Professor Valerie Randle. Materials engineer and professor at Swansea University

Swansea University

Swansea University is a university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Swansea University was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it changed its name to the University of Wales Swansea following structural changes...

 specialising in electron backscatter diffraction, grain boundary engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

. She was Welsh Woman of the Year

Welsh Woman of the Year

The Welsh Woman of the Year award was inaugurated in 1994 to honour high-achieving women in Wales. Its stated aim is "to promote the role women have in the workplace and in every sector of society"...

 in 1998. She has made significant contributions and publications in the field of grain boundary engineering. She has also published several books on the microstructure of materials.

Career

Valerie Randle entered Cardiff University

Cardiff University

Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...

 at the age of 27 to study chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

, she found that the metallurgy

Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...

 module sparked her interest in materials. She is now a professor working within the field of microstructure

Microstructure

Microstructure is defined as the structure of a prepared surface or thin foil of material as revealed by a microscope above 25× magnification...

 of materials at Swansea University

Swansea University

Swansea University is a university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Swansea University was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it changed its name to the University of Wales Swansea following structural changes...

.

Publications

- Introduction to Texture Analysis: Macrotexture, Microtexture and Orientation Mapping,

- The Measurement of Grain Boundary Geometry (Microscopy in Materials Science),

- Microtexture Determination and Its Applications,