EGA Gold Medal Ceremony honours Outstanding Graduates

Monday September 5th was Conferring Day for UCD College of Engineering and Architecture. Earlier that day the Engineering Graduates Association (EGA) co-hosted our Gold Medal Ceremony for Outstanding Graduates in each discipline with the UCD Architecture Graduates Association.

There was a record attendance this year of 123 including 91 students and their families, 19 sponsors and 11 UCD academics.  It was especially the start of a very proud day for the awarded students, their parents and families. It was also the first year where we saw Gold Medals presented exclusively to 5 yr Masters students in accordance with revised requirements by Engineers Ireland for Chartered Engineers in Ireland.

Gold Medals were awarded for the highest marks in the Masters (ME or MArch) Degree to Roisin McHugh (MArch) for Architecture, Minjie Lu for Civil Engineering, Caitlin McDonnell for Structural Engineering with Architecture, Art O'Connor for Chemical Engineering, Muyang Liu for Electrical Engineering, Gerald Murphy for Electronic Engineering, Robert Brennan for Biomedical Engineering, Keith O'Donovan for Mechanical Engineering, Michael Murphy for Biosystems Engineering and Christopher Bohane for Engineering with Business.

Gold Medalists
Front Row: Muyang Liu (Electrical Engineering), Gerard Murphy (Electronic Engineering), Anna McHugh, mother of Rosin McHugh (Architecture), Caitlin McDonnell (Structural Engineering with Architecture), Michael Murphy (Biosystems Engineering).  Back Row: Art O'Connor (Chemical Engineering), Keith O'Donovan (Mechanical Engineering), Minjie Liu (Civil Engineering), Christopher Bohane (Engineering with Business) and Robert Brennan (Biomedical) with EPA President PJ Rudden and Dean of Engineering Professor David FitzPatrick

The companies who sponsored Gold Medals were Arup, RPS, BMS, SSE Electricity, S3, Crospon, CRH, FDT and Abbvie to whom both UCD and the EGA are extremely grateful.

Mary Moran Director of Manufacturing Science and Technology at Bristol Myers Squib (BMS)
presents EGA Gold Medal in Chemical Engineering to Art O'Connor

Padraic Brennan RPS Regional Director presents EGA Gold Medal
in Civil Engineering to Minjie Lu

Ronan Brady Head of Marketing and Digital at SSE Electricity presents
EGA Gold Medal in Electrical Engineering to Muyang Liu

Mike  Murray Manager of Semiconductor Solutions Business Unit at S3
 presents EGA Gold Medal in Electronic Engineering to Gerald Murphy

                        

                                        Prof David Fitzpatrick Dean and Principal UCD College of Engineering and Architecture presents the
                                        EGA Gold Medal in Biomedical  Engineering on behalf of John O'Dea CEO of Crospon to Robert Brennan

Eimear O'Flynn CRH Group Corporate Affairs presents EGA Gold Medal
in Mechanical Engineering to Keith O'Donova

Michael Clancy Director of FDT Consulting Engineers and Project Managers Ltd presents the EGA Gold Medal in Biosystems Engineering to Michael Murphy

There was a large number of other prizes presented also by sponsors Roughan O'Donovan, Pat McAdam Scholarship and Travel Bursary, PM Group Kevin Kelly Design Award, Carthy Research Project and Travel Award, Deloitte Masters in Engineering Management Medal, Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) Awards, Cylon Awards for Excellence in Electrical and Electronic Engineering Projects and the James G. Lacy Award for Project Excellence in ME Programmes sponsored by Dr Liam Madden of Xilinx.

            

                                                                David Hearn Managing Partner Deloitte presents Dylan Nolan with                                                
                    Deloitte Masters in Engineering Management Medal

Paul Dillon Republic of Ireland branch of Institution of Mechanical Engineers
presents Certificate for Best Student to Benjamin Mangan

Karen Moloney presents Cylon Excellence 

Award in Electrical Engineering to Michael Heslin

Alice Brennan winner of Pat McAdam Scholarship to US Colorado School
of Mines with Sponsor Martin McAdam

Alex Sweeney Process Group Manager PM Group with winner of Kevin Kelly
Design Award Amy O'Keeffe with parents

Husband and wife winner team in Electrical Engineering Junra Chen (winner James G. Lacy Award
sponsored by Liam Madden of Xilinx) and Munyang Liu (Gold Medal) with UCD
Professor Emeritus James Lacy and Professor of Electronic Engineering Dr Tom Brazil

The recipient graduates for these awards were Daniel Keating, Niamh MacPherson, Alice Brennan, Katie Kilcoyne, Amy O'Keeffe, Art O'Connor, Stephen Jones, William Denning, Dylan Nolan, Benjamin Mangan, Joseph Eftamandilos, Stephen Duke, James Farrell, Jordan Pendleton, Michael Heslin and Jenru Chen.

Louise Clarke Senior Talent Acquistion Specialist with Abbvie with winner of
Abbvie Achievement Award in Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering Practice

This event was a tremendous celebration of Engineering and Architecture with very talented new graduates emerging into the Irish growth economy where engineers continue to be in great demand.

UCD Engineering is also in greater demand nationally this year where the average Leaving Certificate CAO points for entry was at 560 in addition to Grade C or greater in Leaving Certificate Honours Mathematics.

There is a particular shortage of students opting for Civil Engineering still impacting from the construction recession in Ireland since 2008 and now only slowly growing again. A further real concern is the low gender balance in engineering, though it was up at 27% for last year's UCD entrants.

Prizewinners in Civil Engineering Daniel Keating (Roughan O'Donovan Prize, Caitlin McDonnell (EGA Gold Medal in Structural Engineering
sponsored by Arup), Minjie Lu (EGA Gold Medal in Civil Engineering sponsored by RPS) and EGA President P.J. Rudden

The EGA together with Engineers Ireland continue to promote the importance of STEM subjects in all secondary schools leading to careers in Engineering and Science. The lower numbers of female engineers is a tremendous loss to the Irish economy in creative talent in a profession which is a real driver of economic growth and offers very rewarding and challenging careers.