Hette Stainer

 Describe your Year in Industry placement.

 I was a research engineer in the surface technology department conducting my own project looking into the recyclability of tungsten carbide in hardfacings and coatings. Working in the lab preparing and analysing samples was both very enjoyable and also a challenge, knowing which processing steps to use and when methodology to apply when taking measurements and analysing them. Through a lot of practise I improved my confidence and got a feel for how to work with different materials. This enabled me to conduct work in colleagues projects, which resulted in me becoming an author of a published research paper in Materials & Design.

What have you enjoyed most about your degree so far and why?  

Going through my degree, I have continuously felt a sense of community that has supported another. Some of my highlights include helping plan our society Christmas parties and balls. I have made fantastic friends and overall enjoyed my course. We had some exciting assignments, like the fish project, and core lecturers who noticeably put a lot of work and effort into teaching and supporting us throughout. 

What are you most proud of achieving whilst at University? 

I am very proud of how far I came in my Final Year Project. Throughout my time at university I have not been an avid coder; I struggled immensely with any related assignments. However, I realised its importance in our developing environment and how it would improve my employability. Consequently, my final year project relied on me learning how to write code and apply machine learning techniques to data. At times it was very frustrating, but I have come a long way in developing my programming skills, and there is still plenty more to learn.  

Has taking a year in industry reinforced your plans for the future or has it changed them? 

My year in industry reinforced my decision to go into Materials Engineering as well as my ideas of living and working abroad again. I thoroughly enjoyed living in Canada, exploring new environments and meeting new people. On the other hand, having worked for a smaller company, I want to experience working for a larger company and continuously build my network.