Profile
Jane Patrick
My CV
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Education:
School:
Sandringham High School, Johannesburg, South AfricaUniversities:
1, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg,South Africa
2. Imperial college, London, UK
3. The Open University, UK -
Qualifications:
1. Matric Certificate (the South African equivalent of A levels)
2. BSc (Hons) in chemistry
3. Phd in Computational chemistry
4. PGCE (Teaching qualification) -
Current Job:
Research Scientist as Johnson Matthey
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About Me:
I am a chemist, but also a mum to three daughters. I’ve had lot of different jobs. I used to be a science teacher but have also worked as a cleaner in a French youth hostel!
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I now live in Reading but I grew up in South Africa. Learning science at school was very different there because we didn’t have the equipment to do many experiments in lessons. UK school children do far more practical work than I did at school. You should appreciate how lucky you are!
I am frightened of little animals like hamsters, mice and guinea pigs.
I don’t like doing biology dissections. When I was working as a science teacher I used to hate those lessons, and would try to persuade other teachers to do the dissections for me!
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I work at Johnson Matthey on finding ways to recycle the batteries used in electric cars. These batteries contain lots of valuable metals like nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co). It helps the environment if scientists can recover all the Ni and Co from batteries that don’t work anymore and use the metals to manufacture new batteries.
I am part of a big team of different scientists. Most of us are chemists but we also have chemical engineers working with us. There are people from all over the world in my team – from Zimbabawe to Belgium. We all work on different parts of the recycling process (which is called a flowsheet).
The batteries in electric cars are very large and are made up of lots of different cells. First the metal battery case has to be broken apart to reveal the metal compounds inside. The next step is to completely dissolve all the metals in strong acids.
This is the point in the process when my job starts. I am using a technique called solvent extraction to separate the mixture of metals into separate pure metals . Special chemicals called extractants are mixed with oily liquids that float on top of the acid metal solutions. Clever chemistry means that only ONE of the mixture of metals moves away from the mixture into the oily liquid. We repeat this process until all the individual metals have been recovered from the mixture.
The pure metals will then be used by Johnson Matthey to help manufacture new batteries.
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My Typical Day:
I work in a building that looks like a normal office. Part of the day is spent examining the results of my experiments from the previous day. I have to put my results into tables, plot graphs and come to a conclusion. Then I the go into laboratory and do more experiments. In my work I mix two types of liquids together – one of the liquids is oily so always floats to the surface. The valuable metals go into the oily layer.
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I work at one of Johnson Matthey’s research centers, along with hundreds of other scientists, engineers and technicians. We are divided into different research groups depending on what we are researching. I am in the Recycling Group. Another group is called the Clean Air Group; they investigate ways to improve the Catalytic Converters which remove pollutants from car exhausts. (Johnson Matthey manufactures a lot of those.)
I get to work between 8 and 9 in the morning, have lunch on the site, and then leave at about 5. I share a big office with 10 other people in my group – we each have our own desk and laptop. I spend half my week at my desk analyzing results of my experiments (like plotting graphs), reading articles in scientific journals describing the work of other scientists, writing reports and planning new experiments. The rest of my time is spent in a large laboratory that I share with my group. We each work in something called a fume hood. Air is continuously pulled into the fume hood creating a draft. This makes sure that no potentially hazardous chemical vapours from my experiments are able to drift out of the fume hood into the room.
It takes about an hour to set up the equipment for one of my experiments and then an hour at the end of the day to put it all away again! I use measuring cylinders, volumetric flasks, automatic stirrers and lots of different glass beakers I take lots of samples during my experiments using pipettes and each one has to the filtered using a filter funnel and filter paper. I also continuously measure the pH value of my solutions. When you learn about pH at school, remember it’s really important!
I analyse (measure) how much metals I have in my samples using a very expensive, high tech machine called an Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometer. (All scientists call it an ICP for
t takes about an hour to set up the equipment for one of my experiments and then an hour at the end of the day to put it all away again! I use measuring cylinders, volumetric flasks, automatic stirrers and lots of different glass beakers I take samples during my experiments using pipettes and each one has to be filtered using a filter funnel and filter paper. I also continuously measure the pH value of my solutions. When you learn about pH at school, remember it’s really important!
I analyse (measure) how much metal I have in my samples using a very expensive, high tech machine called an Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometer. (All scientists call it an ICP for short). When it works it’s amazing – but it sometimes breaks down and is quite tricky to fix. All of us working in the lab spend quite a bit of time fixing equipment, so it really helps to be practically minded if you want to work in science!
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Inquisitive. Excitable. Chatty
What did you want to be after you left school?
A scientist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Sometimes. For not doing my homework.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Carly Simon
What's your favourite food?
Chocolate cake
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
To be a good singer. To be able to play tennis. To not waste so much time on my phone.
Tell us a joke.
Don't trust atoms, they make up everything.
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