Engineering, education, acoustic emission and speed

I was into speed early! My dad had a garage. I was the third of his four daughters - he hoped for a child who’d share his interests in cars and football! He took us to Silverstone, I helped in the garage: engineering was in my blood. Right now I don’t drive anything fast, but I did enter the Formula Woman series, and instigated Formula Student as part of the engineering curriculum at Cardiff University.

I was good at maths and physics and studied mechanical engineering at UWIST, Cardiff.  I was sponsored by Rolls-Royce Bristol and worked for them before going on to a PhD.  I then became a senior engineer at AB Electronic, managing mostly automotive projects. In 1990 I was offered a one year contract with Cardiff University and nearly 20 years later, I still love it!

I never intended to be an academic. But I particularly enjoy working with young people. I teach, I do research and consultancy work, and have management roles as well, for instance leading a research institute. My research area is acoustic emission, with a focus on structures such as bridges and aerospace components. We detect stress waves at the component surface emitted from internal damage; hence we can characterise the faults. Problems can be identified before catastrophic failure, so bridges can be repaired and kept open, saving money and possibly lives.

I am Chair of Equality and Diversity for the Engineering Department. On 18 June we are having a conference for all engineering researchers, with a special networking session for women. We hope that by linking up from time to time there will less isolation, more support and advice on offer. We want to raise the profile of the women engineering researchers at Cardiff University and their achievements. I’d love to hear some feedback from women involved – or anyone running a similar scheme!

I have two children, aged 7 and 11, who both get involved with lots of activities. People wonder how I fit it all in, but the more I take on the more I get done, and I have great support from my husband of course. Finally, my latest venture is coaching an under 8s football team. It’s great! Before you ask – it’s all boys right now, but perhaps having a female coach will encourage girls to join.

Professor Karen Holford is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer working in the School of Engineering at Cardiff University. She is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and member of the Institute of Physics. She is a trustee of the Engineering Education Scheme in Wales and also is a member of several editorial boards and conference committees.  In August she will be presenting a keynote lecture at DAMAS 2009 in Beijing. In 2006 she was named Welsh Woman of the Year  in Science and Technology, and in 2007 she won the WISE Excellence Award for ‘personal contribution to engineering and a long-term commitment to supporting girls and young women in science and engineering’.