{"id":392,"date":"2019-09-16T16:53:07","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T15:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/sees\/?p=392"},"modified":"2019-09-16T16:53:07","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T15:53:07","slug":"in-conversation-with-dr-sarah-crowther-research-fellow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sites.se.manchester.ac.uk\/earth-sciences-blog\/2019\/09\/16\/in-conversation-with-dr-sarah-crowther-research-fellow\/","title":{"rendered":"In conversation with Dr Sarah Crowther: Research Fellow"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spoke to Dr Sarah Crowther<\/a>, Research Fellow in Planetary Science, about everything from zapping space rocks with lasers, to xenon, to public engagement, and, Bon Jovi.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Can you describe your research for the layman?<\/h3>\n

I zap space rocks with lasers!<\/p>\n

To explain that a little more, what we are doing is looking at the composition of gas inside tiny pieces of extra-terrestrial material, usually meteorites, to try and learn more about the Solar System \u2013 how it formed, how it evolved, how asteroids evolved, whether they underwent impacts from other bodies, and what that can tell us about the evolution of the solar system. A lot of the work I do is age-dating meteorites. We determine an age from them and this can tell us about the thermal history of the asteroid that they originated from.<\/p>\n

Jemma: What\u2019s your oldest meteorite?<\/p>\n

Most meteorites from asteroids are about 4.5 billion years old! The very oldest components found in meteorites have been dated to be 4.567 billion years old.<\/p>\n

The work I do involves looking at an element called xenon (Xe) within these meteorites and other materials. If you think of the periodic table, xenon (Xe) is in the far right hand column and it\u2019s what we call a noble gas. So that means it\u2019s not reactive, it doesn\u2019t form compounds with other elements. On the earth or in extra-terrestrial materials it\u2019s sitting there as an element. There\u2019s not much of it which makes it very hard to measure, but it\u2019s very useful when we can measure it. It has lots of different isotopes. Isotopes are different forms of the same element, so they have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons, which gives them different masses. Xenon has nine of these different forms or different isotopes, and different physical processes such as radioactive decay or interaction with cosmic rays in space produce different amounts of the different isotopes. By measuring the isotope ratios we can see what processes have contributed to the overall composition of the gas trapped in a sample.<\/p>\n

We can also use xenon isotopes for dating the meteorite. One isotope of iodine (129<\/sup>I) had a short half-life of about 16 million years in the early Solar System, and it decayed to produce an isotope of xenon (129<\/sup>Xe). Before we analyse the samples we artificially irradiate them with neutrons and that converts another type of iodine (127<\/sup>I) to another type of xenon (128<\/sup>Xe). The ratio of these two types of xenon is proportional to the ratio of the two types of iodine, and from that we can determine when the clock was set in different samples. It is based on the same principles as carbon dating, which is used to date archaeological finds, but we\u2019re using species with different half-lives and looking further back in time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You\u2019re involved in loads of public engagement activities. Can you tell me why you do it \u2013 what compels you.<\/h3>\n

There are various different reasons people have for doing public engagement. I think the work we do is really interesting and really exciting, and that we should share that with other people and make it accessible to everyone. There\u2019s too many people out there who say \u201cscience is too hard\u201d, \u201cI can\u2019t do science\u201d, or \u201cscience isn\u2019t relevant, why should I bother\u201d, but actually it\u2019s really interesting and really exciting. If we can convince just a few of those people that they can do it, or convince a few children who might not be enjoying their science lessons at school that it is exciting, interesting and worthwhile, and that they can do it, then I think that\u2019s a really important and worthwhile thing to do.<\/p>\n

Other reasons people do public engagement might be that they are expected to do public engagement \u2013 our research is funded by the public, so the public have a right to know how that money is being spent and what we are doing. Other people try and influence policy and decision making, but I just want to get people interested and excited about science. If a child comes to an event and what we\u2019ve done with them makes them go and pick up a science book from the school library, and they decide, well, actually biology is even more interesting \u2013 I don\u2019t care, at least we\u2019ve got them interested and they\u2019ve picked up that book and it might be that trigger that makes them go off and be a biologist \u2013 they don\u2019t have to come and do planetary science! Don\u2019t let teachers or parents tell you that you can\u2019t do it!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Can you describe your role in the Department for me?<\/h3>\n

