Martijn Hoogeveen Team Lead and Head of Design
Tanveer Bhandari Team Lead
I’m a 2nd year Automotive Engineering student and am part of the exec as the Head of Publicity at EngSoc. Fun fact: I once nearly died during a karting event.
I’m a 2nd year Automotive Engineering student and am part of the exec as the Head of Design at EngSoc. Fun fact: I print my own car parts.
Harriet Waldron Magazine Editor
I am a 2nd year Mechanical Engineering student. Being genuinely enthusiastic about STEM, I find taking on the challenge to encapsulate the latest engineering news in our articles rewarding and enjoyable. In my free time I play the flute and am learning how to crochet (but not simultaneously).
Emma Osho Magazine Editor
I am a first-year Mechanical engineer. With being creative, I’m an editor for the engineering magazine team because I wanted to bring more colour, fun and diversity into the engineering community, being that it was lacking some. I try to never take anything seriously, so everything I do, and produce is my best, most relaxed work.
Dorota Orzechowska Magazine Editor
I am a first-year student of General Engineering. I like to connect my humanistic interests with the world of science. So you probably won't be surprised that one of my favorite books is "The Jazz of Physics" by S. Alexsander. In this magazine, I prepared the visual concept for the magazine's cover and will introduce you to the topic of transhumanism.
Stephen Lam Design Team
I am a second year Mechanical Engineering student who grew up in Hong Kong. I love football, cars and music. I aspire to become an engineer that helps to make this world a better place for all. I also believe this world is a simulation and parallel universes do exist!
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Welcome
In this edition, we cover a wide range of interesting topics; we use our survey results to include some advice on how to cope during the pandemic, we reach out to our audience to get raw knowledge of what it is like to be LGBTQ+ in engineering, and we bring you a captivating article about the topic of transhumanism. We also bring you the latest news in engineering; from the progress of Warwick Sub to a review of the most recent conferences hosted by the Warwick Engineering Society. As always, be inspired to get involved and keep up to date by following the society socials!
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Warwick Engineering Society’s AI Conference
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What Students Really Think About Online Learning
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Let’s STEM the stress
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The Warwick Submarine
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Transhumanism
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Warwick Engineering Society and Warick Women in Engineering and Science Borderless Conference
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LGBTQ+ Students in Engineering
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The SSLC; What it is, How it works and Why it matters to you
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Prof. Carsten Maple From WMG and Alfred Tam Events Director at Warwick Engineering Society
Types of AI
An interesting theme that was common in the talks were the ethical considerations of using AI. Despite extraordinary advancements in AI, a major consideration for all companies is the ability to advocate trust in consumers in this area of technology. However, the premise that AI had the potential for reduced error, and a decrease in unnecessary expense was strongly reiterated throughout.
For example, Sajjad Mozaffari revealed that 90% of vehicle accidents were as a result of human error, yet sufficient implementation of AI in various forms could dramatically reduce this percentage. A strikingly clear message throughout all talks was that the future for AI has a long way to go; so many possibilities to utilize it with, all heading towards a safer, more efficiently designed future.
Matt Lines From IBM
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What Students Really Think About Online Learning By Harriet Waldron
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In a survey sent out to Engineering students to understand how students found the transition to online learning, it was discovered that: When asking if students preferred learning online at their own discretion, almost 80% students said no, and comparably over 70% admitted to struggling more with work due to the lack of a work timetable. Over 60% of students admitted that studying in accommodation (as opposed to on campus) was more difficult, with almost half of students acknowledging that constantly being with flatmates was a major cause of stress.
Over 80% of students were unable to keep up with friends as much as they would want to ordinarily, and a further 80% felt that their mental wellbeing had suffered in the academic term.
So, what to do? The rest of this article is focused on tips for how to stay sane, safe, and sanguine while battling your degree online.
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Working in your room: Your desk is the most convenient place to work, but is it also where you watch TV? Procrastinate? Defy deadlines? Cogniti Cognitively, a highly recommended technique is to separate your room into different sections, and then you only associate that place with that action. It is important to give yourself a clean, dedicated workspace to focus in. For example, using your desk for work only and making simple rules (like not allowing yourself to use your phone when at your desk). Next, setting boundaries with your household. It can be helpful to shut the door; that way you are out of sight. If necessary, you could suggest to your housemates/family members that you only want to be disturbed when your door is open. The survey results hint that living without a break from your household can have a negative impact on your relationship with them, your mental wellbeing and your productivity. So, it is important to communicate to your house what you feel you need.
