Dr. Shini Somara is a British mechanical engineer, media broadcaster and presenter. She is best known for presenting TechKnow on Al Jazeera America, reporting for various shows on the BBC such as The Health Show and No Kitchen Required and for hosting two educational series of physics and engineering videos on the Crash Course Youtube channel for PBS Digital Studios. She has been a presenter on BBC America, Sky Atlantic, BBC 1, BBC 2, and PBS.
Early life and education
Born and raised in London, Somara graduated from Henrietta Grammar School and began her mechanical engineering career in Brunel University London, completing a Bachelors of Engineering before moving onto an Engineering Doctorate, which she was awarded in 2002. Her doctoral thesis was Dynamic Thermal Modelling Using CFD. She also has a published paper in the International Journal of Ventilation titled "Transient Solution Methods for Dynamic Thermal Modelling within CFD". Her specialization was in Computational Fluid Dynamics, where computer simulations are used to visualize phenomena invisible to the naked eye. This enables engineers to understand airflows over objects. Somara got her inspiration from her father who was also a mechanical engineer. He moved to London from Sri Lanka to study at South Bank University, well known for engineering. This is where he met Somara’s mother whom he later married. After three years of marriage, Shini Somara was born as the eldest of four. Somara’s father ran a mechanical engineering consultancy for building services.
Career
In 2011, Somara’s media/broadcasting career had a kickstart when she presented on the BBC for The Health Show. The show covered developments in global health and included exclusive interviews with the world’s leading experts in health. Later in 2011, Somara began hosting No Kitchen Required which aired in 2012 on BBC America. The show involved three professional chefs immersing themselves in alternative culture with tribes and attempting to cook using unfamiliar tribal methods. The first season included trips to Dominica, New Zealand, Thailand and Fiji. Somara began on the talk showTechKnow on Al Jazeera America in 2013, which is a 30-minute show based on science and technology. It outlines innovations in technology and science and how they are changing lives of people in America. The shows are recorded with a group of contributors with backgrounds in science and technology. Between early 2015 and late 2016, Somara worked on several BBC productions, including Tomorrow’s Food, ’Battle of Jutland’ and ‘Orkney’ with Neil Oliver and Chris Packham. In early 2016, she also started working with PBS Digital Studios on Crash Course Physics. Crash Course is an online educational resource explaining complicated theories in a simple way with intuitive visuals. The Crash Course YouTube channel has over 9 million subscribers. Somara furthered her involvement with Crash Course in 2018 with a new series, Crash Course Engineering. Somara is currently working on more Crash Course videos and is still involved with TechKnow on Al Jazeera America. She is a mentor for mechanical engineering at Imperial College London. She has also launched her own podcast called ‘Scilence’. The podcast hears from women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths and what it is like to work in an industry dominated by males. Somara made a speech to the United Nations on 10 February 2017 about women and girls in STEM. She has also written an engineering book for younger readers called, An Engineer Like Me.
