A SCIENTIST from Stourport is spearheading a national campaign to encourage teenagers to follow in her footsteps.

Heather Tewkesbury, of Brindley Street, is one of eight ambassadors for NOISE - New Outlooks In Science and Engineering - who have exciting and successful careers in science or engineering.

Heather, a scientist with the Smith Institute, has been demonstrating the link between crumpets and mathematical equations. Scientist and mathematician Heather Tewkesbury.

"The ideal crumpet has lots of holes in the top, and these depend on how steam is used in the cooking method," she explained.

The trick is to generate steam in the right way - and that is where the equations come in.

The 27-year-old has also been involved in a project to ensure chocolate melts in your mouth, not anywhere else, and next year will be exploring how to integrate solar panels into clothes' fabric to power mobile phones on the move.

A former pupil of Stourport High School, she went to Glamorgan to take a degree in maths and later gained a PhD at Birmingham University.

Dr Tewkesbury was the ideal candidate to join eight other scientists promoting a new nation-wide initiative called "noise" - new outlooks in science and engineering - aimed at getting 16 to 19 year-olds interested in these fields.

Launched in London today, NOISE ambassadors will visit around schools and a new website will try to snare teenagers, and who could not be tempted by a career in chocolate?

"My PhD focussed on using maths to predict temperature distribution in chocolate, and was funded by Cadbury's," she explained.

"Afterwards, when I worked there for a few years, I was on the tasting panel. I love chocolate so it was great!"

Dr Tewkesbury now works from home for the Oxford-based Smith Institute which forges links between industry and academia.

"It helps UK companies and consumers reap the benefits of university research," she said.

And she not confining herself to food.

As well as mobile solar panels, tissue growth techniques are on the agenda in a job that takes her around the country and abroad.

She added: "We're trying to push the boundaries of science and technology forward."