Brandon O’Connell

27, Research Associate - Structural Dynamics, Data Analysis & Machine Learning @sheffielduni, views all mine, (he/him)

[Brandon O’Connell @BrandonOCo]

@MartinSLewis @itvMLshow what happens if I leave my role with a defined benefit pension (the USS university pension) and move to a company with a different pension scheme? #martinlewis

[Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @NYCMayor]

Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.

[Oli Dugmore @OliDugmore]

The combined tuition fees of the entire Question Time panel would not cover my cost for 1 year of uni.

Is that fair?

[Brandon O’Connell @BrandonOCo]

@BBCNewsnight @MartinSLewis @MartinSLewis so thank you for speaking out on this issue! It has so many problems and I think we’ve only scratched the surface! (3)

[Brandon O’Connell @BrandonOCo]

@BBCNewsnight @MartinSLewis I completed my degree 2015-2020 and now my debt is ~£85000. I did an engineering PhD 2020-2024, so didn’t earn enough to repay. I now work in research at a university and barely pay anything off the loan each month given my salary. (1)

[Brandon O’Connell @BrandonOCo]

@BBCNewsnight @MartinSLewis @MartinSLewis I find it crazy that, like myself and others, researchers in academia are not paid enough to pay off the interest, but also that as someone who is putting back into the HE system there isn’t some relief for our loans. Same goes for those in the NHS too! (2) …

[BBC Newsnight @BBCNewsnight]

“I do not think this is a moral thing for you to do...”

Martin Lewis shares his message to Chancellor Rachel Reeves on her decision to freeze the threshold at which graduates begin to repay their student loans.

#Newsnight

[Brandon O’Connell @BrandonOCo]

#MartinLewis Thank you for standing up for students! Another major issue is the PhD stipend in the Uk. Which, if adjusted for tax, works out less than the current living wage! How can the government talk about wanting quality research but pay its future researchers so little!!

[Emily Qureshi-Hurst @emilyqureshihurst.bsky.social @equreshihurst]

My job as a research fellow at one of the world's best universities (a requirement of which is a doctorate) pays less than this and so, on this definition, I am an unskilled worker who wouldn't be allowed into the country. This system is utterly ridiculous..

[Brandon O’Connell @BrandonOCo]

@SciTechgovuk

[Brandon O’Connell @BrandonOCo]

@UKRI_News @EPSRC @GOVUK @LiviWageUK following the announced rise in Living Wage, as a Doctoral researcher working in a top UK institution and studying for a PhD in Engineering, the PhD stipend now works out to be ~£2500 less per year than the national living wage 1/2

[Brandon O’Connell @BrandonOCo]

2/2 how is the UK expected to attract top talent to its higher education institutions to pioneer its top research across all fields if we barely pay our researchers a salary that is comparable to industry and even comparable to the supposed living wage!?

[Brandon O’Connell @BrandonOCo]

She has, repeatedly, been on hold for over an hour attempting to get through your phone lines. It should not be this difficult to make a change, especially when one of our exemptions has ended and now we’re due to pay council tax!! 2/2

[Brandon O’Connell @BrandonOCo]

@SheffCouncil Over the last few days my partner has, on multiple occasions, attempted to phone your council tax office to amend our circumstances, as apparently it is not possible, or at least not clear to make such changes, using your online system. 1/2

[Andrew Côté @Andercot]

National Lab (LBNL) results support LK-99 as a room-temperature ambient-pressure superconductor.

Simulations published 1 hour ago on arxiv support LK-99 as the holy grail of modern material science and applied physics.
(https://t.co/UOOtDlx3eE)

Here's the plain-english explanation:
- The simulations modeled what the original Korean authors proposed was happening to their material - where copper atoms were percolating into a crystal structure and replacing lead atoms, causing the crystal to strain slightly and contract by 0.5%. This unique structure was proposed to allow this amazing property.

- @sineatrix from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab simulated this using heavy-duty compute power from the Department of Energy, and looked to see what would happen to the 'electronic structure' of this material, meaning, what are the available conduction pathways in the material.

- It turns out that there are conduction pathways for electrons that are in just the right conditions and places that would enable them to 'superconduct'. More specifically, they were close to the 'Fermi Surface' which is like the sea-level of electrical energy, as in '0 ft above sea-level.' It's believed currently that the more conduction pathways close to the Fermi surface, the higher the temperature you can superconduct at (An analogy might be how its easier for planes to fly close to the surface of the ocean due to the 'ground effect' that gives them more lift.)

This plot in particular shows the 'bands', or electron pathways, crossing above and below the Fermi surface.

- Lastly, these interesting conduction pathways only form when the copper atom percolates into the less likely location in the crystal lattice, or the 'higher energy' binding site. This means the material would be difficult to synthesize since only a small fraction of crystal gets its copper in just the right location.

This is insanely bullish for humanity.

[Sheffield Wednesday @swfc]

WE'VE DONE IT! WE ARE GOING UP!!!!!!

[BBC Yorkshire @BBCLookNorth]

Sheffield Wednesday pulled off the greatest play-off comeback in English Football League history. https://t.co/hv8bg5GsBW

[Brandon O’Connell @BrandonOCo]

WAWAW 🦉🔵⚪️🦉🎉🎉🎉

[Sheffield Wednesday @swfc]

WE BELIEVED!!!!!