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Profile
PhD candidate Karoline Osnes is quite the opposite of
Laura Wingfield in “The Glass Menagerie”. The character in
Tennessee Williams’ classic play spends time polishing and
arranging her collection of little glass animals. Karoline Osnes
takes professional pleasure in breaking glass. Not only that;
she studies the process in great detail. The aim of her PhD is
to describe the characteristics of glass and laminated glass as
precisely as possible.
There is another contrast as well: Laura Wingfield is shy and
isolates herself in her room. Karoline Osnes is a lively and
including participant in any social setting. Her laughter is
audible from far away.
NEW TOPIC
Osnes is very much aware that her PhD work is being followed
with considerable interest. When SFI SIMLab decided to direct
their attention towards anti-terror just months prior to the
attack on 22 July 2011, they showed almost spooky foresight.
Since then, the labs at NTNU have been even better equipped
for what Osnes is concentrating on. The new shock tube will
play a central part in her experimental work.
While glass wasn’t a research topic for CASA’s predecessor
SIMLab, the inclusion of the new material is particularly
interesting for the Ministry of Local Government and
Modernisation; one of CASA’s new partners. They are
responsible for building the new government administration
in Oslo.
CAR MAKERS EAGER TO KNOW
“Due to micro cracks, glass will behave differently in each
blast although the impact is the same. I will try to capture
this behaviour in the numerical models I plan to develop and
validate. I want to describe the fragmentation and, in the case
of laminated glass, the interaction with polymers,” Osnes
explains.
At the same time, the generic nature of research comes
through: several of CASA’s partners in the automotive industry
quickly signalled their interest. It is no wild guess that there
will be more PhD work on glass in the eight years ahead.
AN ARTIST LOST
Osnes’ way into breaking glass was not a given. Growing up
in a town southwest of Trondheim she can only remember one
related incident: she accidentally broke a mirror.
As a youngster, she enjoyed painting and drawing and wanted
to be an artist. However, she was also good at maths. In the
end, she decided that an engineering career might be a safer
livelihood.
Her joining up with NTNU’s SIMLab happened rather by
accident: a friend had heard about it and she decided to go for
it when she got a chance to do a student project there.
She went on to write her master’s thesis in the same place,
studying what happens to a floating tunnel exposed to an
internal explosion. The subject has great interest in Norway,
since Parliament has decided to build a ferry-free highway
along the west coast from Kristiansand in the far south
to Trondheim in Mid-Norway. This implies crossing the
Sognefjord, which is too deep for a conventional tunnel and 3.7
kilometres wide at the crossing point. A floating tunnel is one
of the options under consideration.
DROPPED CONSULTANCY
After finishing her masters’ degree, Karoline Osnes landed a job
with a well-known Norwegian engineering consultancy. Then,
before she had even started, she received an email.
“Professor Tore Børvik invited me to a meeting in his office.
Flattered by the invitation, I accepted. When I got there, CASA
Director Magnus Langseth was present as well. They wanted
me to consider going for a PhD. We didn’t talk for very long,
but there was something in their message that triggered me.
Something along the line of “This is a kind of chance you
only get once”, and “Nobody who takes a PhD ever regrets”.
It made me think “This is a bigger challenge than I’ll get at
the consultancy”. So here I am, without having tried the
alternative,” she says.
PART OF THE BUNCH
“And now, three months into your PhD work, have you had
moments of regret?”
“No. There have been times when I have asked myself if I made
the right choice, but I’m confident that I would have regretted
it if I hadn’t joined.”
“At the moment, you are the only female PhD candidate at
SIMLab. Does that bother you?”
“Not at all. I feel as much part of the bunch as everyone
else. It wasn’t a surprise to me now, but when I started on
my master’s thesis I was struck by the good atmosphere.
SIMLab has a well-earned fame for that, in addition to the high
qualifications. People are very open, I always feel I can ask and
people always take time to answer. It’s a great place to be!”
Are you listening, Laura Wingfield? And bring your unicorn.
Judging by industry and public interest in her subject, Karoline Osnes has brilliant prospects.
In a few years she will know more about the behaviour of glass in explosions than most people on the planet.
The
GLASS
Manager