including how to apply for the scholarship can be obtained on the SFI website: www.sfi.ie/scholarship or by e-mailing: scholarship@sfi.ie Completed applications should be submitted by email to scholarship@sfi.ie or sent to the address below for delivery on or before 5pm on Friday, June 26th, 2009.

SFI Scholarship - Young Women in Engineering Science Foundation Ireland Wilton Park House

www.sfi.ie

Wilton Place

Dublin 2, Ireland

tel +353 1 607 3200 fax +353 1 607 3201

email scholarship@sfi.ie

Lab support in schools Karla Lawless, President of the Irish Science Teachers’ Association, ISTA, highlights the need to provide secondary schools with laboratory technicians. he provision of world class science education is widely acknowledged as a key requisite for all Irish second level students. Recently, the Irish Science Teachers’ Association, ISTA, published a policy document pointing out that the lack of laboratory technicians in schools is making it more difficult to achieve this aim.

ISTA recommends that laboratory technicians should be provided for all second-level schools.

The voluntary association of science teachers recognises that certain provisions have to be in place to make science education effective. These include: l ongoing delivery of in-service to all science teachers, l implementation of relevant modern syllabi, l ongoing provision of laboratory resources, l employment of laboratory technicians.

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Progress has been made in all of these areas with the singular exception of the provision of laboratory technicians. This continues to be the case, despite recommendations from a number of sources, including the 2002 Task Force on the Physical Sciences, the 2006 PISA report, and the ASTI Survey of science teachers in 2006. In the Government’s Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation 2006 – 2013, is a proposal (Chapter Five: Science Education and Society) to ‘revisit the issue of technical assistance for schools to facilitate practical coursework’. This clearly shows that it is not a new issue but rather an ongoing serious concern.

Students require meaningful practical work in conjunction with the relevant theory. This would maximise the quality of learning and understanding and the value of science as a subject. Science students must be presented with sufficient safe, working equipment for all practical work. Such environment would best be provided by a laboratory technician, leaving the teacher to focus on teaching the necessary concepts.

Recent curriculum developments

The three main science subjects at both junior and senior cycle level have been revised in recent years. There is a much greater emphasis on practical work, with students being required to complete mandatory experiments in all subjects.

Currently, 4 per cent of second level schools (26 out of 720 approx.) in the Republic of Ireland have laboratory technicians employed. This is in sharp contrast to Northern Ireland, where all second level schools employ technicians and they are paid by the Government.

It is widely accepted that discovery learning is more stimulating for students. A technician working together with a science teacher will help to provide greater opportunity for students to participate fully and capably in investigative work. Valuable time can be lost by students as teachers have to prepare the science laboratory for the varied series of experiments and investigations conducted there. Up to 20 minutes can be lost in a single or double class period!

It has been the case in schools that have laboratory technicians that a greater number of students participate in extra project work such as the BT Young Science Exhibition, SciFest and others.

Support and the future

In its efforts to highlight this important issue and garner support, the ISTA has gathered an impressive amount of support — both vocal and written — from various groups. Among others, these include: National Parents Council, the two teachers’ unions ASTI and TUI, Institute of Physics in Ireland, PharmaChemical Ireland, an association for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry in Ireland, and The Institute of Biology of Ireland.

The recent budgetary cuts do not bode well for the ISTA’s plight to lobby for the introduction of laboratory technicians in second-level schools. But it is exactly at times like these that there is a danger of the wrong decisions being made. The Government continues — and rightly so — to allocate funds to the SFI, which is the engine behind the promotion of science research and innovation in Ireland. But if we continue to promote Ireland’s future as a knowledge based economy — should we not take every possible step to ensure that this happens?

And that, without doubt, includes the investment in primary and secondary science education with one of the main priorities being the provision of laboratory technicians in second-level schools.

The Policy Document can be ordered (free of charge) from Kay O’Mahony by sending an email to

kayomahony@yahoo.co.uk

Karla Lawless, Manager Internal/External Affairs, BASF Ireland Limited, is currently President of the Irish Science Teachers’ Association. karla.lawless@basf.com

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 37

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Drilling for

LIFE Tom Kennedy reports how ocean drilling has revealed an abundance of life in the deep biosphere.