My role is primarily doing research \u2013 I\u2019m employed as a researcher on a grant that is funded by STFC (Science and Technology Facility Council). I also get involved in a lot of public engagement work, as mentioned, and I\u2019ve ended up organising all of the activities and events for our research group.<\/p>\n

Jemma: You won an award recently didn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

I did! The Royal Astronomical Society\u2019s Annie Maunder Medal for Public Engagement. I got to go to a nice presentation ceremony at the National Astronomy Meeting in Lancaster and meet Jon Culshaw!<\/p>\n

Jemma: Are you involved in teaching at all?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done a little in the past \u2013 second year tutorials mainly. I\u2019ve also trained students in the lab, teaching them how to operate the instruments, analyse their samples, and process the data.<\/p>\n

Jemma: What would you like to do in the future?<\/p>\n

I would like to continue with the research as I do enjoy that, but I would also like to have some time dedicated to doing public engagement activities because there\u2019s a lot more that we could do, a lot better, if we had the time and money dedicated to do it. I don\u2019t think it exists, but I\u2019d like to do a job that\u2019s half and half \u2013 half research, half public engagement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Where did you attend university and what did you study?<\/h3>\n

I went to Oxford University and I studied Chemistry for my undergraduate degree, which is a four year course. I spent three years doing lectures and practicals, and the whole of the fourth year is spent doing a research project. It was a little different to the fourth year here at Manchester where students spend time on a research project but also attend lectures and classes. I thought that was a really good opportunity to see if people liked research, because if they did like it, it showed you that! But if you didn\u2019t like it, it was only one academic year, so it wasn\u2019t too long \u2013 you weren\u2019t committing yourself to a three year PhD without knowing anything about it. Then, I did my PhD \u2013 also at Oxford, and also in Chemistry, carrying on in the same field that I did my undergraduate fourth year project in, which was electronic spectroscopy \u2013 it was using lasers to find the energy levels of small molecules to find out how much energy they need to vibrate or bend. From that we can learn things about the bond lengths and the bond angles of the molecules.<\/p>\n

Jemma: What did you do after your PhD?<\/p>\n

Some people apply for jobs while they\u2019re finishing up their PhD and some people decide to wait until afterwards, because writing up a PhD and applying for jobs at the same time\u2026they are like two full-time jobs really! So I decided to wait until I finished my PhD, then I started applying for jobs, and I applied for all sorts of things, all over the country, and it was somewhat fortuitous I think that this job came up, because I\u2019m from Manchester originally so it\u2019s really nice to be home; it was using some of the techniques that I\u2019d used in my PhD but applying them to a different topic. So, using the lasers to excite and ionise small molecules or atoms, but this time, instead of trying to learn about the molecules themselves, we were using that as a tool to then be able to ionise the atoms and apply this to a different technique, this time learning about the Solar System, which is something I had always been interested in.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pictured above is a meteorite named Esquel, from Chubut, Argentina. Found in 1951, before Stony-Iron. Pallasite (PMG). Total known weight ~ 755kg.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you have a favourite film\/book\/band\/sport\/TV show?!<\/h3>\n

My favourite band is Bon Jovi\u2026which everyone else thinks is really sad! But, I like them, and I\u2019ve seen them several times live and I think they\u2019re brilliant. I like watching football, I\u2019m not very good at playing it \u2013 I support Manchester United. I tried to watch quite a bit of the women\u2019s world cup recently.<\/p>\n

Jemma: Kind of a dumb question, but what do you think about space films?! Like The Martian<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

The Martian<\/em> is brilliant, I really like both the film and the book. Some people get a bit worked up when things are not absolutely accurate, like in Gravity<\/em>, a lot of people got really worked up about inaccuracies in Gravity<\/em>. But, I think you\u2019ve got to allow filmmakers and storywriters a bit of poetic licence, as long as it\u2019s not too far off \u2013 not completely bonkers \u2013 then let them use a bit of imagination! Interstellar<\/em> was a bit odd when they got to the black hole and it was essentially a library\u2026I did find that quite strange!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What A levels did you study, and how are they relevant for Earth Sciences?<\/h3>\n

