The first event was a Science Career night for 5th and 6th year students on Tuesday 10 November. “The aim of this event was to demonstrate the diversity of science careers open to UCD Science graduates from teaching to becoming an entrepreneur,” explained Professor Mark Rogers, Dean of Science who chaired the event.

The “Day in a Life of” talks kicked off with Physics graduate Dr Stephen Gammell, who is currently teaching physics but explained how he has also worked during his summer holidays with Dr John Quinn from the UCD School of Physics analysing data from VERITAS, a new array of telescopes located in Arizona. Microbiology graduate Dr Clár Donnelly then told the audience about the work she’s involved in analysing samples from crime scenes at the Forensic Science Laboratory in Dublin.

Entrepreneur and Computer Science graduate Dr Maurice Coyle illustrated how it is possible to turn research into a business as he told the audience of the challenges working for a new company called HeyStaks. Ms Evelyn Cusack from Met Éireann and RTE gave an interesting insight into life as a meteorologist from a forecasting and broadcasting perspective. The talks ended with mathematician Mr Fergal Daly who outlined how his work with Google ensures that our Google searches always return results!

Later in the week on Thursday 12 November Dr Graeme Jones from Keele University put on a chemistry show in a Royal Society of Chemistry sponsored event. “I’m going to prove that Science can help you have a better Saturday night out in town,” explained Dr Jones in his opening sequence as he danced like John Travolta and challenged the audience to come up with as many pop songs as possible with the words chemistry, biology or physics in them.

Using the analogy of boy meets girl, Dr Jones gave his take on the nature of chemical reactions and the science of attraction. He described how glow worms attract each other using bioluminescence. “Science starts with observation,” he claimed, challenging the audience to look closely at a video of how naturally occurring pheromones are used by silk moths to attract each other and by us to protect plants from pests! In a karaoke styled finale Dr Jones had the audience dancing to the rhythm of a vibrating methane molecule excited by the absorption of a quantum of infrared radiation.

More information on Dr Graeme Jones can be found at www.makeitmolecular.com

These events were run as part of UCD Science’s annual outreach programme. More information on upcoming events can be found at www.ucd.ie/science