A prokaryotic cell recovered from 1626 metres below the ocean surface in ancient sediments on the Newfoundland margin. The cells were recovered by scientists from Cardiff University working on board the Joides Resolution drill vessel. Apart from living at depth, the background temperature was between 60 and 100ยบC.

Top left, the Japanese drilling vessel, Chikyu.

Left, the US drill ship, Joides.

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Preparing to drill on board Joides

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here is life in the sea, and there is life under the sea. Not that long ago it was thought that the ocean floors were dead, and less than half a century ago it was assumed that nothing could possibly survive seven metres below the sea bed.

Like the flat Earth, that particular view has been discarded as utterly false, and, in fact, to trace the foundations of life, we need to look quite deep below the surface. Instead of a seven metre bio barrier, we now know that some microbes are even at home in rocky sediments below 800 metres. The diversity of the deep biosphere may well equal the microbial richness of soil, once considered the most fertile material on Earth. Until recently the existence of the deep biosphere was unknown, yet it may possibly make up one third of all living matter on Earth.

It might strike us as strange that microbes existing under conditions more severe than those found on Mars, can be so important, but without them life as we know it, would not have come into existence, and the Earth could certainly be a different, unrecognisible, place.

Recently, the geoscientist, Judith McKensie, was in Ireland to explain how a long running international programme of ocean floor exploration has revolutionised our understanding of the deep biosphere. As Professor of Earth System Science in Zurich, Judith is involved in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programe. This involves drilling deep into the ocean floor, and as she explained, at first when cores were being examined, the last thing scientists expected to detect was any evidence of life. Now, scientists realise that rocks and microbes are seldom

Dumping at depth

Plans to dump carbon dioxide or store radioactive wastes at depth are often based on the assumption that the upper crust of the Earth is dead. As Judith explained, deep drilling shows that this is not the case. Carbon dioxide is currently being pumped down into oil fields and abandoned coal mines, but as Judith said, “we have to ask ourselves how is the deep biosphere going to handle this?” Strange things can happen at depth. Spaces are opened up, and microbial life reacts, as happened at Potsdam in Germany, where carbon dioxide was pumped in, and lots of iron came out.

The deep biosphere, explained Judith, has always had an enormous influence on the Earth’s atmosphere, and currently it is thought to store thirty per cent, or more, of the world’s carbon dioxide.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 39

far apart, and Judith said that over the past decade her own research has shifted from geochemistry to geomicrobiology. Many minerals, such as iron ores, oil, and rock formations such as chalk, are biological in origin, yet, until quite recently, as Judith observed, “we never considered the importance of the microbes.”

One of the reasons for this, she explained, is that the microbes were well hidden, so even if geologists had suspected that they were present, techniques for detection were simply not available. Advances in electron microscopy, and fluorescent markers changed all that, and the high concentration of life took everyone by surprise. A one gram sample of sub-surface rock could turn out to be supporting millions of microbes, and unlike those on the Earth’s oxygen rich surface, these would be anerobic, drawing their energy from inorganic sources.

Recovering those microbes for further study has become an essential part of the Ocean Drilling Programme.

As every core is drawn up from the depths, its surface is scanned for signs of life, and as Judith explained, no where on Earth seems to be too hostile for microbes.

The drilling programme, she said, is global, and in Europe seventeen states are in a consortium with Canada operating under the International Ocean Drilling Programme. Ireland is involved, as is Switzerland. “You might ask why Switzerland?” said Judith, but as she put it, “no one is not linked to the oceans.” In Ireland, the link might be more obvious, but in every country the oceans are part of the past, and they have a major influence on global climate.

The ocean floor is far from uniform, and a number of different drilling vessels are deployed in what Judith referred to as mission specific platforms. The Americans, she explained, provide a ‘non-riser’ that can drill in deep waters where there is no danger of blow-out from intense underground pressure, while the Japanese vessel, like those used in oil exploration, is designed to deal with such a situation. In polar regions, icebreakers are sent in with the drill ships, and Judith said the international team of scientists had been amused last year to hear about the Russians planting a flag on the North Pole. “Sorry,” she said, “we got there first, and in 2004

put down a drill string, so you could say that ridge now belongs to the ocean drilling programme.”

