Profile
Dave Cornwell
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About Me:
I’m from South Wales but I now live in Aberdeen, Scotland, with my wife and two daughters. I love studying earthquakes, running (two marathons so far), watching football, and heavy metal music.
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I’m also a type 1 diabetic and am part-robot as I use an insulin pump and blood glucose monitor to help me live a normal life. I love to travel and explore new parts of the world.
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My pronouns are:
he/him
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My Work:
I study earthquakes and use them to make images of the inside of the Earth. I’m a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen and teach students about geophysics.
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I travel around the world to bury seismometers in the ground, then collect and process their ground shaking data to understand how earthquakes work and where they could happen.
I teach students at all University levels about geophysics, which is a subject that includes volcanoes, earthquakes, tectonic plates, magnetism, gravity, hazards, floods, landslides, geothermal, wind-power, imaging, etc.!
I also do a lot of outreach and have given lots of talks about earthquakes to nurseries, Brownies, schools, and science fairs. -
My Typical Day:
I wake up, check my blood sugar levels (diabetes), then have toast for breakfast and tea. I take my daughters to school then go to the University to teach students in a practical class or hands-on demonstration.
I usually have a quick sandwich for lunch, then in the afternoon I can be sitting at my computer processing data to make new Earth images, or writing up the results. -
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But no two days are the same. I could be travelling to the USA for a meeting to present a talk on my results, or marking a pile of exam papers, or attending one of many University meetings (yawn), or meeting with my research group, or fixing one of my geophysics tools.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would buy a Raspberry Shake seismometer and run a competition for a local school to win it so they could use it to record earthquakes and monitor environmental noise. It would be part of the network of ‘citizen seismometers’ that we are developing across Scotland.
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Education:
I went to a village primary school in South Wales then to a large comprehensive school in Bridgend. I was interested in Maths and Sciences, but also loved Business Studies, English, Drama, and Music, and played the trumpet at school. I chose ‘A’ levels in Maths, Physics, and Geology after being inspired by a Geography teacher to study volcanoes and earthquakes. I did German too, but quickly dropped it as it was much too hard!
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Qualifications:
9 GCSEs, 3 A levels
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Work History:
I worked part-time before and all through University, so have done a lot of different casual jobs: bar work, paper boy, village shop, geophysical contractor, vacuum cleaner salesman, water engineer, teaching assistant, chef/dishwasher, childminder, door security, volunteer for science (US Geological Survey), pub DJ, farm contractor, dry stone wall builder, plumber’s mate.
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Current Job:
Senior Lecturer in Geophysics
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Employer:
University of Aberdeen
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
heavy metal seismologist
What did you want to be after you left school?
Some kind of Earth or environmental scientist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Talking too much and always late
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Teacher or self-employed surveyor
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Anything with a lot of shouting (e.g. Killswitch Engage or Bleed From Within)
What's your favourite food?
Cheese
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1. Diabetes cured; 2. Liverpool champions; 3. Expert drummer
Tell us a joke.
What do you call a man with a seagull on his head? Cliff.
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