Profile
Jenny Roberts
-
About Me:
I live in Lancaster with my husband and 3 kids. I’m a lecturer in mechanical engineering, so I teach students 👩🎓 but I also do exciting research…like make homes for bumblebees 🐝, help amputees drive lorries 🚛 and look at how nature can inspire design! I love cycling, especially up big hills ⛰️🚴♀️…but engineering is my super power 🦸!
-
Read more
I’m a mechanical engineer. In my job I have designed things like escape systems for underground trains, playground equipment, water features for the London 2012 Olympics…. and I had my own business for 5 years!
I use engineering to help people and improve the world.
I love cycling. When it’s wet outside, I have a spin bike in my garage and cycle in a virtual world called Zwift. It’s like playing a computer game, but you exercise at the same time. Since starting, I have climbed 50,000m and have won a virtual bike with glowing wheels 😁
Here’s me riding my virtual bike:
-
My pronouns are:
She/her/hers
-
My Work:
I design cool things like artificial bumblebee nests and other exciting things to do with environmental research. I also teach big kids at University.
-
Read more
As a lecturer I have to prepare 1 hour lessons for my students. The subject I teach is engineering management. This mostly involves looking at engineering disasters and working out what went wrong. We then try and work out what we can do better as engineers, to avoid disasters happening in the future.
With my research I get to come up with ideas and then carry out experiments to see if they work or not. Either way, I write up my findings and share them with the world. This way we can all work together to make progress in science and engineering.
I am currently designing man-made houses for bumblebees. This is so we can monitor their behaviour and learn more about them. I also want to put the bee houses in areas where the bees’ natural habitat has been destroyed. This will help encourage them to live in that area and help people who are growing crops. Bees are very important pollinators, we need bees to make some crops grow! If we don’t have bees then we might not be able to grow food, which leaves people poor or hungry.
Here’s a version of our BeeBox with a Raspberry Pi camera inside connected to the tv screen behind:
-
My Typical Day:
I wake up and get my kids ready for school. I get to work just after 9am and prepare for my lecture. The lecture lasts an hour and then I get on with research. This might be designing something on the computer, printing it out on a 3d printer and then testing it to see if it does what it’s supposed to. Students come and ask me questions during the day too. I go home at 5pm.
-
What question are you currently trying to answer?:
How can I stop moisture building up inside my artificial bumblebee nest boxes? We’ve had a few soggy bees recently…especially in the hot weather.
I am looking at how different species of bees build their nests normally. I am then going to try and mimic this in my artificial boxes. I intend to use 3d printing to do this, as you can create some amazing shapes and structures, which I think will help to insulate the nest boxes more.
-
How do you form a new question?:
I think carefully about the problem. I note down what I do already know about the problem. This lets me understand what I don’t know about the problem. I can then form a question about what I really want to find out.
-
When you were at school, what is a question that you asked?:
How does a washing machine keep the water in?
(I have memories of making a model washing machine out of two big plastic crates and bin bags at school…it didn’t hold the water in when me and a friend tried to fill it up in the girl’s toilets!)
-
How will you know when you have answered your question?:
I ask myself the question again. If I can say with certainty that this is the answer, then I am satisfied. If I am still not sure of the answer, then I do further experiments or research to try and fill in any gaps.
-
Education:
Brookdale Primary School
West Kirby Grammar School
Lancaster University
-
Qualifications:
I achieved:
10 GCSEs (Maths, English, English Literature, Design Technology, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Spanish, Information Studies)
4 A-Levels (Design Technology, Maths, Physics and General Studies)
Masters Degree in Mechatronic Engineering
Chartered Engineer
Currently working towards a PhD…
-
Work History:
DCA Design (product design consultancy): I was employed as a graduate mechanical engineer
Playdale Playgrounds (playground design and manufacture): I was employed as a design engineer
Sprocket DC (product design consultancy): This was my own business, so I was the owner and managing director!
Lancaster University: Initially I was a project engineer, but when my contract ended I took a job as an administrator, looking after companies who had office space at the University.
Gaist Solutions (resilience monitoring): Initially I was the senior project engineer on a project called BridgeCat, then I was promoted to Head of Engineering
Lancaster University: Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering
-
Current Job:
Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering
-
Employer:
Lancaster University
-
My Interview
-
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Cycling engineering mummy
What did you want to be after you left school?
An engineer!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Very little - I was a good girl
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
I'd like to be a gardener
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Foo Fighters
What's your favourite food?
Cheese
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Cycle around the world, have a big garden, have time to grow lots of food in my garden!
Tell us a joke.
What do you call two baddies on a washing line? A pair of knickers!
-