The drill ships have also been at work off the Irish coast, and during “Expedition 307” in 2005 carbonate mounds, some as high as the Eiffel Tower were investigated, and once again, the bio connection was significant. “It seems that microbial activities are producing methane inside these mounds,” said Judith.

Coming to life

From 1983 to 2003 geochemists on the drilling programme had been noting with interest the depletion of sulphates in seawater. “Sometimes this happened at 10, sometimes 30, and sometimes 100 metres,” Judith said, “and below this we began to get the production of methane.” For the geochemists this was a clear case of sulphate reduction but as Judith explained, it took a while for scientists to realise that bacteria were so active in chewing up the sulphates, and that distinct sulphate methane transition zones, involving a close symbiotic relationship between bacteria and the more ancient archaea microbes exist.

Because the microbes were invisible to the naked eye their role had not been obvious, but the development of fluorescent stains, that attach themselves to DNA, finally convinced

Slow growth

Life in the deep biosphere is a lot different from life on the surface, and to find out what these micro-organisms are like and how they survive, samples are brought back for culturing under similar conditions in the laboratory.

As Judith explained, this is not an easy task. Matching extreme conditions is one thing, and cells can be kept alive, but promoting growth is a problem.

Normally, cells divide about once a day, and once a week would be regarded as extremely slow. “Down in the deep biosphere,” said Judith, “this might be once in 300, or even once in every 3,000 years.”

Compared to the human timescale, this is almost geologically slow, but those cells are alive. On close examination, said Judith, the different stages of mitosis cell division can be seen. However, that extremely slow rate of cell division makes it impossible to bulk up the DNA, frustrating attempts to extract potentially valuable genes.

Examining the cores brought up by Joides, from left, Harold Tobin from the US, Alex Maltmann from the UK, Mario Sanchez-Gomez from Spain, and Toshio Hisasmitsu from Japan. the drillers that life continued to thrive well below the seven and a half metre depth. However, the fact that microbes are so active and so extensive, even in the frozen depths, took everyone by surprise. In a way, the greening of our planet had masked the original inhabitants, but the archea are still very much with us, and as Judith observed, they are still doing what they have been doing for billions of years.

Observing microbes at work now helps to explain what we see from the past, and Judith mentioned dolomite as an example. Under the electron microscope, living microbes have been seen to produce tiny crystals of magnesium carbonate, dolomite, and, in clinging together in colonies, cells have been surrounding themselves with solid coatings for the last 3.5 billion years.

Given that life could emerge in such a hostile world, and continue to thrive so deep into the ocean floor, makes Judith wonder if the same process might be at work elesewhere. “I think the most excting thing these days,” she remarked, “would be to be a Mars sedimentologist.”

Microbial processes have produced mountains of dolomite.

A spectacular view from 11,000 feet of icrbreakers clearing the way for drilling in the Arctic.

Photo: Bremen University.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 40

MARINE CENSUS

SINCE 2000 scientists from around the world have been working on a census of marine life. At a recent meeting at Valencia in Spain the collaborating scientists met to review progress and to announce that the world’s first marine census will be ready for release in 2010. Ian Poiner, CEO of Australia’s Institute of Marine Science, said the census will be a a major achievement synthesizing everything that we currently know about life in the oceans.

When the project began many scientists thought it might be over ambitious, he said, yet, what is believed to be the largest, most complex marine programme ever undertaken is expected to deliver results on target.

Apart from the obvious listing of about a quarter of a million species, the census will map their known distribution and range, DNA identifiers will be given, and most will be described in a web based encyclopedia of life.

New discoveries are already beginning to turn up as a result of work being done on the census.

