I am a 20-year-old student from the UK. Normally I live just south of London, in the village of Ashtead near Epsom, the town famed for its eponymous Derby (horse races) and Salts (magnesium sulphate). Currently I am studying the second year of an Engineering degree at Trinity Hall, a college of the University of Cambridge. I finished school at Winchester College in southern England in July 2002.
Since finishing at school, I have taken part in the International Olympiads in Biology, in Latvia from the 7th to the 14th July, and Physics, in Bali from the 22nd to the 30th July (fortunately we left well before the dreadful events of October 2002; ironically, the IPhO had been moved from Java, a Muslim island, to Bali, a predominantly Hindu one, expressly to avoid any trouble). I was lucky enough to be awarded a gold medal in both competitions, finishing 2nd out of about 160 competitors in Biology and 23rd equal out of around 300 in Physics. I enjoyed both competitions immensely, mostly thanks to the extraordinarily wonderful people who constituted my teammates and co-competitors, and would recommend participation to anyone who might be given the opportunity to do so.
Then, from late September until late December, I was employed at WS Atkins, a multinational engineering consultancy firm whose headquarters are located in Epsom. I worked for Dr Piers Clark, the Director of Water R&TD, on some promising technologies for waste-water treatment (including the pumping applications of the Pursuit Dynamics PDX unit; see Pursuit Dynamics' website) and chemical fate modelling.
Following this I embarked on a trip around the world, stopping in Australia, Singapore, Thailand and India, about which I have written a separate account.
I am greatly enjoying my time at Cambridge. In the Part 1A Tripos Exams (the first-year exams) I came first out of about 300 engineering students, with an average of 95% across the four papers. I am currently Production Manager for Varsity, a student newspaper, and director of the Design Club's Icesub project.
As regards hobbies, I dabble in electronics and computer programming; I enjoy building robots, but they have mostly been made of Lego so far with the exception of Pentagoon. I collect minerals and obscure plants, and occasionally play the flute. I am attempting to learn to juggle so as to be able to hold my head up among other competitors in the Olympiads. I have also built a few websites, including for my father's consultancy and titanium jewellery businesses and Phlogiston, Winchester College's online scientific journal.
My parents are Jeremy Wyatt, Associate Director of R & D at the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in London; and Sylvia Wyatt, the project manager of the Future Healthcare Network of the UK's National Health Service. I have a sister, Jessica, who is two years younger than myself and currently on a Gap year herself. Our family homepage is at www.wyatts.me.uk