Engineering choices

Hi guys, I've officially started my course at UCL. I'm enrolled with my student card and everything. I attended a meeting to meet key staff members and my coursemates. They all seemed really nice people to work with but the most important thing is that I gained a lot of information. This really put my apprehension to bed because knowing things helps me relax more.

I learned that I had to choose some option modules and that I had to select an Advanced Design Project as I hadn't done one before because I come from a non-engineering background. This is a key criterion that I need to gain chartered status further down the line as I gain experience in the area. The list of option modules was pretty uncommunicative and it was hard to discern what each module contains. A quick look on the UCL website and the module synopses was available. I had a look at each of them and also had a talk with a fellow course mate who has experience in the department. She said a little about each of the choices and that seemed consistent with what the UCL website had to say.

After some careful deliberation and bearing in mind what my tutor had said before, I decided to go with Advanced process engineering, process dynamics and control and chemical reaction engineering.

The first, because it has a good portion of computer software use and I feel that if I am to work in a professional capacity as an engineer, I'll need to understand the various softwares and their limitations in an industrial setting. The second I chose because, like the first one, modelling and understanding how systems can react to unintentional and intended changes is important in industry. Also, control is the reverse of the safety coin and I'll need to be able to exercise control when handling a process. The third is a personal choice because it has a high degree of kinetics and stoichiometry. I've had experience with this as a chemist and I can do these things well. This made that option easier to select.

I've got the first meeting to start the advanced design project tomorrow and I'm really excited. Wish me luck.

Expanding gas infrastructure

In a recent report by publisher GlobalData, there is set to be a great increase in the infrastructure of gas transport networks. The report states that the top 5 countries responsible for the increase in the gas pipeline length will be responsible for more than 50% of the total increase in pipeline length this year. The top 5 countries were found to be Russia, India, the US, China and Canada. This is no surprise because India and China are fast developing countries and are in great need of clean burning fuels to power their massive numbers of citizens and Russia and (by shale gas exploitation) the US are large producers of Natural gas. Canada has access to the shale gas and the tar sands in its northern parts. All are great users of oil too. This goes to show their reliance on fossil fuels.

The report also gives the prediction that through the period 2011 - 2015, the proportion of new pipelines added to the existing network will tip more in favour of gas production / transportation than oil. In the context of todays energy production, this makes sense because more and more gas and shale gas fields are coming online over the next few years. This infrastructure will enable their exploitation. BP Energy Outlook predicts an Annual Average growth rate over this period of 2.7%, consistent with a greater increase in gas production relative to oil production.

Moved in

Yesterday, my Dad and I made the journey down to London and he helped me move into my flat which I will share with other people. It was a pleasant journey down because it was Saturday and there was no commuter traffic heading into London.

We made good time with the journey and we met my contact, Kevin and he gave me my keys and showed me around the place and even helped me move some of my stuff in. This was the start of a really good day.


After my Dad left to return home, I started to unpack my things and met more of my housemates. They're all really friendly and they told me about a party that night they were hosting and having a few friends over.

I was really glad that I had agreed to go along because the food was fantastic: lots of different dishes from all over Europe. I really enjoyed the Spanish tortilla. The company was really good too. There were people from all kinds of industries and they all knew my housemates in different ways. I'm a very sociable person and this was a great opportunity because I love meeting new people and chatting to them about what they're passionate about.

As  a large contingent of the party were Spanish, lots of Spanish and Catalan was spoken. I could understand the general gist of the Spanish as they were speaking quickly but the Catalan, I couldn't tell when it started and when it ended and my housmates ended up translating a few times for me. I speak Spanish but haven't used it in a while so it's coming back listening to these people and it's really helping me.

I spoke to one guy in English and he didn't understand so I switched to Spanish and he understood. Everyone was patient and kind when I spoke and a few asked about when / how I learned and applauded my grasp of the language. I was pleased to hear from the Spanish people that I could speak decently and I took heart from this.

After the party, we went down the pub and had a quick drink. It was a good night also because of all the new places I'd seen that day too.

That night made me feel that I'll get on really well here and I'll go far with the Spanish.