In a study led by Dr Louise Allcock from Queen’s School of Biological Science, molecular evidence was found tracing the origin of deep sea octupuses to a common ancestor that still exists in the Antarctic Southern Ocean. The scientists believe that the octupuses began to migrate away from the cooling Antarctic 30 million years ago. Isolated in new ocean basins, the octupuses diversified, some losing their ink sacs because they had colonised the dark depths. “If octupuses radiated in this way,” she said, “it’s likely that other fauna did so also, so we have helped explain where some of the deep-sea diversity comes from.”

Above, the Antarctic octupus, Megaleledone setebos.

Photo: M. Rauschert

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The jeweled squid, Histioteuthis bonelli, swims above the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at depths from 500 m to 2,000 m. Photo: David Shale

The Banco Chinchorro reef in Mexico is home to blue chromis, Chromis cyanea, and numerous other fish species.

Photo: Humberto Bahena, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur A soft coral, Dendronepthyla, from coral gardens off Lizard Island.

Photo: Gary Cranitch, Queensland Museum.

This Arctic ctenophore, Bolinopsis infundibulum, thrives in the coldest conditions in the sea. Photo: Shawn Harper, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

An unidentified 11-armed brisingid asteroid. Photo: National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, and Natural Environment Research Council.

The aplocophoran mollusk, Cheatoderma felderi, was first described in 2007. Photo: Darryl L. Felder, Louisana State University.

A jellyfish, Aequorea macrodactyla, from the warm clear waters of the Celebes Seain the western Pacific Ocean. Photo: Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

A file clam, Lima sp. from off Ningaloo Island, Australia.

Photo: Gary Cranitch, Queensland Museum.

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 43

Bluestriped snapper, Lutjanus casmira, a typical reef fish photographed here on Christmas Island, Central Pacific.

Photo: Philip A. Sack, Sea Education Association.

A midwater medusa, Nausithoe sp. from the Celebes Sea. Photo: Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

A brightly colored comb jelly from the high Arctic waters of the Canada Basin. Photo: Kevin Raskoff, Monterey Peninsula College.

In Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, nearshore researchers discovered new species in shallow water, such as this kelp, Aureophycus aleuticus.

Photo: Max K. Hoberg, Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

A male sea spider from the Antarctic carrying its eggs under its body.

Photo: Cédric d’Udekem, Royal Belgium Institute for Natural Sciences

RADIO SPECTRUM

Imagining the telecoms future at CTVR The spectrum of radio frequencies is the raw material that facilitates the communication of all kinds of devices in the modern world. At the moment, these frequencies are typically divided up rigidly, with different frequencies allocated for different purposes. However, as Seán Duke reports, Dr Linda Doyle, at the Centre for Telecommunications ValueChain Research (CTVR) is pushing, along with her colleagues, for a more flexible, dynamic approach.

Once upon a time, a telephone was only a telephone, a radio was only a radio, a game was only a game and a TV was only a TV. Those days are gone, and today’s devices are no longer just one thing. The modern device is very complex, capable, and can be used in different ways. A phone can be a radio, a TV, a game and a phone all at the same time.

Multi-purpose devices today communicate using the frequencies that are available in the ‘radio spectrum’. The spectrum is regarded by the telecommunications industry

as a precious finite resource, and it is managed at the moment as such. The national or international telecommunications regulators around the world typically allocate certain frequencies for phone, for example, while other frequencies are earmarked for TV. This is a very rigid, nondynamic system that has, up to now, worked reasonably well for all.

The CTVR is an SFI supported CSET (Centre for Science, Engineering and Technology) headquartered at TCD. It is multi-disciplinary, involving researchers from a number of different fields and a number of third level institutions. There are also several committed industry partners. The overarching goal is for those involved to tackle the engineering and scientific challenges involved in creating a future, more dynamic telecom world.

Dr Linda Doyle is one of the key researchers at the CTVR. During her talk at the recent SFI Science Summit, held in Kilkenny, she said that tight regulation of radio spectrum up to now is understandable given that radio frequencies are difficult, imperfect

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 45

entities to deal with. This imperfection, she explained, is why state bodies around the world, such as ComReg in Ireland, have sought to closely regulate how radio frequencies are used.

