Profile
Tim Stephens
My CV
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Education:
Local high school, Heriot-Watt University (1996-2003)
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Qualifications:
PhD Physics, MPhys (Hons) Physics, 5 Highers (English, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Computing)
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Work History:
Keit Spectrometers, SLT Instruments, Oxford Lasers, Photonic Solutions, Heriot-Watt University.
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Current Job:
Lead Development Scientist
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About Me:
I like ice-cream and pizza.
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I live in Oxford with my wife and son, our cat, and some fish. I like riding my bike around in the countryside, and am a keen fencer.
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IÂ work for a small company that is developing a new type of spectrometer (a device to measure the colour of light). The original idea for our product was created at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (a UK science centre in Oxfordshire) to be fitted to satellites for a mission to Mars. We are taking this piece of space technology and making it useful for people in industry to measure chemicals in factories.
I studied Physics at University, and then did a PhD in optics where I worked to try and shine lots of laser light into optical fibres (very bendy strands of glass). This is trickier than it seems because once the laser gets very bright, it can cause the glass to disintegrate.
Next, I spent a year and a half doing short research projects for the University as a Postdoc researcher. I looked at different ways to do spectroscopy, which is the science of using light to find out about the composition of things.After that, I worked for a laser distributor doing some web development and writing marketing material.
Then I moved to Oxford and worked to develop high-speed imaging systems for making measurements – things like measuring the speed of airflow inside a vacuum cleaner, the size of droplets in a pesticide spray, or the shape of the spray from an asthma inhaler. This was all about using lasers and cameras to make the things that we were trying to measure visible, and then using special software to convert the images that we took into measurements.
As a sideline, I founded a company to make a diagnostic tool for immunologists that’s used to look at cell cultures (the things that you see on the TV news when they show scientists moving coloured liquid from one tiny test-tube to another). Our machine used a camera to look at the cultures, and then clever software to measure the size and type of the growth to provide diagnostic information.
For the past three years, I’ve worked at my current company developing our products to make them ready to sell.
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My Typical Day:
I work with a team of seven other people to improve how our spectrometer works, invent new ways to measure things with it, and understand what it’s telling us.Â
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I’m responsible for getting light into and out of the samples that we want to analyse, and then getting that light into our spectrometer.
This means that I spend some time with my colleagues understanding computer models that they’ve made of how the light will shine through the optics that they’ve designed, and then communicating ideas to our mechanical designer. I’m also responsible for making sure that there are enough people working on the projects so that they’ll be finished in time for when they’re needed.
Sometimes I spend time speaking with suppliers, customers, our sales team, and university researchers that we work with to make sure that the work that we’re all doing is useful to the company.
Since we’re only a young company, we don’t really have specific jobs and we don’t really have customers yet either. This means that every day is actually quite different.
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My Interview
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What did you want to be after you left school?
I originally wanted to be a weatherman, which is why I studied Physics. Then I realised that lasers and optics were more interesting.
What don't you like about your current job?
Nothing.
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