A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(November 2020) |
Shini Somara | |
---|---|
Born | Shini Somarathne July 30, 1979 |
Nationality | British |
Education | Henrietta Barnett School |
Alma mater | Brunel University |
Known for | Fluid dynamics, promoting women in STEM, children’s books, science education and reporting |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Author, broadcaster and producer |
Thesis | Dynamic thermal modelling using CFD (2003) |
Shini Somara (born Shini Somarathne; July 30, 1979) is a British mechanical engineer, media broadcaster, producer and author. She has presented TechKnow on Al Jazeera America and reporting for various BBC shows including The Health Show. She has also hosted two educational series of physics and engineering videos on the Crash Course YouTube channel for PBS Digital Studios. She has been a presenter on BBC America, Sky Atlantic, BBC1, BBC2, and PBS.
Somara is the eldest of three daughters born to a Sri Lanka-born mechanical engineer and his Malaysian wife (both studied at South Bank University, formerly Borough Polytechnic Institute). [1] Somara's father runs a mechanical engineering consultancy for building services. [2]
Born and raised in London, Somara studied at Henrietta Barnett School, [3] and began her mechanical engineering career at Brunel University London, completing a Bachelors of Engineering before moving on to an engineering doctorate (EngD), which she was awarded in 2003 for her doctoral thesis, Dynamic Thermal Modelling Using CFD . [4] Her specialisation was in computational fluid dynamics, where computer simulations are used to visualise phenomena invisible to the naked eye, helping engineers to understand how fluids flow. [5] [6]
Somara has a published paper in the International Journal of Ventilation titled "Transient Solution Methods for Dynamic Thermal Modelling within CFD". [7]
Somara's broadcasting career started in 2011 when she presented on the BBC's The Health Show, covering developments in global health. Later the same year, she began hosting No Kitchen Required which aired in 2012 on BBC America. The show involved three professional chefs immersing themselves in alternative culture with tribes and attempting to cook using unfamiliar tribal methods. The first season included trips to Dominica, New Zealand, Thailand and Fiji. [8]
In 2013, Somara started working on the Al Jazeera America talk show TechKnow [9] - a 30-minute show about science and technology. It outlines innovations in technology and science and how they are changing lives of people in America. The shows are recorded with a group of contributors with backgrounds in science and technology.
Between 2014 and late 2016, Somara worked on several BBC productions, including Tomorrow's Food, [10] Battle of Jutland [11] and Secrets of Orkney with Neil Oliver and Chris Packham, [12] and for Sky Atlantic. [13]
In early 2016, she also started working with PBS Digital Studios on Crash Course Physics (an online educational resource explaining complicated theories in a simple way with intuitive visuals). She extended her involvement with Crash Course in 2018 with a new series, Crash Course Engineering. [14] [15] [16]
In 2020, Somara was a reporter on scientific programme Razor on CGTN. [17] In January 2021, Somara was a regular commentator on Science Channel's Engineering Catastrophes.
Somara made a speech to the United Nations on 10 February 2017 about women and girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). [18] [19] [20]
On International Women in Engineering Day, June 2018, Somara launched her first podcast called "Scilence", [21] to provide a platform for women to speak anonymously about their experiences in STEM and what it is like to work in an industry dominated by males. "Scilence" later developed into several more Science podcasts including "Innervation", "eSTEAMd" and "Innovators Making a Difference", [22] [23] as well as "Mission Responsible" which was co-created with Dr Simon Clark in 2024. [24]
Somara is a mentor at Imperial College London [25] and is on the E&T Innovation Awards advisory board of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. [26]
She has also written seven STEM books for young people including Engineers Making a difference, which was published by Imperial College and The Gatsby Foundation. [21] In 2024 the book was shortlisted for the Royal Society Young People's Book Prize. [27] She has written an engineering book for younger readers called An Engineer Like Me, [28] the first in a series of four books (including A Scientist Like Me, A Coder Like Me and A Mathematician Like Me). [29]
In 2024 she was recognised as one of the Top 50 Influential Women in Engineering. [30]
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems. It is one of the oldest and broadest of the engineering branches.
Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university in June 1966, when Brunel College of Advanced Technology was awarded a royal charter and became Brunel University; in 2014 the university formally adopted the name Brunel University London. The university is sometimes considered a British plate glass university. Brunel became the University of London's 17th member on 1 October 2024.
