Working with STEM

Well its been a while since I have updated this and I have been working very hard on both my research and as an ambassador for STEM.

I have featured in many main stream papers of late and its been an exciting experience. Let me know if you have spotted me in any! A old friend from school found me on Facebook after seeing me in the guardian and kindly pointed me in the direction of this article on their website:
Guardian

Following a further google of myself I also found out that there has been some publicity for the leading lights exhibition in New Scientist which is great :)
New Scientist

I gave a lecture for the ETB last week at Richmond college in London. I was joined by on of my fellow visiting lecturer Luke Mainwaring. Luke works for Corus and it was nice to give a lecture as part of a double act for a change. If you are reading this and would like me, Luke or one of the other visiting lecturers to come to your school or college to give a motivational talk about a career in engineering check out the Engineers Make it Happen website.

At the moment I am busy in the lab working on some code for a virtual snowboard. This will hopefully allow me to make predictions of snowboard behavior if we were to change the materials used. I am in the process of making a new test rig which will operate as part of an existing piece of equipment at DCMT.

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Twittering…

I do get quite a few people trying to add me on facebook which I don’t tend to accept but I have recently set-up a TWITTER where you can follow me and keep updated with what I am up to in the world of snowboard design.

Please feel free to add me ‘Liza_Brooks’ :D

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TIMES MAGAZINE in association with STEM

Last saturday was very exciting as I was featured as part of the leading lights exhibition in Times magazine. The article was discussing how science and technology doesn’t have to be boring and how it can be exciting if you want it to be.

I must say I agree whole heartedly. I love my job and the scientific discovery that is surrounding it.

We’re coming to the end of the season now at True Snowboards and I might be able to sort out a special discounted rate for my avid Dr Snowboard fans. Email me Liza@truesnowboards.com for more information and quote Dr Snowboard offer.

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Designer Snowboards for £300!

Well you asked for it and we listened! Ever since we launched True Snowboards people have been asking us for the option of doing custom graphics for the snowboard top-sheet and finally we have found a durable means of doing this without damaging the structural integrity of the snowboard. The process adds a mere £75 to the cost of your True Expression or True Deviant snowboard and the graphic can be pretty much anything you want in high resolution. Even photos are possible. Check out my own graphic below designed by Jason. We are also able to offer out Jason’s skills and expertise as a snowboard graphic designer to help you making your design a reality (fees applicable and will vary dependant on the job – quoted by Jason and not True Snowboards).
My Doctor Deviant custom snowboard graphic

There are other companies out there that offer you the opportunity to customise your snowboard but I am not sure of any that are for under £500 let alone £300! The printing is currently only available on our Deviant and Expression sidewall models as the top-sheet surface is flat for printing on. The process is also only available on new orders I’m afraid. But the pricing discount for one or more snowboards ordered still applies!

I’ve been reliably informed that the turnaround is pretty reasonable so plenty of time to order before your Easter get away! All models are now back in stock and discount for orders of more than one to a single delivery address.

So no excuse! Get your dream ride this Easter! All models are now in stock.

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“My Trip to Morzine”

Well the snow was good the weather was cold and the atmosphere was…well quiet. Where is everyone this year? Stayed with my friends at Oopalley and as always offered excellent quality and affordable accommodation right in the heart of Morzine. I was just shocked how quite the bars were in town. Always managed to find a table in Robbos at 5pm which is unusual and then in Rhodos there was hardly anyone eating on our last night which was in the French Holidays when the slopes had been heaving all day.

Morzine

I was really pleased to finally give my True Deviant a run for its money on the real snow as opposed to the Kent countryside from my photoshoot the other day. It behaved exactly as I wanted it to and what little I did in the way of jumps and bumps it felt stable in the air and for landings which is great as I designed it to be a high end freestyle snowboard!

Successfully managed to teach Gareth to snowboard which was good although on the last day he did go back to his skis so I have not fully converted him yet but still working on it! I need to buy him a bright jacket and some baggy trousers so I can differentiate him from all the other skiers on the slope wearing black/grey!

I am really hoping I can get a chance to go out to Morzine again this year and hopefully will see a few more of you out there this time. I was trying to True spot but only spotted one (apart from mine) so if anyone else has done any true spotting for me as always email your shots to liza@truesnowboards.com!

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UK Shredding for Photoshoot

As my regular readers will know I work as a ambassadore for engineering and science trying to promote it as a cool subject to study at school for kids and teenagers. The other day I jumped at the opportunity to go on a professional photo shoot with Richard Cannon – one of the UK’s most highly recognised portrait photographers who has worked with the likes of Sir Alan Sugar! The photos are going to be part of a big display at various science musemums. This idea and setting being to have them in a natural enviroment well…for snowboarding that kinda requires snow so the snowdome or a dryslope was going to have to do until the heavens opened and answered our prayers for a proper UK snow shoot!

I arrived at Reading station at 11am to be greeted by Richard and his assitant James (who spoke very nicely and is going to get a roller as his first car – how sick is that! You rule James!) who went on to inform me we were heading off to a deer reserve in Kent where they had fresh powder! So off we went and when we got there the shear beauty of the English countryside under a blanket of snow with stags stood there was awesome! We started off doing just a few basic portrait shots of me sitting down looking cool with my snowboard as you do. After this Richard wanted some action shots and James the fab assistant had to act as my human drag lift to pull me in for a flat land jump as high as I could for the camera. I was surprised how high my new True Deviant could pop on the flat – WOW! Richard suddenly shouted ‘your amazing…you look just iconic in this photo!’. The first fast paced shot and it was perfect. Lots of height I was looking ahead wide eyed and my hair was flowing as if hitting a huge kicker somewhere in the Alps. Richard’s ability to light the shot was fascinating with the white of the snow contrasting with a somehow deep purple he managed to create from the snow.

