Profile
Elaine Mawbey
My CV
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Education:
HNC Chemistry (Huddersfield), BSc Geology (Leeds) MSC Geochemistry (Leeds) PhD (Cardiff)
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Work History:
Too many places to list! I worked part time during my degrees and have since worked at Cardiff and Bristol Uni.
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Current Job:
Post-doctoral research assistant
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My Typical Day:
Chatting to other scientists, looking for fun fossils under the microscope and measuring fossil chemistry using big machines.
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Read more
In a typical day I might “pick some samples” this involves separating the fossils I am interested in analysing from the rest of the sample. These tiny little fossils then get crushed (it doesn’t hurt them because they are dead), dissolved in acid and then I analyse them in a machine called a mass spectrometer. This machine tells me what different chemicals are in the fossils (forams) and how much of each. I then use this information to try and work out what the temperature of the oceans where the fossils came from were like in the past.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Donate it to a outreach program who are designing a computer game based on the Natural History Museum.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
curious, environmentalist, kind
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Not really I was always trying to keep up.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
The Foo Fighters
What's your favourite food?
Pizza of course, what could compare…….
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Stay happy, stay healthy and make a contribution to society.
Tell us a joke.
Why did the crab blush? because the seaweed!!!!!
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