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Lorelei Robertson

    • About Me:

      Hi! I’m Lorelei, an Imaging scientist by day, by night a coffee addict with and obssesion for knitting, reading, games (board and video) and Dungeons and Dragons!

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      I’m sort of one of those people who has way too many hobbies and loves all of them!

      I’m a fairly creative person, in work and out of it, whether i’m editing images of samples imaged at work, or channeling this into knitting/crochet whilst sat watching tv, to painting the minis of characters for Dungeons and Dragons, or playing the piano which i’ve been doing since I was 5 years old.

      I love to play video games board games, or DnD, especially with my friends and family. My friends and I will normally meet up once a week to play board games, or DnD. If we’re playing board games, I love social deduction board games, partiuclarly Blood on the Clocktower, which is very like ‘The Traitors’ on TV but 1000% better.

      I’m also very outdoorsy, and will pretty much always be doing some sort of outdoors activity every week, be that a cycle to work, a run, mountain biking, hikes, paddleboaring or open water swimming.

      When I want to chill by myself you’ll probably find me wrapped up in a blanket with a coffee, reading a book. Anything Fantasy or Sci-fi, i’ll probably read it

    • My pronouns are:

      She/They

    • How I use Science in my work:

      I’m an imaging scientist/ electron microscopy technican. So, I use electrons rather than light in a microscope to be able to image samples or features that are in the microscale and nanoscale and make them visible to the human eye.

      This type of imaging can be used for anything, be it: Engineering, Chemistry, Biology, Medicine, Archaelogy, Physics, Etc. you name the discipline there’s probably a reason you’ll need to use an electron microscope.

    • My Work:

      I’m an Electron Microscope Technician, So put simply I make teeny tiny things look really big. As well as looking after the microscopes that make this possible!

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      Along with being able to use the miscrosocpes to look at samples, I am also in charge of them, looking after them to make sure that they are always functional, fixing anything when it breaks, or finding an engineer that is more qualified to fix it for me.

      I spend a lot of time training other people to use the equipment so that they can image their own samples, or I will help other people image their samples so that they can undertake research.

      I am also in charge of a sample preparation laboratory.  If you want to use an electron microscope, you’ll need to do something to the samples to ensure you can look at them under the microscope. We have a whole lab set up with everything that people will need to be able to get the samples ready for imaging.

      When there’s time to spare I’ll do a lot of outreach and public engagement, so I’ll talk to anyone and everyone who will listen about the wonders of electron microscopy, how it works and why it’s so awsome.

    • My Typical Day:

      I wake up (after snoozing my alarm a few too many tomes), then normally cycle to work. I get to work ready for 8:45am, where I’ll start working in the lab. I normally have lunch with some friends, before heading back to the lab. I’ll work until 5pm and then cycle home.

       

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      What I do in work varies from day to day, It’s a mix of working in labs and sitting at my desk doing admin.

      When I’m in the office, it’s revolves around a lot of emails, normally to help organise training for users, or answering questions about electron microscopy for specific samples. Working in a multi-discipline laboratory requires a lot of risk assessments, especially when working with a lots of different types of samples, and lots of people that come from all over the university.

      When I’m in the lab, I’m either analysing samples for users, or training users to use the equipment themselves. Or, I’m checking all of the equipment to make sure they are working properly, or troubleshooting to figure out why they aren’t working and fixing it (80% of the time, the turn it off, turn it back on again approach is the answer)

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      I love working with the concept that science can be art.

      So, probably to create some form of public engament art piece that combines the science of electron microscopy and the art behind the science, using images taken as art pieces that can be used to help educate people about electron microscopy and the research it helps and why.

    CV

    • Education:

      I went to Loose Primary school and Invicta Grammar school.

      After school I went to the University of Plymouth to study Geology, where I spent 4 years looking at rocks (normally at the beach!).I spend 6 weeks on the Isle of Skye mapping a 1 km^2 area based on the geology of the area, and figured out the proccess that created the landscape in that area today

      During my fourth year for my masters thesis, I was introduced to Scanning Electron Micorscopy (SEM) and how you can use that to understand the composition of rocks and what they are made of. I used SEM and automated classification tehcniques and machine to analyse rocks that had come from mines all over the world; A copper mine in USA, a Tin mine in Australia and a Gold mine in Armenia.

      I fell in love with SEM during my masters degree and found a technician job at the university that allowed me to work with electron microscopes full time!

    • Qualifications:

      I have 13 GSCEs back from when they still graded them with letters rather than numbers!

      At A-level I did: Biology, Physics, Maths, Geography and General Studies

      I have a MGeol in Geology at The Univeristy of Plymouth. I started off on the BSc Applied Geology (the one where you learn about engineering, mining and oil industries) then switched the intetgrated Masters when I realised I wanted to carry on persuing the research side of Geology.

    • Work History:

      I have a very linear work history.

      I was a babysitter for local kids in my neighbour hood when I was still at school.

      After university I jumped straight into my first job as an electron microscopy technician at the Univeristy of Plymouth. I spent most of my time there as the sample preparation technician, preparing the samples for imaging.

      When my contract was coming to an end I moved to the job I’m currently in now, which is also an electron microscopy technician, however I now have more responsibilities. I’m in charge of three SEMs, the sample preparation laboratory, as well as two advanced electron microscopy techniques that allow for the elemental characterisation of samples.

    • Current Job:

      Electron Microscopy Technican at the Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre

    • Employer:

      University of Nottingham

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        Exctiable creative imager

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        When I was in Primary school I wanted to be an artist, by secondary school I wanted to be a photographer or Scientist (which I think i've managed to combine with my current job!)

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        I was too scared of being told off to ever get into trouble

        If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

        A House Painter, I've been realy enjoying painting my house recently!

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Bug Hunter

        What's your favourite food?

        Dumplings of any form!

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        To get a dog! To have the ability to be able to fix what's wrong with my scientific equipment on the first try. To be able to wake up not feeling tired

        Tell us a joke.

        What do you call a fly with no wings? A walk