After the push and jump hits I was messing about doing a few flat land jibs and was very impressed that I could do the walky bouncy thing on my new board easily. I was stalling on a few logs which was great fun. Once the boys were ready I was hiking this time up a steep hill and then spraying the camera with the English powder! It was hard work but a thurally enjoyable experience which left me with a smile on my face each hike.

Once Richard got the shot he wanted we went for the tree lines! This was totally sick as there was about 6-12inches of fresh untracked powder and I was the only one there! They took a shot of me going between two trees as a longer range shot than the others but eventually Richard got one he was happy with.

The there was the run down and I had already spotted a nice 6ishFT cliff drop I wanted to hit which was awesome, until mid air I realised there was a young stag feeding underneath. Not your typical scenario I know so I kinda stacked the cliff drop a bit to avoid hitting the stag as that would of hurt having a 50KG Liza land on you!
I tried to kill this with my snowboard

Fortunately I was not hurt and a few bruises so my Osteopath has clearly fixed me good following my car accident.

So now its just the waiting game till I can see the shots. Richard has a lot of other people to visit for the event and the photos will be unveiled there – I just hope my hair looks good! I will be sticking them on here soon as I get copies!

That night as always it was time for the ledgendary local pub quiz and as I had got back late I was still in all my riding gear everyone probably thought what a loser well…who was the losers when everyones cars got snowed in and people had to abandon them and get cold while I was lovely and warm and dry :-p
Sometimes I told you so just doesn\'t sum it up!
Snow Angels - this was the first of the 6 inches to fall this night

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Some snow time for me!

Well I have taken the plunge and despite the ‘credit crisis’ and terrible rate for us Brits on the Euro my friend Jo at Oopalley yet again sorted me out a great deal. Heading out to morzine on the 10th of Feb for 6 days so hopefully I might see a few people out there.

I have also volunteered to teach Gareth to snowboard so this should make for an interesting trip…so if you see me struggling to teach someone and your an instructor with some tips shout me :-p

Morzine is my favourite resort where I really learnt to snowboard myself so I can’t wait to get there. The snow reports look excellent so fingers crossed I can give my deviant a good bashing on the piste and in the park…spinal injury permitting :D

Last week I had another visiting lecture for the Engineering Technology Board at Swindon College to their foundation degree students. It was really interesting as they had good questions that were more about the technology and science of my work which was nice. One guy even had an idea for a full test rig! I have also been requested to give a couple of lectures at Manchester university - just need to finalize the date based on when my Viva for my 2nd year report will be.

I hope everyone has been enjoying all the snow we’ve been having here in the UK is anyone has and photos or videos of them rocking some urban english snow on a true snowboard send them over and I’ll get them on the site.

Hopefully see some of you in Morzine! x

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First week back in the office!

Well this has been an exciting week. I started with a visit from Tim Broxup who is studying at Loughborough Uni. Tim was looking for information and advice on the snowboard industry for an assignment and I was happy to answer his questions. It was nice to have a visitor that had an interest in snowboarding.

Following that mid week I met up with the head of innovation for UK sport and discussed snowboard technology and how it would be effective for the UKs top athletes including olympians! Fingers crossed for some more information from them in the near future as working on something like that would be a dream come true. I would relish the opportunity to work with some of the most dedicated athletes other there who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.

I was also helping out with some lectures for the MSc students. There was a lecturer absent so I was teaching them ProEngineer - a package I use quite a lot for my doctorate. I really enjoyed it as it was nice to teach in a subject I enjoy. Next week I am lecturing again to the majors again as part of their course at Shrivenham.

I have completed my stint as the front page blogger now for the GetSET women in engineering my entry is still available to view though. The same is true for the new scientist article.

Next week I have my coursework due for the systems engineering course so I have been busy working on that today. 4 days spent on it now…fingers crossed it is enough to pass the final module I have for my EngD.

I have another ETB lecture coming up later in the month at Swindon College. If you are a lecturer and would like me to come along and give a talk at your school, college or uni please check out the ETBs website www.engineersmakeithappen.co.uk where you can find more information about this government funded scheme and take a look and my profile and profiles of other visiting lecturers.

Don’t forget to check out the True Snowboards website if your in the market for a new board! With our credit crunch beating prices you can’t go wrong as the email I received below clearly points out :)

Hi there

Just come back from spending New Years in the 3 valleys in the French Alps where I took my True Courage to ride for the first time.

The board was awesome. It did eveything I asked it to do in all conditions and all situations. It felt very light and agile off piste, and solid at high speed (c. 40-50 mph recorded with sat nav).

It’s amazing that you can ride one of these for a fraction of the cost of one of the usual big US brand boards.

I’m heading out again in Feb and can’t wait.

Keep up the good work and I’ll do my best to spread the word.

Kind regards

Adam .
——————

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Happy New Year Everyone and we have 100 Facebook fans :)

Firstly I would like to wish everyone a very happy new year and I hope no one else is sickly like I am and unable to celebrate this evening :(

I think I am over the worst of my flu now but knowing my luck it will go on monday morning when I am back to work having ruined 75% of my holidays doh! Nevermind I might try and sneak in some snow time before the end of Feb if I am lucky. I’ve not been riding since Jan 2008 due to various different things which have prevented me from riding.

Also our facebook fan page now has 100 members which is pretty good as this is the first time I’ve ever mentioned it so no page pluggin before just word of mouth and I guess facebook spotting. I was pleased to see the number of different contributors in the photo album to keep them coming it would be good to get some from our fans in USA and Canada as well. If you would like to become a fan click here and join :D

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Merry Christmas!

I would like to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and may you all have prosperous new years as well :)

We’ve not opened any presents yet here but I hope everyone that has gets everything they wished for. x

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