Top Tip: boost your productivity by making yourself get up and ready for the day
Planning your day: The survey results suggest that many students feel the lack of routine and can end the day feeling as if they have achieved less. Breaking up the day into sections is an effective method to combat this. For example, going for a walk, making a dedicated time to cook, and generally doing as many activities in different parts of the house/outside as possible every day. It is easy not to bother doing the little things (why do your hair if you don’t need to go outside today?) but making the extra effort to do them can make you feel organised and help distinguish the days from one another.
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How to work in group projects online: Many academic projects have been moved online; you may even find that you never know what the people in your group look like (if nobody ever turns the camera on). Keeping up with the group by having scheduled meetings that you stick to (e.g. twice a week at a the same time) can help keep everyone up to date and on board with progress. Actively making sure everyone in the group has a task at any given time, and that you have a basic agenda of deadlines within the group can be a good way to make sure everyone is contributing. Organisational tools like a Kanban or Gantt chart are recommended. The program MindManager is available to Warwick students for free; useful for mindmaps and creating schedules, and your account can also be linked to your phone with the app.
Copyright: Powershell Blog
General tips for working online: When running MATLAB/Simulink, if you need this to run reliably and quickly, MATLAB Online and Simulink Online are much faster than the downloaded version. This is highly recommended if you have an online exam that requires MATLAB. The online interface has a few minor differences but does not risk crashing your laptop when running certain add-ons. Additionally, it is faster because it works on the cloud. As a final note, if you have online notes, a weekly backup is good practise for ease of mind. OneNote has an option to automatically back up any new or updated files at scheduled times of your choice. Hopefully these suggestions are not too difficult to implement; none of them require any tools; just a bit of inspiration! Overall, implementing some of these tips should ensure that you have a more positive transition to online learning.
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Let’s STEM the stress. WE ALL HAVE MENTAL HEALTH The transition from Secondary to Higher Education and our time at university will pose many challenges for all of us in different ways, whether it be living away from family for the first time or managing your time effectively to establish a work-life balance. Recognising when you might be going through a time of difficulty and knowing when and how to act upon this can seem impossible and often too easy to put-off. Therefore, it is vital to highlight the importance of mental health and where to go for help and guidance.
ENGSOC.UK/WELFARE
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The Warwick Submarine Warwick Submarine is an MEng project consisting of seven multi-disciplinary engineering students, who are working with the purpose of competing at the International Submarine Races (ISR) and the European International Submarine Races In (eISR). The ISR and eISR are design challenges to build and race a one- or two-person, human powered submarine in an underwater drag race, competing against other world-class universities. We have access to cutting edge research from both Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) and the Warwick School of Engineering, we have collaborated with leading industrial partners such as High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Babcock, and 3M. This year we hoped to compete at the 2021 ISR-16 race in Maryland, USA. Unfortunately, due to the current global health crisis, the ISR-16 event in 2021
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was cancelled. It will instead be replaced by a virtual competition where the designs and reports of the teams will be judged, but no races will be held. The 2020/2021 team outlined 4 key objectives to improve the Warwick Sub: Analyse current safety systems of the submarine and implement an electromagnetic hatch system to enable the pilot to efficiently exit the submarine, incorporated as part of a safety buoy deployment system Test and integrate a pre-existing electronic steering system into the submarine, ensuring the system can be easily interchanged with mechanical alternatives, is waterproof and operational at required racing depths of requi approximately 6 metres Design and test a scale model of an improved hull
design, reconsidering the exterior aesthetics of the submarine in accordance with newly revised ISR rules regarding the visibility of the submarine, additional lighting, a new branding appearance and more fluid dynamic features. mo
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Transhumanism By Dorota Orzechowska
The simplest distinguishing feature of transhumanists as a social movement would be that they believe that the next step in human evolution is our fusion with technology. The effect of this is to shift the limits of human abilities so that we live longer, be wiser, and th that diseases become fearless for us. The ultimate goal, however, is to leave humanity behind, throw away our bodies and become machines or posthumans, i.e. hybrids of man and machine. The idea that connects people identifying as transhumanists is the desire to improve or even abandon the biological body and become a machine or at least integrate with it, for example by copying consciousness and "running" it on a different medium, more durable di and less unreliable than the brain. For many people, science is something like religion in that it fills a hole in Western culture. Transhumanism, on the other hand, strengthens this thought, as if making this analogy several levels more accurate. At the same time, one must be very careful about identifying transhumanism with religion, because in many ways, transhumanism is not. There is no god, no moral foundation, and there is no set of rules on how to behave.
