In2science is a summer programme for year 12 students to gain insight into STEM careers and research. There is a wider participation element, as students are selected based on criteria indicating a disadvantaged background, and are all from non-fee paying and non-selective state-maintained schools. After applying to the scheme in April, Dr Wing Ying Chow found out in June that she had been matched, and hosted four students for a week in August. The students came from schools in north Coventry and the outskirts of Birmingham. They have all faced various levels of disruption due to COVID and this is their first work experience.

Solid-state NMR was a completely new technique to all of the students. That didn’t stop them from getting some hands-on experience: they packed a rotor and ran some experiments on the national high-field GHz spectrometer. During the placement, the students started to make connections between the A-levels they are studying, whether maths, chemistry, biology, or physics, with what is going on in the lab and in the magnet.

Ying received plenty of help and support in hosting, especially for tours and lab visits. As a new Assistant Professor without a group of her own, she found it was a great way to get to know more of the department and the university, “It was not only gratifying to see the students becoming more confident and outspoken over the week, but I also learned a lot from finding new ways to explain scientific concepts at Y12 level.”

Read Ying’s blog about the programme.

Find out how to host a summer 2023 placement. 

We have a brand new observatory on campus near to the University sports pavilion. The telescope was lifted in last week, having been brought to the UK from La Palma where it was used to contribute towards projects on topics ranging from exoplanet and variable star characterisation to global clusters. Our Physics with Astrophysics students will be able to gain hands-on project experience with the telescope starting this academic year.

See more photographs of the telescope being lifted in to place. 

It's finally here, the new molecular viewer "AniMol" (ANImated MOLecules) is in beta for free public use. AniMol allows you to create interactive views of molecular structures or dynamics thereof and then gives a permanent link and QR code image for access from anywhere, including on mobile devices. For example, check out the #sarscov2 spike proteins' plausible opening/closing motion at https://lnkd.in/ec7RpSyz or https://lnkd.in/eyT_DpEx.

AniMol was created by current Maths and Physics 3rd year student James Panayis working with recent Warwick Physics graduate James Partington and Prof. Rudo Roemer from theory group. Their work has been funded in part by a Warwick InnovationsLink opens in a new window "Impact Acceleration Account" fund.