IET: Outstanding postgraduate students awarded scholarships

Postgraduate students from Cambridge, Oxford, Strathclyde and Manchester have been honoured with prestigious scholarships from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

The scholarships are part of the IET awards and scholarships programme, which provides £200,000 each year to support young people in their engineering and technology studies.

The five recipients of the IET’s Postgraduate Scholarships for 2011 are:

Mr Qing Dai, Cambridge
Qing is awarded an IET Postgraduate Scholarship of £2,500 to assist him in his postgraduate research. He started his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Cambridge in October 2008. The title of his thesis is "Controlled synthesis of 1D nanomaterial and its applications on optics and photonic crystals". He is expected to complete this work in April 2012.

Qing Dai said: “I am very grateful for the IET scholarship as it will not only encourage me to further improve my research, but also provide me with a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate my professional commitment.

“My career goal is to be an outstanding engineer with expertise on nanotechnology and concentrate on solving industry challenges. As the IET is the world leading organisation of engineering and technology, I believe it can definitely support me to achieve my ambitions with professional development resources and help raise my profile with its networking and mentoring schemes.”

Miss Sandira Gayadeen, Oxford
Sandira is awarded an IET Postgraduate Scholarship of £10,000. The scholarship will assist her research as she works towards her doctorate. Sandira started her DPhil in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford in October 2010. The title of her thesis is “Design of a beam stabilisation control system for Diamond Light Source”. It is expected that she will complete this work in April 2014.

Sandira Gayadeen said: “I feel very fortunate to be recognised by the IET. This scholarship will greatly support my research. I am excited to be able to use this opportunity to raise awareness among IET members of my research and to exchange ideas with other engineers and scientists. I hope to continue developing solutions to challenging control problems.”

Mr Andreas FJ Koltes, Cambridge
Andreas is awarded an IET Postgraduate Scholarship of £2,500 to assist him in his postgraduate research. He started his PhD in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge in October 2010. The title of his thesis is "Reconfigurable memories for embedded manycore processors". He is expected to complete this work in April 2014.

Andreas FJ Koltes said: "I am delighted to be honoured by the receipt of this scholarship. It encourages me to continue striving towards making an impact on future technologies in my field. I am very grateful to see my work recognised in this way."

Miss Charlotte Lücking, Strathclyde
Charlotte is awarded the Hudswell International Research Scholarship. The scholarship consists of £5,000 and is awarded to assist Charlotte with her advanced research work. Charlotte started her PhD at the University of Strathclyde in October 2009. The title of her thesis is "The orbital dynamics of high area-to-mass ratio spacecraft and applications". She is expected to complete this work in October 2012.

Charlotte said: “I am very happy that the IET chose to recognise my work by awarding me this scholarship. It will enable me to further increase the visibility of my research and the technology development project for the de-orbiting device. My dream is to see it successfully launched into orbit on our satellite.”

Mr Simon Watson, Manchester
Simon is awarded the Leslie H Paddle Scholarship of £10,000 to assist him as he carries out his doctoral research. Simon started his research at the University of Manchester in September 2008 and the title of his thesis is “Mobile Platforms for Underwater Sensor Networks”. He is expected to complete this work in March 2012.

Simon Watson said: “The award of the IET scholarship is a great honour and will allow me to see my project through to its next stage of development. It will support me in terms of both my academic and professional development and also offers a unique opportunity to raise awareness of my research to the wider engineering community”.

IET Awards and Prizes Manager, Linda Deleay said: “IET scholarships are an endorsement of skill and hard work. I would like to congratulate each scholarship recipient for the contribution they have made, and will make, to improve the lives of those around us and the world in which we live.”

The 2011 IET Awards programme includes awards to reward and celebrate individual excellence and innovation, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate engineering scholarships. For more information, including details of how to apply, visit www.theiet.org/ambition.

Ends

Notes to editors:
Expert spokespeople are available for interview and comment.
The IET is Europe’s largest professional body of engineers with over 150,000 members in 127 countries.
The IET is a professional home for life for its members and supports them throughout their careers.
For more information, visit www.theiet.org.

About the recipients:

Mr Qing Dai
Qing is pursuing an Engineering PhD degree at the University of Cambridge and his research is focused on fabricating patterned 1d nanomaterial, such as carbon nanotubes and silicon nanowires to construct novel photonic devices, which exhibit radically new properties.

Miss Sandira Gayadeen
Sandira is currently a postgraduate student at the University of Oxford reading for a DPhil in Engineering Science. Her research is on the design of a beam stabilisation control system for the Diamond Light Source synchrotron.

Mr Andreas Koltes
Andreas is a PhD student at the Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge. He graduated from the University of Passau, Germany in 2009 at the top of his class and gained significant international experience during prolonged stays in Scotland and Singapore. His main research interests lie in the area of Computer Architecture.

He is currently working on the Loki project seeking to research novel processor architectures that provide superior energy efficiency and reliability. Andreas has a strong interest in industrial applications of technology and is working towards a career in Industrial R&D and Technology Management. He is very grateful for the recognition this award provides and is keen to convert his ideas into real impact.

Miss Charlotte Lücking
Charlotte is originally from Germany and studied Aerospace Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin after which she completed an MSc in Astronautics and Space Engineering at Cranfield University. Currently, she is working towards a PhD in the field of Space Systems Engineering and Mission Analysis at the University of Strathclyde's Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory. Her research focuses on applying new insights into the orbital dynamics of high area-to-mass ratio spacecraft to the development of a passive de-orbiting device for medium Earth orbit satellites.

Mr Simon Watson
Simon is a research student at the University of Manchester where he is developing small-scale underwater robots for use in wireless sensor networks. The target application is the monitoring of legacy nuclear storage ponds, although the technology has the potential to be applied to many other liquid-based industrial processes. Once he has completed his studies, his aim is to stay in academia where he can continue his research and have the opportunity to teach the next generation of young engineers.

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Robert Beahan, Press Officer
T: +44 (0)1438 767336
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