UCD Student Scoops Prestigious European Award

Killian McKenna, a UCD PhD student from Dublin, and member of the UCD Engineering Graduates Association Board, has fought off competition from students from across Europe to win a prestigious European award in Berlin.

Killian, who is representing the all-island electricity sector at a European level, was awarded the 2015 EURELECTRIC Student Award. At the official award ceremony in Berlin, he presented his winning submission to the 400 delegates.

 

Pat O'Doherty, ESB Chief Executive, Killian McKenna, and Hans ten Berge, Secretary General of EURELECTRIC - the European Electricity Association 

Aged 25 and from Glenageary, Killian was chosen as the Electricity Association of Ireland (EAI) entrant for this year’s Award. It followed his success in the national competition sponsored by ESB in which students from Northern Ireland and Ireland participated.

Entrants to the European stage of the competition were invited to submit an essay with the title ‘Dinosaurs of the past or innovators of the future? Designing digital strategies for electricity companies to engage domestic customers.’ An expert panel judged Killian’s entry to be the overall winner from among those entered across Europe.

EAI Chief Executive Owen Wilson said: “We’re delighted to see Killian win this award. It’s a wonderful recognition of the standard of young graduates on the island, on a par with those across Europe. Delivering sustainable energy is critical for the future of all our economies and the environment and it’s wonderful that we have a new generation of people, like Killian, with the knowledge and enthusiasm to help solve some of the many challenges facing the industry.”

Killian, a PhD student at the Electricity Research Centre at University College Dublin (UCD), said: “I’m thrilled to receive this award. It’s a real pleasure to represent my island and our electricity industry in Europe. I’ve found the whole experience extremely thought provoking and enjoyable. I’ll be leaving Berlin with lots of ideas, which I hope to be able to apply to my own research.”

ESB Chief Executive, Pat O’Doherty added: “I would like to congratulate Killian on winning this coveted award. We at ESB are immensely proud to see such talent from Ireland being recognised on the international stage. The 2015 EURELECTRIC Student Award is just the beginning for Killian and we wish him enormous success in his career.”

Introducing the award Hildegarde Mueller, Secretary General of the German electricity industry association said “the finalists today are the future of the industry. They will provide the innovative solutions to the challenges of delivering a sustainable, secure and affordable energy supply”.

EURELECTRIC is the sector association which represents the common interests of the electricity industry at a pan-European level. EAI is the representative body for the electricity sector operating within the Single Electricity Market (SEM) on the island of Ireland. 

Killian’s own research looks at the potential impacts for the distribution network of customers taking greater control over their electricity demand.

It Really Is Going to Be an Electric Picnic After All!

The UCD Engineers Picnic is fast becoming a real Electric Picnic with the generous sponsorship by ESB, Eircom and Eirgrid - lots of electricity there by the electrical, electronic and communications utilities! Thank you sincerely ESB, Eircom and Eirgrid for relieving our worries after our brave EGA Picnic Committee slashed the ticket prices from €40 to €20 per head to encourage as many young engineering graduates to attend as possible.

There's more exciting Electric news and that's the Engineering Exhibition on Smart Grids and Interconnection to UK and Europe which will be displayed by the Energy Needs Ireland (ENI) students under Professor Mark O'Malley of the UCD Electricity Research Centre (ERC).



Energy Needs Ireland at work



Added to that will be quality BBQ food by highly reputable caterers and a music medley by a combination of TradSoc and Jazzsoc, both of UCD, running from 4pm to 9pm - all in the ambiance of the UCD Rose Garden.

Book your ticket now here and see you in the Rose Garden. All are welcome not just UCD grads!

New UCD Engineers Newsletter launched by EGA

A new Engineers eNewsletter has been launched by the UCD Engineering Graduates Association to keep Members and potential New Members fully informed on happenings in UCD and in Engineering in general.