Julia Elizabeth King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge is a British engineer and a crossbench member of the House of Lords, where she chairs the Select Committee on Science and Technology. She is the incumbent chair of the Carbon Trust and the Henry Royce Institute, and was the vice-chancellor of Aston University from 2006 to 2016.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universities in the United Kingdom. EPSRC research areas include mathematics, physics, chemistry, artificial intelligence and computer science, but exclude particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astronomy. Since 2018 it has been part of UK Research and Innovation, which is funded through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The Doctor of Engineering is a research doctorate in engineering and applied science. An EngD is a terminal degree similar to a PhD in engineering but applicable more in industry rather than in academia. The degree is usually aimed toward working professionals.
The Department of Engineering at Durham University is the department engaged in the teaching and research of engineering across a broad range of disciplines. It is the successor department to the UK's first school of engineering, established at Durham in 1837.
The UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences is one of the 11 constituent faculties of University College London (UCL). The Faculty, the UCL Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the UCL Faculty of the Built Envirornment together form the UCL School of the Built Environment, Engineering and Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
Cristina H. Amon is a mechanical engineer, academic administrator and was the 13th dean of the University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. She was the Faculty's first female dean. Prior to her appointment at the University of Toronto in 2006, she was the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor and director of the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems at Carnegie Mellon University.
Dame Susan Elizabeth Ion is a British engineer and an expert advisor on the nuclear power industry.
John Neil Loughhead is a British engineer and businessman. He is Industrial Professor of Clean Energy at University of Birmingham, Chair of the Redwheel-Turquoise ClimateTech Investment Committee, and Council member at the University of York. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, and of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He was formerly Chief Scientific Adviser to Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and to Department of Energy & Climate Change. He was appointed OBE for services to Technology in 2011 and CB in 2018. In 2014, he was voted as one of the Top 500 Most Influential People in Britain by Debrett's and The Sunday Times.
The Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London is the centre of teaching and research in chemical and process engineering at Imperial College London, occupying the Aeronautics and Chemical Engineering Extension (ACEX), Bone and Roderic Hill buildings, on the South Kensington campus. Formally inaugurated in 1912, the department has over 40 faculty members, 100 postdoctoral researchers, 200 PhD researchers, 80 taught postgraduates, and 500 undergraduates. The department ranks 7th on QS's 2018 world rankings.
Dame Karen Margaret Holford is a Welsh-domiciled engineer, professor of mechanical engineering and vice-chancellor and chief executive of Cranfield University. She was formerly deputy vice-chancellor at Cardiff University. She is also a former pro vice-chancellor of the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering and head of the School of Engineering. She is an active researcher of acoustic emission and her work has been applied to damage assessment inspections on industrial components.
Polina Leopoldovna Bayvel is a British engineer and academic. She is currently Professor of Optical Communications & Networks in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at University College London. She has made major contributions to the investigation and design of high-bandwidth multiwavelength optical networking.
In 2016 the Women's Engineering Society (WES), in collaboration with the Daily Telegraph, produced an inaugural list of the United Kingdom's Top 50 Influential Women in Engineering, which was published on National Women in Engineering Day on 23 June 2016. The event was so successful it became an annual celebration. The list was instigated by Dawn Bonfield MBE, then Chief Executive of the Women's Engineering Society. In 2019, WES ended its collaboration with the Daily Telegraph and started a new collaboration with The Guardian newspaper.
Anne Neville was the Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in emerging technologies and Professor of Tribology and Surface Engineering at the University of Leeds.
Ruth Misener is a professor at the Department of Computing, Imperial College London. Her research concentrates on the development of software and optimisation algorithms for energy efficient engineering and biomedical systems.
Lucy Elizabeth Rogers is a British author, inventor, and engineer. She is a visiting professor of engineering, creativity and communication at Brunel University London and has served as a judge on the BBC Two show Robot Wars from 2016 to 2018.
Mary Patricia Ryan is a Professor of Materials Science at Imperial College London and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Eleanor Phoebe Jane Stride is a Professor of Biomaterials at St Catherine's College, Oxford. Stride engineers drug delivery systems using carefully designed microbubbles and studies how they can be used in diagnostics.
Rebecca Julia Shipley is a British mathematician and professor of healthcare engineering at University College London (UCL). She is director of the UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering, co-director of the UCL Centre for Nerve Engineering and Vice Dean (Health) for the UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences. She is also co-director of the UCL CHIMERA Research Hub with Prof Christina Pagel and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
{{cite book}}
: |website=
ignored (help)