Monthly Archives: May 2017

Earth Science at Newcastle – Stage 2 Field Trip

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26th March 2017 was when the stage 2 Earth Science students went to the Isle of Arran on a field mapping field trip. We set off early on the Saturday morning getting on the coach to the ferry across to Arran and the views were amazing (see photo 1).

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1: Amazing views from the ferry.

We then had a short drive to the field centre which was in the north of the island (see photo 2).

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2: Lovely views from the field centre.

After settling into our rooms and having a tour of the facilities, we went to Hutton’s Unconformity as this is a famous geological landmark of the place we were staying in.

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3: Students having a closer look at Hutton’s Unconformity

The next day was where the lecturers took us to see all of the main types of rock that we would be seeing during the next week. This was useful as there is a big difference between looking at a hand sample in a lab to looking at an in situ outcrop. That evening we had a classroom session to go through our plans for the week and work out our strategy for creating the geological map. We were in groups of three and had a 5km2 area of land to map.

The next morning we got dropped at the location that we had chosen, the weather was great, so we were in for a good day. My group decided to map the south of the area first and to complete our graphic log so that we didn’t have to worry about it later in the week. We started off on the beach to map the boundary between one formation and the volcanic formation which we had seen the previous day. The beach was a good idea to start with as the geology often outcrops in large areas on the beach. We found lots of what we thought might be crossbedding but we took photos to show our lecturer in the evening (see photo 4).

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4: Crossbedding on South Corrie beach with pencil for scale.

The next day we chose to map the river in the north of the site because in a similar way to on the beach, there are many outcrops (see photo 5). We started at one end of the river and walked along it towards the coast noting when we saw a change in appearance of rock, and taking dip and strike measurements frequently as we went.

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5: A small section of the North Sannox river.

In the evening we transferred all of our observations onto our maps and made plans for where we wanted to map the next day.

This field trip really helped us to put what we had learned in lectures into practice in terms of rock identification and making links between the geology and environment. It also gave us skills and ideas for our individual project in Stage 3.

Postgraduate student life at Newcastle University

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Luilfy, a postgraduate student studying an MSc in Structural Engineering, writes about the social aspects of student life at Newcastle University.

Postgraduate student life at Newcastle is one of the best student experiences in the UK, due to its variety of programs and activities that you can take part in during the year. There are a wide range of clubs and societies for everyone and these activities usually work alongside the academic timetable. Therefore it is quite easy to be part of a society without it interrupting your studies.

Every society has a wide range of activities that can help you not only to focus in classes but to get to know more people at the university. In my case I support the Catholic society and the Latin society. These societies help me in my personal and student journey, for example: the Catholic society helps me to be calm and keeps me align with my beliefs and on the other hand, the Latin society promotes a lot of Latin parties that are really fun.

The university offers spaces in campus for its students for recreation and to socialise. What amazed me most when I started at Newcastle University was that there is a bar inside the university. At the beginning it was hard to understand but now it is one of my favourite places where you can have a nice drink and talk. Another wonderful thing about the university is the Students’ Union (SU). The SU is an organisation that represents and helps students; it organises a lot of activities and does a lot of trips in and out of the UK at affordable prices. Thus, NUSU trips are always good to enjoy because they have the support of the university.

Moreover, Newcastle is a very compact and quite a modern city where you can find almost everything. Since, the city centre is small and close to the university, there is no need for a car or bus in order to get to know the city. Also, Newcastle has one of the best nightlife’s in the country. There are a lot of pubs, bars and discos where postgraduate students can take a break and release all their stress.

Another good feature of the city is that it has an airport and a train station, which means that you can easily visit other cities in the UK and Europe without spending too much. Furthermore, Newcastle also has a metro, which facilitates the urban transport for those days when you do not want to walk or want to take a trip to near towns or to the beach.

Read more about the social aspects of life at Newcastle University for Postgraduate Students.

My passion for Structural Engineering

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Luilfy, a postgraduate student studying an MSc in Structural Engineering, writes about his passion for the subject and what he hopes to achieve after gaining his postgraduate degree.luilfy

Construction is a very relevant indicator of progress in countries and the skyline of a city says how organised the urban planning of the area is. Structural engineering has been helping the society to develop solutions of housing, transport and giving security and confidence to people in their homes.

The functionality of how a skyscraper or bridge works is amazing to me, how all elements are combined to form a structure is wonderful. In class, I was astonished to learn about structural analysis and design because we see and use structures like buildings and bridges all the time. Furthermore, it is amazing to learn a science that has such an impact on society because every person using it.

In my country, the Dominican Republic, structural engineering has a lot of responsibility as the country is located within an earthquake zone. Therefore, engineers have a crucial obligation when it comes to design and construction of buildings as these processes can save lives in a seismic event. After witnessing the severe earthquake that hit our neighbouring country, Haiti in 2010, the focus on structural engineering in the Dominican Republic has become more important than ever!

Before I came to Newcastle University, I did an internship in the construction of schools for the Government. After doing this internship for several months, I was approached to join the Government Construction System, which allowed me to work on the construction of the headquarters of the European Union in the Dominican Republic. Although, my work experience is related to construction management, I have always been interested in structural engineering. Also, during my internship, I often worked with different seismic and structural engineers and their work motivated me to gain a deeper knowledge in structures.

Studying a Masters in Structural Engineering will help me pursue a career where I can be creative in problem solving, design functional structures and at the same time give comfort and confidence to people. When I finish my Masters at Newcastle University, I expect to gain enough knowledge and experience to work for a consultancy company that has significant and challenging projects. I hope to make a significant contribution to society.

Find out more about our Structural Engineering MSc.