International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2024
Dr Veronica Del Angel Hernandez (left) and Saskia Charity (right), two of the scientists who spoke at the event, posing with a straw tracking detector designed for the g-2 experiment.
Alongside members of the Maths, Physics and Chemistry Departments we attended the School of Physical Sciences event celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science. We were treated to three fantastic talks showcasing a variety of different areas of research happening here in Liverpool.
We started off with Yiyi Whitchelo (Maths) presenting her work investigating the modelling of acoustic waves on rough seabeds. This talk was incredibly engaging and started with an introduction to the modelling of seabeds and acoustic waves, progressing into comparisons of two and three-dimensional models and how to validate these results.
Next up was Dr Veronica Del Angel Hernandez (Chemistry). Dr Del Angel Hernandez took us on a journey through her academic life and how changing institutions, and more importantly, motherhood, shaped the paths that she followed. We began with a discussion of developing microporous materials, then moved onto research in electrochemical reduction of CO2 working towards developing more sustainable catalysts/materials. Next, we covered navigating motherhood, and how this wonderful development creates complex decisions and can change the routes taken through science, and how as a result, new skills are found and explored.
Finally, Dr Saskia Charity discussed her contribution to and the overall work done by the g-2 muon experiment at Fermi Lab. It was a fascinating talk covering the different fundamental particles and how they come together to form the Standard Model, also identifying reasons for deviations from the model. The talk explained how the g-2 experiment is helping to test the limits of the Standard Model and how it may be able to measure forces/particles that have never been detected before. It was also interesting to hear about the timescale of Dr Charity’s involvement in g-2 and how the experiment developed around her as her research progressed.
Overall, we were treated to three fabulous talks which showcased some fantastic results and methods, with these three women being prime examples of the amazing work being undertaken in our School and across the wider University.
By Lucy Morris and Jake Diprose, PhD students in the CMP Cluster