Predictable

“A radio signal in reality is like a bit splat of paint,” said Dr Doyle, “frequencies leak from one band into another, distortion occurs, signals get corrupted and it becomes very difficult to receive the signals that you want to do.” The current regulatory system, she added, manages such chaos, so that services don’t encroach too much on one another.

“So life is somewhat predictable,” continued Dr Doyle, “and you have some kind of level of insurance that I understand the system in which I must operate, I understand the conditions in which I must operate. The services don’t encroach on each other in an unreasonable way, and you always know who your neighbour is.”

This has been the system up to now, but telecommunications researchers have been challenging this rigid way SPIN

access’. The way it works – in theory at least – is that a device searches around its environment to see what spectrum is available, what is not being used at that time. The device then, intelligently, decides to move into the available space until the owner comes back. It is something akin to using a parking space that is unoccupied while the owner of that space is not there, and being able to immediately vacate the space when the owner returns, and needs to use it.

The concept at CTVR is that spectrum consumers of all kinds should be allowed to co-exist. Dr Doyle and her colleagues want to push the existing systems so that more interesting and dynamic things can be done, and in the longer term to challenge the existing system completely. The push is, thus, towards a world where the market, not regulators, will determine what kind of technologies will be successful. “This is very much the kind of fluid spectrum world that we in CTVR envisage,” said Dr Doyle.

of organising radio spectrum. One of main reasons to challenge the current set up, said Dr Doyle, is that it doesn’t encourage innovation. Innovation requires available spectrum, but often that spectrum is not available.

The regulator, a national body, or an international body, is extremely powerful in this sphere, and they can essentially decide – not the market – what kind of technologies are going to dominate into the future. They decide whom the ‘winners’ will be.

This is not ideal, said Dr Doyle, as, for example, in the past it has been seen that mistakes have been made where ideas or concepts supported by the regulator have failed, and never taken off.

Dynamic

Researchers at the CTVR, such as Dr Doyle, have been asking themselves in recent years how a better, more flexible system of utilising spectrum resources can be put in place? Why does the management of spectrum have to be so rigid? Why can’t spectrum be used in a dynamic fashion? Why can’t systems be created, for example, that allow devices to hop into available spectrum space, and then hop out again when that licensee returns?

The hop in, and hop out again system is called ‘dynamic spectrum

Electric waves

Radio waves

designed so that it can search for a wide space, move into that wide space, and move out again as required. The key to all of this, on the radio, and network side, is flexibility. This will enable telecommunications to move away from the static world that has existed up to now. It will require, however, a new generation of smart radios to be built, and tested in the field, to see what will work.

Dr Doyle said that Ireland is ideally placed for spectrum experimentation, primarily because there are spectrum frequencies available for experimentation here. The CTVR has given its own testing frequencies to use by ComReg. That’s very impressive given its location in Dublin City Centre, at TCD, as spectrum is usually even harder to get in urban centres. This enabled CTVR to get the first experimental license for a smart, software radio, in the world, and such experiments could not have happened anywhere else.

The availability of test spectrum has helped to attract a range of industry and academic collaborations, said Dr Doyle. This all means that in the radio experimentation ‘space’, she said, the CTVR has a very central role to play in terms of what technologies get used in Ireland, how that technology is used, and what kind of innovation is encouraged.

Smart

In the future, devices and networks will be ‘smart’. The old rigid rules will go out the window, and a new generation of radio devices will be

Visible light

Infra-red

Ultra violet

Gamma rays

X rays

Cosmic rays

Radio spectrum 3G LMDS WiFi TETRA Bluetooth GSM FM Microwave radio radio links TV DECT

Long wave radio LF

VLF

3

Medium wave radio

30 kHz

HF

MF

300

3

UHF

VHF

30 MHz

300

SHF

3

Increasing range Decreasing bandwidth SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 46

EHF

30 GHz

300

Decreasing range Increasing bandwidth

Europe breaks the ice for new era in

Polar research

Seán Duke reports on plans to launch a world-class ice breaking research vessel.

