Emma is king at science student finals

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Physics student Emma King has made history at the "Oscars" of British science education, by becoming the first woman to win the prestigious title of Science, Engineering & Technology Student of the Year.

Emma's trophy was presented to her by Lord Sainsbury, Minister for Science and Innovation, on the evening of 14 September, at a magnificent gala dinner in the Great Hall of the London Guildhall.

Hundreds of key influencers from the worlds of business, government, academia and the media gathered to see Emma tasting the limelight for the first (but probably not the last) time in her career.

Her university supervisor, Professor Ed Copeland (CPES), looked on proudly as Emma received first the trophy for Best Physics Student of the Year and then the overall title, together with two cheques for £500 each.

The Science, Engineering & Technology Student of the Year Awards are Britain's most important awards for science and engineering undergraduates. First presented in 1998, they were created to meet a widely perceived need to raise the status of technology education.

The awards rounded off a spectacular summer for Emma, 22, who graduated from Sussex in July with the Roger Tayler prize for the highest marks in the Master of Physics degree. She also won the prize for the best final-year physics project, on scalar fields in cosmology.

In her project dissertation, Emma used ideas from particle physics to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding at an ever faster rate. "It involved lots and lots of algebra, and hours sitting in front of a computer," she said.

Emma will begin postgraduate studies this autumn at the University of Cambridge. "After that I would love to become an astronaut," she said. "But I don't think they'll let me in, because I get migraines."