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It also does not propose any lifestyle or message regarding our importance in the universe and similar beliefs. On the other hand, it is impossible not to notice that, in some respects, transhumanism takes over from religion. Religion has always offered us some form of escape from death, it allowed us to come to terms with the finality of our lives, generally promising eternal life general after death. Transhumanism, on the other hand, says that it is not possible, but that science will bring in the future what no god has been able to do. Of course, transhumanists are not very comfortable with such comparisons, mainly because seeing them as religious in some respects undermines their own sense of rationality, purely logic, dissociation from superstition, and the like. Interestingly, on the one hand, transhumanism is a radical vision of the future, ideas so revolutionary that it is almost impossible to express. On the other hand, it is an extrapolation of what we already see today, the gap between the poor and the rich. Techno poo capitalism must continue on its path; the Silicon Valley must create
new innovations and bring profits. This is a very conservative fantasy. Few of the transhumanists have ideas that can be called truly radical, that is, they change our social structures. Most simply want to continue along the path that humanity has been following for a very long time. In this foll context, it is easy to imagine a future where only some people are upgrading, or different types of upgrades are available depending on the size of your wallet.
will allow people to scan the personality and eternal life in machines). Others believe that the key is to fully understand the human brain, and they want to start with a thorough understanding of its structure - for example, the start-up 3Scan led by Todd Huffman (the well-known technology investor Peter Thiel, a member of the US Transhumanist Party, provided funds for it) and the work of Media Lab's head of the MIT Ed Boyden, whose team has developed an expansive The Grindhouse Wetware company is mic microscopy technique that allows the developing technologies that creation of highly accurate "extend human capabilities" - devices three-dimensional scans of brain implanted subcutaneously that allow tissue. to record additional stimuli or monitor the functions of our body. In turn, Technology will reach everyone's life, Elon Musk is working on the if it is not already. And our future Neuralink, i.e. a chip surgically actions should be guided by the will attached to our skull, which would to learn about technology, use sensors placed in the brain to understand and create a read the activity of neurons and thus compromise of coexistence. The real enable control of machines by means strength is in the alliance. And the of thoughts. fear of the unknown is our greatest fea weakness, which this agreement can Transhumanist ideas also have other try to destroy. What awaits us in the tycoons from the Silicon Valley and future? We will see. And as long as researchers from the largest we remember our humanity, in technological academic centres. whatever form we are, we should be Some focus on artificial intelligence - fine with it. an example is Google's DeepMind project, led by Ray Kurzweil, who The article is based on an interview canbe described as the "apostle of conducted by Marcin Zwierzchowski transhumanism" (he predicts that with Marek O'Connell in Polityka sometime in the fifth decade of this magazine and a book by Mark century, a real AI will emerge, which O'Connell "To be a machine".
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Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace 18-22 January
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Sessions start at 6pm
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Microsoft Teams Live
Warwick Engineering Society’s and Warwick Women in Engineering and Science Borderless Conference By Harriet Waldron
Each year, the Warwick Engineering Society (WES) hosts the Borderless conference, which welcomes guest speakers to talk about their own experiences of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. This year, the conference was held online, but co with seamless organization it turned out to be a great success. Over a series of four sessions, each speaker had an hour to talk and answer questions. This year, the conference was hosted by both WES, and Warwick Women in Engineering and Science (WWES). From Amazon, Rolls Royce and Shell, our speakers – all women in Engineering – gave insight on their personal experiences in their fields,
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as well as the impact that working with different companies can have on the workplace dynamic. Each speaker had their own experiences of prejudice at various points in their careers and shared their advice from what they had observed. An inspiring concept introduced by Jess Lomath (at Rolls Royce) was that being a minority was not necessarily a minorit negative attribute; it could make the individual more memorable and recognisable, and therefore work in their favour. She further stated, “When you start in a new team, members of the majority group might well be more nervous of you than you are of them.”
