Interviews - Professor Lucy Rogers PhD

Credit: Karla Gowlett

Hello again to the Cellfie family! We hope you are all keeping well and managing to stay entertained during this trying time. The team have been working hard to keep making new content on top of school work. Today we have had the honour of interviewing Prof Lucy Rogers who is "an inventor with a sense of fun." Dr Rogers has a PhD in fluid dynamics and has appeared as a judge on BBC "RobotWars". Thank you very much to Professor Rogers for allowing us to interview her and we have learnt so much through working with her!

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Cellfie: Do you think humour is important in science?

Prof Rogers: I feel that humour is important in life - and therefore also in science. However, it is very easy to be seen as flippant, disrespectful or not professional. So care must be taken in its use.

Cellfie: We definitely agree with you there. It is important to find a good balance between both to be seen as approachable and personable but also businesslike.

How do you think the STEM community can improve how information and findings are presented to the general public?

Prof Rogers: When I finished my degree, I thought the facts and figures in my reports would speak for themselves. I soon learnt that 1) A lot of people struggle to understand scientific terms and numbers 2) A lot of people do not have the time or inclination to read reports. I had to learn how to communicate in plain English, and had to learn the skill of summarising things.

Cellfie: Being able to effectively summarise is such a vital skill, especially when it is related to complex fields that most people will not have prior knowledge about. We think it is imperative that the science community keep finding new ways to present findings and research to engage the public and also ignite interest in young people, like us.

How important do you think social media is to the STEM world?

Prof Rogers: If a message needs to reach a lot of people quickly, social media is one way of doing it. I know many scientists who post their work and bring it to the attention of people not in their field. This I think is great, as it spreads awareness of what else is happening in the science sector.

Cellfie: Definitely! It is one of the most efficient ways to communicate findings and also be inspired by other accomplished people in your sector.

Do you think Twitter is a positive or negative tool for the science community?

Prof Rogers: Social media is a tool, like any other. It can be used well, and used badly. It can give great results and can also provide no results or discredit an authority.

Cellfie: We agree. Our team believe that children and teenagers our age should get lessons as part of PSHE as to how to manage it and use it in a positive way. It is really important that the younger generations, who are going to rely on social media as adults, are taught how to use it to its full potential to aid their careers.

What is the science behind bubbles?

Prof Rogers: The official term for liquid bubbles (not mattress foam for example) is fluid dynamics. There’s a lot of research by mathematicians, scientists and engineers in to things like: how it is made, how it flows, how to stop bubbles being made, how to stop them popping etc. My research used a high speed video camera to see how they were made in a piece of fire fighting equipment. (They are made three ways - blowing bubbles, like the hoop and liquid in a child’s toy, entrainment, like in bubble bath, and mixing, like whisking an egg).

Cellfie: That sounds fascinating! It is something most people will have childhood memories of and most people wouldn't consider how they can actually cause major issues and faults in things such as emergency equipment. There are times when bubbles are great but they should not be everywhere!

What was your favourite topic/section in your degree?

Prof Rogers: My degree (Bachelors) was Mechanical Engineering. Fluid dynamics was my Doctorate (PhD) - which I did afterwards. I like to know how things are made - so for both the Bachelors degree my favourite parts were related to manufacturing, and for the PhD, working out how bubbles are made.

Cellfie: Mechanical engineering is an area we are really interested in. We love to design and make things and we have recently designed an amphibious vehicle for a STEM competition and designed a space rover for another. Fluid dynamics is an area we are now inspired to do more research on - it sounds like the perfect balance between physics and engineering.

Why is it important to be a “maker”?

Prof Rogers: You can be a very good scientist or engineer without ever making anything. However, for me, I find I “think with my hands” sometimes. If I can understand how things are  made, I can work out how they can be designed so that they are made easily. One of my first industrial projects involved a drain valve on a wash tank that was too close to the edge - it couldn’t be welded. I had to move it and I felt very silly talking to the welding department.

Cellfie: In the educational system now, there is much more awareness for different learning types. Some people, including some of us, find we learn so much better by actually doing what we are being taught about. For example, if you are talking about a maths equation, we can't just listen to it or read it, we will need to write it out to really understand it. We think you could probably be a "maker" without being interested in science - it is just a fabulous way to learn and truly engage yourself with any field.

Do you feel there is a stereotype of engineers having to be “responsible” and reserved individuals?

Prof Rogers: Engineers do have to be responsible. Chartered Engineers sign up to a code of ethics and professionalism. However, that really means you don’t make, design or approve things that are unsafe or will cause lots of pollution etc.

Reserved? A lot of engineers are. Many are not. In my early career it was advisable to be reserved - as you were then taken more seriously.

Cellfie: Did you actually enjoy your cycling proficiency? When we did it, it was hideous! 

Prof Rogers: The cycling proficiency test gave me the confidence to go out on roads on my own (and meant I was allowed to by my parents!) - this gave me independence I didn’t have before. As for the actual test - it was too long ago to really remember! It was a day outside and on a bike and not in a classroom - so I remember liking that bit!

Cellfie: We definitely agree with the part about independence and getting out of the classroom for a day! I think the thing that spoiled it for me was that the school I did it on was on top of a very steep hill and cycling up it was the big finale for the test. Each year group that had done it before us psyched us out and made us paranoid about the hill and it was a school tradition to complain about how torturous it was!

What is your most proud achievement?

Prof Rogers: I am very fickle when it comes to being proud of my achievements - it’s usually the project I've just finished. Currently, I have just finished recording “The DesignSpark Podcast” - a comedy show about tech that I record with two comedians. It’s due out in the beginning of June on all good podcast providers. I am very chuffed when people tell me they used my book “It’s ONLY rocket science” and it helped them with their degree. And I am very impressed with myself that I learnt to stand up on a snowboard last year. It took 15 hours of lessons before I was allowed off the baby slope.

Cellfie: The podcast sounds amazing. We have just searched it up on Spotify and we will binge the first set of episodes before the next set come out! That must be so flattering to hear that you have influenced someone's life and that is something they will never forget. Snowboarding seems incredibly difficult! One of our members went to an indoor snowdome for a ski lesson with her mum and they couldn't stop themselves and ended up skiing into a group of little children!

Thank you so much for reading and we hope you have enjoyed it. Thank you to Professor Rogers for her informative answers and we cannot wait to listen to the podcast when it comes out! You can find Professor Rogers on Twitter @DrLucyRogers and her website is lucyrogers.com . Thank you very much to Professor Rogers for completing this interview with us and sorry if there are no blogs for a while, we will be listening to the whole podcast in one "DesignSpark" marathon! Make sure to follow Dr Rogers and get active on our Twitter, Instagram and TikTok @cellfiemagazine for our recent posts and updates! :)