T

he study of the polar regions, both Arctic and Antarctic, is increasingly important to understand what is happening to global climate. However, it is technically very difficult and costly to organise scientific missions to these areas. Typically, these missions must take place in summer only, and involve up to three vessels, one to conduct research and another two to break the ice. Europe, however, has recently laid down a marker, with its announced intention to build a world-class polar research vessel, to be called Aurora Borealis, which will be a drill ship, an icebreaker and a research vessel all rolled into one.

Scientists believe that it is very important and urgent to conduct more comprehensive scientific work in the Arctic Ocean. This was shown, for example, by the fact that in just one year, between 2006 and 2007, the sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean was reduced by 30 per cent. This indicates that something serious is happening requiring serious study.

Up to now, research vessels, due to cost and technical issues, have had a limited time window for study in the Arctic. Ice is a problem, and that means that missions must be planned for summer time, when ice cover is reduced. A research vessel must travel with icebreakers, as for it to take marine cores at sites of interest, these must be ice free. To take these cores, sophisticated drilling equipment must travel onboard with the research vessel, but there can be limitations on the depth of water that drilling can take place in.

As well as questions about climate, and the worrying opening of previously ice-bound and closed Arctic seaways, scientists have questions about the nature of the marine life existing in the Arctic, the currents of water that pass under the ice, and the permafrost which is situated on land, and contains methane encased in dead organic material. As regards this last question, if permafrost melts, there is concern that

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 47

the subsequent mass release of methane – a greenhouse gas – could seriously impact on the Earth’s climate.

There are many other questions that scientists have, which could be solved by conducting more detailed study of the Arctic and Antarctic Ocean floor – work that could best be done by an remotely operated vehicle, or ROV. For example, scientists do not know much about the creatures that are living under the polar ice. How do these organisms survive in such extreme environments?

To answer such a question it would be necessary to conduct the research when the environment is at its most extreme – during winter. Furthermore, geologists and the energy industry would be very interested to know whether there are gas hydrates, indicating the presence of oil and gas, beneath the poles.

Difficult

The difficulties that face scientists when organising a mission to study polar oceans can be seen, for example, with the recent Arctic Coring Expedition (Acex). It was necessary to have three ships involved in this campaign – a minimum requirement for an Arctic mission at the moment.

The Swedish registered ship, the Vidar

Viking, served as the coring vessel, and there were two icebreakers, the Swedish icebreaker Oden, and the main icebreaker clearing the path, the Russian nuclear icebreaker, Sovetskiy Soyuz.

The goal of Acex was to collect the first complete climate history from marine cores taken beneath the Arctic Ocean. This work took place in 2006, and sediments were taken at a very remote location called the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain chain at 880 North, or about 250 km from the North Pole. This was the first time such a scientific operation was attempted by scientists in such a hostile environment. It required the two icebreakers to constantly circle the Vidar Viking to allow it remain in position for drilling.

Advance

The great advance proposed for the Aurora Borealis is that the two icebreakers that accompanied the Vidar Viking on Acex could be dispensed with at it breaks its own ice.

Aurora will also be an improvement for several other reasons. It will provide a capability to stay out at sea for a longer time, up to three months, conducting research. Also, unlike the present, it will be capable of doing research even in the harsh Arctic winter months.

Another issue – an economic one primarily - concerns the use of sophisticated equipment, such as ROVs, which could explore under the ice. There has been a reluctance to deploy ROVs on Arctic missions up to now as there was a risk that a vessel, which could cost in the region of €6 million, would be cut off and lost by ice. Aurora greatly reduces this risk.

In the future, it is very likely that scientists will want to deploy permanent underwater observatories at the bottom of the Arctic and Antarctic ocean floors. The equipment that will make up such observatories will be expensive, but could be safely deployed from the Aurora. These observatories could act as continuous monitoring stations, checking the thickness of sea ice, and the extent of cover. The Aurora could help make this a reality.

Furthermore, the Aurora could act as a means of ground-truthing data that has been gathered from space by satellites. Earth observation satellites

Aurora Borealis will continue to operate through the Arctic winter months. today can monitor the polar regions, but, currently, there is no way of verifying the data they collect on Earth.

