Profiles

Dr Nicole Rockliff is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Engineering at the University of Surrey in Guildford.

Dr Rockliff has led the Headstart course at Surrey University for the last 7 Years, but has been involved with Headstart for closer to 10 years: receiving her B.Sc (Hons) degree in Applied Mathematics form the University of Adelaide (Australia) in 1974, she continued her studies at Cambridge University and achieved a PhD in Applied Mathematics in 1981. This was followed by two years working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow within the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Bristol, followed by a further two years as a Senior Research Associate within the School of Mathematics and Physics at the University of East Anglia.

Prior to taking up her lecturing post at the University of Surrey in 1989, Dr Rockliff worked as a lecturer at both Plymouth Polytechnic and at the University of Southampton.

Her main research interests are in the areas of mathematical and computational fluid dynamics, with applications particularly in environmental flows and bluff body flows.

Dr Rockliff is also committed to delivering high quality teaching to undergraduate and post-graduate students, mainly in the areas of engineering mathematics, fluid mechanics and numerical methods.

Professional Memberships include:

• Fellow - Institute of Mathematics & its Applications (FIMA); C.Math.
• Member - Women's Engineering Society (WES).

Professional Activities include:

• Trustee - Engineering Development Trust. (Headstart's Parent Organisation).
• Trustee - Verena Holmes Lecture Fund.
• Associate Dean - The Education Liaison Centre, University of Surrey.
• President - Women's Engineering Society, (2000 -2001).

As an accomplished and respected engineer, Dr Rockliff has had many of her papers and articles published. Listed below are a few of recent publications: 

• Lo SH, Voke PR , Rockliff NJ . Eddy Structures in a Simulated Low Reynolds Number Turbulent Boundary Layer. Flow Turbulence and Combustion, 2000, 64, pp1-28.
• Lo SH , Voke PR , Rockliff NJ . Three-Dimensional Vortices of a Spatially Developing Plane Jet. Intern. Journal Fluid Dynamics, 2000, Volume 4, article 1
• Rockliff NJ , Steggel NEJ . The Effect of After-Body Geometry on the Vortex- Shedding Characteristics of Bluff Bodies. In: Thompson MC, Hourigan K ed. Thirteenth Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. Clayton, Australia:Monash University, 1998, pp881-884.
• N Rockliff "To be - or not to be - an engineer?" Careers Adviser (Summer issue), 1998.
• N. Steggel & N.J. Rockliff "Simulation of the effects of body shape on lock-in characteristics in pulsating flows by the discrete vortex method". J. Wind Eng. & Industr. Aero., 69-71, pp 317-329 (1997).
• N Rockliff "Engineering IS for girls" Which Course, 27(1), p49 (1997).
• N Rockliff "Engineering Firm Foundations" School Leaver 27(5), pp 14 -15 (1997).

Activities outside the University include tireless work for the Women's Engineering Society (WES), where Dr Rockliff has been a Council member for 12 years and has held a variety of posts and offices. Major achievements and responsibilities, apart for steering the Society as an Executive member and President for a number of years, include:

• Putting in place the Karen Burt Memorial award for an outstanding newly-qualified woman Chartered Engineer
• Managing and successfully fund-raising for the WES Lady Finniston Hardship Awards for women entering degree courses in engineering
• Organising the Daphne Jackson Memorial Lecture with the IEE for several years.

Dr Rockliff has written a number of articles and given many presentations at a range of events on women in engineering. In 2003, she was awarded an Isabel Hardwich Award for services to WES and its aims.

Despite having a busy schedule Dr Rockliff has a broad range of interests including: swimming, reading, walking, attending classical music concerts and the opera.