Jess from Rolls-Royce
It was discussed that the notion of preconception against women in engineering was not always as a result of gender bias but could instead be as a result of prejudice against age difference, background, or an assumption of inexperience. And on the occasion, in as with any workplace, “there will be some people, no matter how hard you try, you won’t win over, and that’s okay”; an astute statement by Amanda Dundas (at Amazon). The final conference saw the addition of Programme Manager of Diversity & Inclusion at the Royal Academy of Engineering, Monica Stancu, who reiterated the importance of studies on unconscious bias and the statistics involved in on diversity in engineering.
She emphasised that unconscious bias training and campaigns in the workplace were proven to have a positive impact on educating employees within the workplace, and that various recruitment strategies (such as eliminating the name and age from an applicant’s CV) were effective methods to eliminate the occurrence of unconscious bias. Shell representative Alex Lawson, also a member on the Women in Science & Engineering (WISE) Young Professionals Board expressed her own experiences of biases and mentioned that the assumption that women were more likely to get a job just because the company was looking to increase its diversity was an incorrect assumption to make and based on assum stigma rather than truth. Overall, the conference proved to be very engaging. Thank you to all who attended and to all speakers and organizers who made the conference such a success.
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LGBTQ+ Students in Engineering One important factor that makes the University of Warwick stand out from many other top ranked Universities, is its incredible diversity. With diversity comes exposure and breeds acceptance, however it comes with its challenges as we do not live in a very institutionally diverse world, and that will obviously influence the experiences of different minority groups. One of those, typically overlooked or not really talked about due to an unfortunate sense of “controversiality”, is LGBTQ+ people in engineering. The diversity disparities in the engineering field are all connected and as bad as it sounds, an adverse reality with STEM being dominated by cisgender straight men in the UK and internationally (who have also typically been socially sheltered) is the further increased lack of space, representation and in some cases, increased hostility for and towards LGBTQ+ individuals. With the degrading sexualization of lesbian and bisexual women, and the de-masculinization of gay and bisexual men, which causes them to be given the “female” treatment, which as we are no stranger to, is inherently unequal to their male counterpart. “I feel like – by no fault of Warwick specifically – but rather my own personal experiences I’ve had in education, as a trans woman, I’ve had to try so much to be a perfect academic or perfect engineer as there is already prejudice and preconceived stigma that I am “less than” not only as a woman, but as a trans woman, hence I’m so overly critical of no myself to prove people wrong” – Emma (A 1st year undergraduate studying Mechanical Engineering). Talking about the lack of LGBTQ+ representation in engineering as insightful as it is, is affected by different factors such as safety risks of being out, lack of understanding of personal sexuality or gender identity, etc. In a 2019 survey of more than 1,000 UK-based physical scientists, nearly 30% of LGBT+ scientists and half of transgender scientists said that they had considered leaving their workplace because of an unfriendly or hostile climate or because of discrimination. Two engineers of Warwick university were we interviewed, and their responses taken down.
