In the EPI•STEM PODCAST Episode 10, co-hosts Geraldine Simmie PhD and Michelle Starr PhD welcome their special guest Tara E. Ryan, a PhD student in Physics who now works in the ACTUATE LAB in the Department of Chemical Sciences in the Bernal Institute in the University of Limerick under the supervision of Professor Sarah Guerin. Tara is a UL graduate of a science teacher education degree and worked for one summer as a Research Assistant in EPI•STEM. During that time Tara produced CPD resources for teachers in chemistry, physics and earth and science that are now made available on the EPI•STEM ACADEMY OF STEM TEACHERS (see epistem website).

Tara tells us of her love of science and physics from a young age and with the support and inspiration of her science teachers in St. Caimin’s Community School in Shannon, Co. Clare.

Tara’s research is in the area of piezo electricity, working with crystals to generate electricity from mechanical compression. Her doctoral research involves a search for alternative and sustainable energy sources that can be safely disposed of at end of life. Tara shares how her study is taking place within the scientific community and how she presents at international conferences. Tara’s study won a prestigious prize with UL Engage in the UL Citizen’s Assembly in Limerick.

The musical selection today is a waltz, called Tears, written by Gerry Holland in Cape Bretton in Canada and played on fiddle by Dr. Avril Mc Loughlin. Avril was a former lecturer in The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in UL and has recently been appointed as a Lecturer in Music Education in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick.

www.epistem.ie