Eden Simkins, who graduated in August 2023 from the Physics with Innovation MSci, attended an Aegis Professors event in 2022 discussing how staff could connect their work with business and industry. Eden asked how the Professors could help undergraduates to engage with enterprise as well.
Her challenge led to the development of the Aegis Professor Undergraduate Competition by the SPO, in which multidisciplinary student teams came up with solutions to real-world problems.
Eden led a student reference group commenting on plans for the competition, and publicised the event amongst fellow undergraduates, before taking part herself. Her team proposed ‘EcoExchange’, an app that reduced waste by helping students swap belongings.
The team won an experience visit to Infinitesima, which manufactures high speed microscopes for the semiconductor industry. The visit was donated by Aegis Professor Andy Humphris, CTO of Infinitesima and a former Physics PhD at Bristol, where he started up the company.
Eden and her teammate Giacomo Rosetti met with Andy, Matthew Tedaldi (Senior Application Engineer) and Andrew Fram (Product Manager). They enjoyed discussions about the technology and business, and a tour of the office and lab followed by networking sessions.
‘We were delighted to be able to host the visit and share the environment of working in a fast-paced leading edge technology SME,’ said Andy. ‘The visit stimulated a wide ranging and thought-provoking discussion for everyone involved. We were very impressed by [Eden and Giacomo’s] enthusiasm and insight.’
Giacomo commented, ‘It was very informative and exciting to meet so many different people all working on the same project. It’s particularly interesting to see a company in this period between start-up and fully stable, and talking to everyone from engineers to managers was illuminating.’
Eden found the visit thought-provoking. ‘The semi-conductor chip industry is one that is essential to our way of life, but I might suggest not widely understood,’ she reflected. ‘Having the opportunity to be exposed to and begin to grasp the enormity of the ecosystem that drives this crucial technology was fascinating from scientific, business and geopolitical points of view.’
It wasn’t just the visit, however, but the involvement in the competition from start to finish, that will stay with Eden. ‘This has been a defining experience that has lasted beyond my master’s degree,’ Eden wrote in her LinkedIn post about the visit. We wish her every success in the future.