I'm a scientist, get me out of here! Physics PhD student wins the Big Data zone

6 February 2015

Stefan Lines, a PhD student working with Dr Zoe Leinhardt, recently won the Big Data zone of the I'm a Scientist event, in which Key stage 2 to Key stage 5 school students put questions to scientists. The prize money will buy a Raspberry Pi for two of the schools involved, who will use it to monitor the weather.

Stefan, a third year PhD student in Astrophysics group, works with Dr Zoë Leinhardt in the Planet Formation group, working on numerical simulations of planet formation using the Bluecrystal Supercomputer to determine how planets form around binary stars.

A total of five scientists from INRIA, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the University of Southampton took part in a series of live chats over two weeks with primary and secondary school students across the country, and answered questions around the clock, as well as participating in live chats.

Follow the link to find out more about I'm a Scientist - the next competition is in early March.

A report reveals that with 521 registered students and over 30,000 page views, the Big Data Zone had one of the highest levels of activity of I’m a Scientist November 2014.

Stefan says "We'll be using the money to fund two projects which involves building a weather station that runs through a Raspberry Pi computer. The two schools involve will learn how to use it and be taught how to do basic data manipulation, analysis and programming."

To find out more about Stefan's PhD work, see this video on Slate.