I did Chemistry, Physics, Maths, Further Maths and General Studies. I think Chemistry, Physics and Maths are all really useful, not just for doing Earth Sciences, but if you want to go and study any scientific subject. A lot of inorganic chemistry comes into the study of minerals. Maths is useful in any science degree you do, and Physics is also useful for the planetary science topics \u2013 thinking about astronomy and astrophysics and so on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pictured above is a meteorite named Allende, from Chihuahua, Mexico. This meteorite fell on 8th Feb 1969. Carbonaceous Chondrite CV3. Total known weight ~ 2000kg.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What advice would you give to your younger self\/what advice would you give to anyone thinking of applying to university?<\/h3>\n

I would say to my younger self or anyone currently thinking about what A level or university subjects to study \u2013 to do the subjects that you enjoy and you think you can do, that you think you\u2019re good at, because you\u2019re going to spend a long time studying these subjects and if you don\u2019t enjoy it you\u2019re not going to be happy at all. And while to some extent you should take advice from parents and teachers, you\u2019ve also got to do what you want to do. So, if you really want to study Chemistry or Physics or whatever it is and they\u2019re telling you that you can\u2019t or shouldn\u2019t because it\u2019s not going to get you a job; or that you shouldn\u2019t do that because \u201cthat\u2019s not what girls do\u201d, ignore them and do it because you want to do it! Don\u2019t let the fact that the Physics class is going to be 90% boys and you\u2019re the only girl put you off. The number of girls taking Physics A-level is incredibly low. Only 20% of A-level entries are girls, and there\u2019s no reason it shouldn\u2019t be much closer to half and half. There\u2019s no reason any subject shouldn\u2019t be close to half and half.<\/p>\n

Jemma: do you know why? Is it tradition or\u2026?<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s tradition, and role models, and people not seeing potential uses of those subjects, or not seeing people like them working in those types of careers. There is an initiative called People Like Me which I think is aimed predominantly at girls in secondary school \u2013 it\u2019s not necessarily to force them to study Physics, but to show them about the kind of careers there are in sciences or that use the skills acquired from studying science at school\/university, and that people who do those, are people like them.<\/p>\n

At school, science lessons cover Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and that\u2019s it. And you don\u2019t realise that there\u2019s so much beyond that. How many schools do GCSE or A level Geology, for example \u2013 it\u2019s very, very few. So many A-Level students don\u2019t know about the subject beyond that, and don\u2019t know about the overlap between them, because at school they are discreet subjects. And yet it is possible to study subjects like biochemistry at university, that\u2019s got a lot of overlap between chemistry and biology. In some universities, groups like ours, looking at the evolution of the Solar System, are in the Physics Department or the Chemistry Department, whereas here in Manchester we\u2019re based in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. The work we do incorporates aspects of geology, chemistry and physics, so doesn\u2019t just fit in one discrete box.\u00a0 Schools and colleges have limited time and limited resources so Chemistry, Physics and Biology are the main sciences taught in school, but there is so much more beyond that, that people just don\u2019t know about. If you\u2019re interested in studying a science subject, try to find out what else is available \u2013 there\u2019s loads on information about the different courses available on the University website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Thin section: Martian Meteorite Nakhla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sarah is also steering the Planetary Science group’s online presence: from social media to blogs, see how you can connect below.<\/p>\n

\"solar<\/p>\n

Earth and Solar System Twitter: @EarthSolarSystm https:\/\/twitter.com\/EarthSolarSystm<\/a>
\nEarth and Solar System Facebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/earthandsolarsystem<\/a>
\nEarth and Solar System Instagram: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/earthandsolarsystem\/<\/a>
\nEarth and Solar System blog: https:\/\/earthandsolarsystem.wordpress.com\/<\/a>
\nEarth and Solar System YouTube channel featuring The Cosmic Cast Podcast: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCpVdr9UbEN0gB-WOaGmBOKA<\/a><\/p>\n

Interview conducted by Jemma Stewart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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