Profile
Shurnjeet Kaur
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About Me:
I spend my evenings watching films, playing games on my Switch, and cross-stitching for my friends 🤓🎮 Waiting for the release of Tomodachi Life to make my friends on my island 🏝️!
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I’ve always been a big fan of horror films, so I love watching them when I get the chance! My favourite is The Shining 🏨 I like to play calmer games though, it’s a good way to switch off my brain. When I was younger, I used to read all the time, but now I’ve started listening to audiobooks from the local library 📖
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My pronouns are:
she/her, they/them
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My Work:
My PhD work is looking at how we can use brain signals to control robotic arms. This work could one day be used by physically disabled people as assistive technology, which can help the person get dressed, play games, or eat food!
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People have looked at how to use brain signals to control things, but not many people have looked into how the signals can be used to control robotic arms. Robot arms also work differently to human arms, so we need to make sure the signals are applied correctly to the robot arms, otherwise we might break it. What’s very important to me is that the robots should be easy to control for disabled people. This might mean that the robot has to do more work, but it is something we are still looking into!
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My Typical Day:
I have waffles and fruit for breakfast, and then get on the bus to go to uni everyday for 9.30am. I work on my laptop, sometimes with a robotic arm, and then head home at 5.30pm.
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My day as a PhD student is very flexible, so I’m in charge of my own schedule. That means I get to choose what I do on the day! I still have weekly meetings with my supervisor to make sure I’m doing the work that’s needed.
As a researcher, a lot of what I do is based off of what I have read in scientific journals. So I spend a lot of time reading what other people have done, and trying to think of ways that I can make their work better. I use my computer to read the recorded brain signals, and make sure my code can read and understand the brain signals correctly. This makes sure that the code is safe to use on the robot. Once the brain signals can be used to control the robot, I work on improving the system in many ways.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
With the prize money, I would like to set-up an open day, where we demonstrate how 3D-printers can be used in various ways in biomedical engineering. These include microscopes for diagnosis and testing, prosthetic limbs, bone scaffolds to encourage growth of bones after a serious fracture. The children could see the printer in action, and take the finished product back to their classroom.
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Education:
I went to school in Greenock, which is a town outside Glasgow. My school didn’t have a big science department, so I was the only person taking Physics in high school! I went straight from high school to university, where I studied Biomedical Engineering at the University of Glasgow.
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Qualifications:
I did 7 National 5s in S4, which were English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History and Admin & IT.
The following year, I did 5 Highers, English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.
I applied to university in S6, and received an unconditional offer, so I chose subjects that I thought would help me best for my course, or ones that seemed interesting to me. I did Advanced Higher Maths, Higher History, and a course ran by the Open University through the Young Applicants in School Scheme (YASS) called “Engineering: origins, methods, context”.
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Work History:
My parents ran a cornershop from before I was young, so I was always helping out there. I got my first ‘proper’ job at 17 in Morrisons, first as a cashier, then as a cafe assistant. I continued working there until the 3rd yr of University, when the workload increased a lot. I spent a summer working as a camp counselor in America through Camp America. When I came back to Scotland, I had a phone sales job. My latest job was delivering workshops at the University, which were about how to look after your own and other people’s mental health. I still work in my parents shop from time to time!
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Current Job:
I’m currently on a scholarship for the PhD, so I’m getting paid to do it. My scholarship covers the tuition fees, and pays me a living wage for the entirety of my course (3.5 years).
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Employer:
The University of Glasgow – EPSRC Scholarship
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Plays with robots
What did you want to be after you left school?
Engineer
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Only for talking too much!
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Electrician
Who is your favourite singer or band?
David Bowie
What's your favourite food?
Anything that's crunchy and spicy!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
That I would never have to clean again, that I would have 5 cats, and that my house has a built-in library.
Tell us a joke.
Two windmills are standing next to each other, and one turns to the other and asks 'What type of music do you like?'. The other responds with 'I'm a big metal fan.'
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