School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Caterpillar NI Engineering Summer Programme (19-23 August 2013)

Thirty-four Year 14 pupils from local schools and colleges participated in a week-long summer programme at Queen’s University, designed to offer an insight into studying Engineering at university.  The programme, organised by Queen’s Widening Participation Unit and Caterpillar NI, included workshops and presentations on both Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, a Training Day at Caterpillar NI SWE (Simulated Work Environment) and a range of talks on Studying Engineering at QUB, Making UCAS applications and Career Opportunities in Engineering.

This year’s Mechanical Engineering challenge was the competitive Paper Towers Challenge, with the group divided into teams battling to construct a tower, made from paper and adhesive tape, to support a mass of 1kg at a height of 1m above its base.  The aim of the exercise was to introduce aspiring engineers to the problems and challenges in structural design through experimentation.  A time of 1 hour was allocated to design and construct their towers.   Each team was required to demonstrate the ability to satisfy these criteria, with all towers loaded and weighed in the presence of all participants, immediately following the construction period.

Congratulations to the winning teams.  

Top of Page

Ireland Canada University Foundation (ICUF) Dobbin Scholarship Awarded to Roisin McConnell

Roisin McConnell who is in the first year of her PhD in the school, has been selected by the Board of the ICUF to receive The Sir George Quigley Memorial Bursary generously sponsored by Bombardier Aerospace.  This bursary valued at €4,200, is one of several ICUF Scholarships which fund visits of up to four weeks to benefit the recipient’s research, establish new or build on existing academic links between Canada and Ireland and provide the opportunity for the development of ongoing links in their research area.  The awards are designed principally for scholars and academics who are either beginning or are currently engaged at graduate level research in a discipline which is, or has potential to be, related to both Ireland and Canada.

Roisin’s PhD is entitled ‘Immersive VR Environments for Spatial Design in Aerospace Product Development’. She will use the bursary to travel to Bombardier Aerospace in Canada to develop her PhD and validate her research which has a desktop, immersive virtual reality system at its core.  Her project is an important strand of the ongoing research in the Aerospace and Manufacturing cluster where her work will build capability and understanding around the question of how multi-national collaborative design and manufacturing programmes can reduce costs and improve quality levels. This linkage between design and manufacture remains a major challenge within industry where virtual environments and tools remain underutilised in day to day engineering development tasks.

The bursary presents an excellent opportunity for Roisin to present her work to an international audience - she is looking forward to her trip!!  Her Phd is jointly supervised by Dr Joe Butterfield and Prof Mark Price (School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) and Dr Karen Rafferty (School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science).  For more information contact: j.butterfield@qub.ac.uk.

Top of Page

Green Impact Award for PPRC

Building on last year's success in gaining a Bronze award, PPRC earned a Silver Award in the national environmental accreditation and award scheme run by the National Union of Students.

Working across UK students’ unions, universities and colleges and community organisations, Green Impact supports departments to make simple, tangible and powerful changes in behaviour and policy. From recycling, to investing in more efficient equipment, to encouraging biodiversity, or Fairtrade, the various criteria cover a broad range of issues under the sustainability umbrella.

Photograph shows some of the 48 QUB award winners including William Courtney (middle row, 5th from left) who received the award on behalf of PPRC.

For further details of the scheme visit http://www.green-impact.org.uk/

Top of Page

Aero Graduate Wins Place on ISU’s Prestigious Summer Space Program

Follow the blog of Sinead O'Sullivan at http://sc-osullivan.com/blog/

We are sponsoring her in her adventures in the International Space University (ISU) this summer before she embarks on a PhD at Georgia Tech.

The International Space University (ISU) is headquartered in Strasbourg, France (pictured right). This is where Sinead will be living during June, July and August.

She will be attending the ISU's prestigious Summer Space Program, where she will be attending interdisciplinary lectures and working on a joint research project. She will be living with over 100 international professional space lovers, all focused on research in space related science.

She has received full funding for the trip and project from the UK Space Agency, European Space Agency and her alma mater Queen's University Belfast.

"The support I have received from all of the agencies/institutions involved has been incredible. Not to mention the support of friends and family! I am hoping to keep up to date with all of my activities over the next few months through this blog - so keep reading."

Top of Page