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“Given [Covid-19] I’ve hardly met any engineers in general, from what I’m aware, very few are part of the [LGBTQ+] community. If [COVID-19] wasn’t here it would still be quite hard to find people.” (“I don’t believe there is very good queer representation in the engineering fields, but I can relate to non-queer people through similar mindsets and mentalities. Sometimes, some people give off a very toxic, masculine mentality, which could end up violent when revealing I am part of the queer community, but on the other hand, I don’t need to bring it up to most people I meet. I have not othe [experienced any form of microaggression], however this could be because I don’t know anyone, so I don’t think it’s an accurate representation. Yes [I believe my sexuality could have a negative impact on my professional prospects], I believe people will stereotype me given my sexuality and then pigeonhole me into certain traits which I don’t exhibit, which could also negatively impact my effect in the workplace. I don’t really believe [LGBTQ+ representation] is getting much better. With do much of the field being outshone by Elon Musk – who many idolise unhealthily – However if I had a [scientific] breakthrough, I wouldn’t know whether or not to reveal that I am a queer person as I wouldn’t want it to define my work “the queer engineer” so to speak” – Anonymous queer man (first year engineering undergraduate) “I have unsurprisingly met only one queer engineer out of the multitude of engineers I interact with. I think COVID has influenced the amount of people you can meet and how frequent, however, I highly doubt the outcome would be different sans COVID. I do not think there is any representation of people like me, there is hardly enough representation of engineers who aren’t complete nerds. I’m quite eccentric as well as I am logical and I consider myself quite a unique engineer in that I add a bit of flavour and colour to how I do things, I don’t see people like me I can relate to at all. I am always terrified to talk to straight men, although I suck it up and try not to let it get the best of me, I always have this thought at the back of my mind that they will be prejudiced against me, especially as I am very effeminate in a way that is not widely socially acceptable. Even when I do manage to make some acquaintances, I feel like I inevitably must put a filter on what I talk about with them, which affects the level of a relationship I am able to have with fellow engineers. I unfortunately have experienced some tiny micro aggressions, for example in one of my labs, the supervisor seemed to have this critical eye on me that he did not have at all with the other boys in the room, to the point where he would attempt to explain the simplest things to me such as reading zero error when I did
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not ask, nor did I need the assistance. It was almost as though he just automatically looked down on me solely because of how I presented myself or me being a woman. I wouldn’t say I have a fear of my sexuality or gender identity affecting my professional prospects, as I never want to limit myself on the things I can achieve or strive for, however I know that in a professional sense, seeming more dulled down and boring I guess is more appealing to employers, for reasons I will never understand. I would be lying if I said I was really in tune with STEM progressions, but solely from what I can see around me, I wouldn’t say it’s [LGTBQ+ representation] getting any better. My dream is to solve the problem of global warming by creating be an invention and to find a way to overthrow the 1% hoarding all the world’s wealth like the evil people they are and do it all in style! With FLAIR! It would be such an honour and privilege to be that kind of role model for other queer engineers like me who could never find anyone to romanticize” – Emma (First year engineering undergraduate) This piece may not be what you would have expected, no conclusion for invention or advertising, but simply conversation. How can we call ourselves engineers, innovators, when we cannot re-design and correct the imperfections and systemic errors in our own industry? Science is not limited to any sexuality, gender identity, or gender expression. We should mirror its limitlessness as engineers.
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THE SSLC
What it is, How it works and Why it matters to you By Martijn Hoogeveen
The SSLC or Student Staff Liaison Committee is made up of elected student representatives from each year group and course stream, and members of staff such as the head of the department among other faculty formally referred to as Academic Convenors. The committee meets twice a term, allowing the student representatives to voice their opinions and deliver feedback on the course. Issues raised during committee sessions range from online exam experiences to COVID contingency plans for term 3 of the 2020/2021 academic year. The committee allows students to have a say about their course and comment on new departmental plans, and gives a platform to resolve any issues and problems that might occur during the academic year. You might be wondering how it works? The meetings or sessions are usually 2 hours long; the committee starts by addressing any points of action that were meant to be acted upon from previous meetings. After this the chair asks the reps of each respective year if they have any feedback from their
cohort, positive or negative. If any problems or issues are not resolved during the committee session, they are noted down as points of action to be addressed after the meeting. The meeting then covers general matters surrounding IT, Library and Careers matters. Minutes of all SSLC Ca meetings can be found on the School of Engineering website: warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/eso/ sslc/sslc/minutes/ Why does this matter to you? Well, essentially if you ever encounter problems with your course, or you find something is working particularly well, the course representatives are there to get your voice heard by senior staff within the department. Often when students departme encounter problems or issues, they tend to send emails directly to the department, however it’s much easier to act upon feedback when it is centralised and delivered verbally. The SSLC is the best pathway for communication between you, the student, and the staff of the School of Engineering. You can find your course representative via engsoc.uk/sslc, or email the chair at aidan.poon@warwick.ac.uk or adam.khonat@warwick.ac.uk
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BY ENGINEERS FOR ENGINEERS
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