No Ordinary Woman
Cranfield alumna Nikki Woolmore is no ordinary woman. Following taking the Forensic Engineering and Science MSc and a PhD at Cranfield University Nikki landed a job as a ballistics specialist in the Defence Ordnance Safety Group for the Ministry of Defence. She is involved in a variety of exciting projects looking at every aspect of ordnance, munitions and explosives.
“Whilst at Cranfield I gained a wide experience in ballistics during my MSc and PhD. This has given me a great head start to my ballistic career“, she says. “My everyday work is always different and never boring. Who else gets to let off rounds and explosives on firing ranges across the world as part of their job!”
During her PhD Nikki was involved in modelling ballistic penetration and provided vital information on designing an efficient armour system to protect tanks and military vehicles against projectiles. From her research she gained much satisfaction from knowing that the outcome of the PhD could save lives.
But Nikki’s career route was never planned out. She actually started out with a physiology degree at the University of Wales. As part of the course she studied Alzheimer’s disease by carrying out behavioural work on mice and rats, but found she was allergic to rats! Unable to continue with this particular line of work, she looked around for a postgraduate course and hit upon forensics.“Do you remember Quincy?” she says. “That’s where my fascination for science really began to grow, taking science from the classroom and looking at its practical application.” Cranfield offered an excellent course in the subject and she graduated in 2000 with an MSc in Forensic Engineering and Science. “This was the turning point in my ballistic career,” she says. She continued her studies with Cranfield focusing on ballistics and explosives and completed her PhD in 2005. During the fourth year of the PhD she looked for a job in the field of forensics but turned down a few including a job involving urine sampling which didn’t quite match up with her particular interest in ballistics!
A recent Daily Mirror article described Nikki as a ‘real life Tank Girl’ and a ‘hot shot in defence’ and this couldn't be more true but she also has an enviably active social life including rally driving and drag-racing her 1967 Fastback Mustang. “I love being busy. If adrenaline did not exist I don’t think I would!” she says. “At the moment I'm building a 60ft wide beam boat with my partner to use as a second home.”
She is also passionate about encouraging more youngsters to take up science and engineering at school and beyond. “I joined NOISE (New Outlooks in Science and Engineering) in 2002. NOISE sets out to improve the perception of Science and Engineering among young people. We need to get pupils more engaged with science at school level by communicating its practical applications and how the work of scientists and engineers has a real impact on everyday life. It’s so important that we try to halt the puzzling trend for these areas to be unpopular among young people. Science and engineering studies are the route to a host of interesting job roles and it’s great to be part of a campaign like NOISE which shows school-age children how they can go on to really exciting careers.”
Nikki has also branched out into a TV career which took off after she appeared in a women’s team on Scrap Heap Challenge in 2003. She has now appeared in 11 of the shows, including road shows, and has recently been invited to film their 10 year anniversary programme which will be broadcast at the end of this year. Nikki has appeared in countless newspaper articles and on local radio shows. Her latest TV project for the National Geographic Channel, What Would Happen If? put her ballistic skills into action. It involved her testing everyday items to see if they could withstand the force of a bullet – including a camera, CD player, and even an iPod.“It was great to do something more lighthearted as a contrast to the serious side to my job,” she says.
Nikki is testament to how an academic career at Cranfield can lead not only to an exciting job role but open up all sorts of opportunities. “I am proud to be part of the Cranfield alumni. Cranfield paved the way for a fascinating career for me and my research degree has opened up doorways I never thought were possible,” she concludes.
Information about NOISE can be found at www.noisemakers.org.uk. Noise was created in 2000 and is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
The woman who is a hot shot in Defence - Daily Mirror
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