Kilian Stenning

Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship

As part of Hitachi-GE's efforts to become more recognised in the UK, I undertook a 2 month internship in Japan where I used the thermohydraulic coding program MAAP to analyse the explosion event that took place in Unit 1 of the Fukushima plant in 2011. These results were presented to both the head engineers of the Hitachi plant, as well as the CEO of the nuclear energy department in Tokyo. My findings enhanced the understanding of the events that took place during the disaster and informed future strategic plans. I presented my results at the 2018 annual BWR conference at Bangor University.

I am currently undertaking a PhD studying collective phenomena in nanoscale magnetic meta-materials. The aim of this project is to develop novel magnetic substrates for use int he burgeoning fields of magnonics and neuromorphic computation. I am studying these systems using experimental techniques such as electron beam lithography, magnetic force microscopy and ferromagnetic resonance. Furthermore, I am performing micromagnetic simulations using Python, C++ and Bash as well as using commercial packages such as OOMMF and MuMax. I also undertake teaching in the form of lab demonstrating and supervision of undergraduate projects, a role which has developed my skills in communicating complex ideas.

During the course I have studied a wide range of Physics and Materials related topics including nuclear physics, quantum mechanics, C++ computing, radiation transport, reactor kinetics and superconductivity. I have also been involved in numerous labs and completed a research project on the irradiation of reactor pressure vessel steels. During my final year of my degree I studied the nature of the magnetic phase separation in a novel magnetic matieral (europium hexaboride) using small-angle neutron scattering and transport measurements. I have achieved excellent results throughout my degree and came top of my class in both second and third year.