The first Summer Edition dated July 2013 is available (here). Its up to date on all the main stories from the New UCD President, our latest Distinguished Graduate Award and of course the upcoming Engineers Picnic BBQ in the Rose Garden later this month. Don't forget to book the Picnic online on the EGA website homepage (here)! There's also a call to join the EGA at reduced cost (here)!



EGA Newsletter

The new Editor of the Engineers Newsletter is Dr. Ciaran McNally of the UCD Civil Structural and Environmental School. Ciaran has put together a superb e-publication in a short space of time. It is hoped to issue the Newsletter quarterly in July, October, January and April of each year. Members of the EGA are invited to contribute Articles, Letters to the Editor and Opinions directly to Editor Ciaran.

Editor Dr. Ciaran McNally

I would like to thank Dr. Liam Madden, Vice President Xilinx Corp in Silicon Valley, California. Also, EGA Board Members, Cormac Mannion for his piece on Energy Efficiency and Angela Treanor for publicising the Picnic also through Facebook. I've mentioned it myself on Twitter (@PJRudden) a number of times. The administration of the Picnic is now in the very capable hands of Karina O'Neill, Marketing Manager for the College of Engineering and Architecture assisted by Robyn Kelly on Entertainment and Tony O'Brien on Sponsorship. Karina, Robyn and Tony are also on the EGA Board.

I hope you enjoy the Engineers Newsletter which will keep up updated on what the EGA are doing. The idea of restarting the Newsletter came to me from a very informative meeting I had earlier in the year with 6 EGA Past Presidents - Tom Hardiman, Des Green, Liam Connellan, Colm Bannon, Tony O'Brien and Michael Loughnane - together with the UCD Dean of Engineering Gerry Byrne.

EGA Strategy Gathers Momentum

Over the past month the EGA Board have been debating the elements of the new Strategy 2013 under 4 broad headings - Education, Membership, Finance and Marketing. Board Subcommittees were set up for the 4 areas under the Chairs of Peter Brabazon, Michael Loughnane, Tony O'Brien and Karina O'Neill respectively.

UCD EGA Strategy

Each member of the Board had a role on at least one Subcommittee. This worked quite well. I am very grateful to the entire Board for the time, energy, innovation and enthusiasm that each member brought to the reports of the Subcommittees.

An integrated Draft Strategy based on these 4 elements will be brought to the May Board Meeting for consideration and adoption. The most radical change to the EGA approach is the focus on the quality of Education in the broadest sense. This will be our primary future role to assist the UCD College of Engineering to realise its place as one of the leading Engineering Schools in Europe.

Driving this ambition is the new 5 year Masters of Engineering (ME) in Biosystems, Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering in accordance with the Bologna European Agreement which will confirm our graduates as among the best in Europe.

To support this ambitious role a new Membership and Funding Plan will introduced on a phased basis over the next year to hopefully give us many new members backed up by a new Marketing Plan to help realise the new approach.

At the April meeting we also elected a new Board Member to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Past President Simon Kelly. We thank Simon for his active Presidency over two terms and wish him good health and success in the years ahead.

Cormac Mannion

The new Board Member is Cormac Mannion who is Energy Efficiency Manager with Energia. Cormac graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 1997 and was awarded an MEngSc in 2000. For the past 5 years he has been working with Energia with overall responsibility for their Energy Services Division. Prior to joining Energia, Cormac worked in Intel and at Littelfuse in Dundalk.

At our April meeting we also finalised arrangements for the Annual Lecture in Belfield on May 8th next at 7pm and the Annual Lunch and presentation of the 2013 Distinguished Graduate Award at the National Concert Hall on June 13th.

We also settled on 'Ceili na hInnealtoiri' as our Gathering Event in late August. We hope to attract home for a week or even a weekend the many engineers who departed our shores over the past five years or more to seek employment in UK, Australia, Canada, US and mainland Europe. We appointed a Subcommittee of Robyn Kelly, Tony O'Brien, Karina O'Neill and Chaired by Angela Treanor. They will meet shortly to select a date and venue for the Ceili event. Already the soundings from graduates I've spoken to on this totally social event are excellent. So we have a busy year ahead.