A ship like Aurora could do this better than any other, by virtue of its ability to spend a long time at sea in the poles, checking and confirming satellite data, and gathering new data

Vessel

Aurora will have a drill rig onboard that is completely enclosed from the outside. This means that drillers will be able to work inside, and shielded from the extreme cold – a benefit also for the machinery. The drill rig will be capable of drilling in waters of up to 5,000 metres depth, about the maximum water depths seen in the Arctic and Antarctic.

The ship will be an icebreaker, and a very powerful one, with 85 megawatts of diesel propulsion power. That’s more even that the very powerful Russian nuclear icebreakers. For the benefit of those onboard there is to be an atrium, or a glass roof, which will make use of any daylight present in the sometimes dark Arctic Ocean. There will be modern laboratories onboard, with plenty of space to store materials in containers while at sea.

The vessel is to be 199 metres in length, 49 metres wide, and capable of 50 knots. It will house a total of 120 people, which means 70 scientists in non-drilling mode and 50 scientists when the ship is in drilling mode.

There is to be enough fuel for missions of up to 90 days.

The greatest engineering challenge to those designing Aurora was the issue

SCIENCE SPIN Issue 32 Page 48

of dynamic positioning. This means designing a ship that is capable of staying in the same position, breaking the ice, and drilling. For the first time ever a ship has been designed that is capable of doing all of this independently, and this has been proved in ‘ice tank’ tests.

The ship will be subject to extremes of weather, so it is to have a double ‘hide’ and an extremely stable open water performance. The requirement to be stable in the open sea is especially important should the Aurora be involved in Antarctic missions. This is because the vessel will, in that situation, be required to cross the socalled ‘Roaring Forties’ – the name that sailors give to the very strong winds at latitudes between 400S and 500S. These prevailing westerly winds are strong because there is little landmass to slow them down.

Deployment

Companies in Germany, Finland, USA and Norway have been involved up to now in the technical design for Aurora. Once the final costings are done in early 2009, then the project will be put out to tender for construction companies to bid on. The plan then is that construction will start some time in 2010 or 2011, with the first scientific mission to take place in 2013 or 2014.

This will trigger the start of a new dawn in polar studies.

SPIN

Science Foundation Ireland Scholarship 2009 School leavers Deadline for applications is June 26th 2009

Young women in engineering The Dell laptop is a powerful workstation class portable PC and is certified to run with a wide range of engineering class software applications. Additionally, with the latest mobile technology and OpenGL graphics, this lightweight laptop lets you experience genuine workstation power on the move. Office applications like email and Word are available as standard. The laptop comes complete with a backpack and the security of three years next business day onsite warranty from Ireland's largest computer manufacturer.

PART OF A PROGRAMME TO INCREASE THE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH IN IRELAND

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) with support from Dell is awarding research driven scholarships to encourage more young high-achieving women into engineering.

Up to 10 scholarships will be awarded in 2009 to women entering designated engineering degree programmes in Ireland.

Scholars will receive an annual award of â‚Ź2,000; a Dell laptop; the support of an active researcher as a mentor throughout their undergraduate career; and at least one summer research-internship in an academic research laboratory or an industry R&D laboratory during their degree.

Full details of the objectives and eligibility requirements, including how to apply for the scholarship can be obtained on the SFI website: www.sfi.ie/scholarship or by e-mailing: scholarship@sfi.ie Completed applications should be submitted by email to scholarship@sfi.ie or sent to the address below for delivery on or before 5pm on Friday, June 26th, 2009.

SFI Scholarship - Young Women in Engineering Science Foundation Ireland Wilton Park House

www.sfi.ie

Wilton Place

Dublin 2, Ireland

tel +353 1 607 3200 fax +353 1 607 3201

email scholarship@sfi.ie

Engineering Energy Visit the Discover Science & Engineering Stand at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition from

8 to 10 January 2009 at the RDS in Dublin Come to the Engineering Energy House to see Energy Challenges and how Engineering is providing Solutions