Earlier in the year, Tom Abbot’s entry to the NIWA Science and Technology Fair drew the attention of the judges resulting in two awards to be a ‘Scientist for a Day’ – firstly with the University of Auckland Physics Department and another day with Auckland Transport. Tom had designed a hypothetical crash barrier made from polystyrene and silicone gel that would have similar strength to a traditional concrete barrier but be less destructive to a vehicle crashing into it.

At the university, Tom, along with eight other prize winners, spent the day with an optical physicist looking at a variety of experiments including interference patterns and how they can be used to measure very tiny distances such as a hair’s width and how they affect the surface of a bubble. They also experimented with a miniature tornado created with a garden fogger, some PVC pipe and a pair of fans! Other activities included firing electro magnets, viewing a homemade seismograph made from a slinky and seeing the underground research labs using Bose Einstein Condensation and high powered lasers for research on fibre optic wires to try to make internet faster. The young visitors also had the chance to view results from large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland.

In a second outing, Tom was hosted by Auckland Transport, firstly receiving his certificate from COO, Greg Edmonds before catching a ferry to the North Shore to the Joint Transport Operations Centre (JTOC) to see how the traffic team deals with monitoring and operating the network. Tom was impressed by the size and number of monitors on display and was shown some examples of the situations they deal with.

His next stop was in New Lynn where he met with Senior Traffic Engineer, Earl Barretto, who showed him some examples of the type of engineering works that are carried out around schools as part of Auckland Transport’s Safe School Travel Plans. Next on his whirl-wind tour was the Wiri Train Depot where John Simpson from Transdev gave Tom a tour of the brand new depot and electrified trains. Tom even had a chance to try his hand at driving a train using a training simulator.

Tom’s day was organised and facilitated by Hayley Cooper and Samantha Wellington from the Community Transport Team. Tom thoroughly enjoyed the day and gained great insight into all the facets of work carried by Auckland Transport.

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