Engineering & Innovation at Munster Technological University
A Global Success Story Engineering and Innovation at Munster Technological University IN May 2020, the Government announced that Munster Technological University (MTU) will be established officially in early 2021 and will be Ireland’s newest Technological University. MTU will see the merging of Cork Institute of Technology (CIT ) and the Institute of Technology Tralee (IT Tralee) and will be a multi-campus technological university, contributing to the region through the provision of academic programmes that support student development and opportunities, education, and research. MTU will have an extensive footprint with six campuses right across the South-West region. Strategic development MTU will play a leadership role in the strategic development of the region, and, in so doing, will adopt a global outlook and a civic centric value system. Studying at MTU will have many benefits for students, including: • The range and quality of services and supports available to students will be enriched; • Students will have a greater range of options available to them in relation to course choice, progression opportunities, research and industry placement; • Graduates will be able to avail of a greater selection of options nationally, and internationally, for further study and participation in research; • Graduates will experience enhanced employability both in Ireland and internationally as MTU graduates. MTU will be a multi-campus technological university, contributing to the region through the provision of academic programmes that support student development and opportunities, education and research. Partnering with industry and community, MT U w i l l i nve s t i n t h e f u t u re w i t h state-of-the-art research, education, enterprise, cultural and sports facilities. The quite remarkable global success story over the past decade and beyond of the institute’s engineering and innovation students and their unprecedented achievements on the international and national stages is a very significant reflection and quite outstanding validation of Ireland’s newest university MTU. The remarkable sustained global engineering design, innovation and entrepreneurship achievements of the students is founded on a continuous design
"MTU will be a multi-campus technological university, contributing to the region through the provision of academic programmes that support student development and opportunities, education and research"
"Partnering with industry and community, MTU will invest in the future with state-of-the-art research, education, enterprise, cultural and sports facilities"
core centred on universal design principles, a strong innovation ethos, product development from student concept to prototype manufacture and optimisation, multi-discipline teamwork, business plan development, communication and exhibition skill enhancement and a unique engineering education model have all combined to create a critical mass leading to the remarkable international and national successes over a sustained period of the students of MTU’s engineering and business degree courses. Award winning Sustained International and national success has been achieved consistently at all level of engineering and innovation education delivery for many years as exemplified in 2020 by the achievement of Cathal Merz (pictured on Education Magazine Front Cover), Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering, Munster Technological University. Cathal's projec t on “ Test Method Development for Evaluation of Process and Design Effect on Reinforced Tube”, carried out under the supervision of Dr. Gareth O’Donnell and Professor Ger Kelly, won the Best Presentation Award at the ICBBBS 2020 Barcelona International Conference on Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Biological Solutions. Simon Dring’s Final Year Biomedical Engineering project TraumAlert™, on development of spor ts protection device SmartGuard to improve concussion awareness and player safety at all levels and allow for quick and easy detection of potential concussion with zero subjectivity, carried out under the supervision of Dr. Darren Dawson, won the Grant Thornton Emerging Business National Award of €5,000 at the Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur Awards Virtual Finals in June 2020. Further success Further national success at the 2020 Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur Awards Virtual Finals was achieved by the Innovative Product Development MultiDiscipline Start-Up Team EnablAid™ , Eoghan O’Sullivan, James O’Riordan, Rhiannon Madigan, Jack McDonnell, Ryan Thomas, Michael Cronin, Padraig Dillane, Fionan Leahy, Kieran Velon for their third year undergraduate group project. This project on design and development of a mobility device to aid people with reduced mobility to manouevre around
their gardens and to easily access their flowerbeds, while significantly reducing the physical effort and upper body strength required to get down to and back up from ground level was carried out under the supervision of lecturers Dr Hugh O’Donnell, Paul Keane, Lisa Murphy, Scott McGowan and Professor Sean F. O’Leary. Based on many year’s work contributing to the advancement of student innovation, the Enterprise Ireland Academic Award 2020 Student Entrepreneur Awards Virtual Finals was presented to Professor Sean F. O’Leary. Jack Murphy, Sustainable Energy Engineering Student, has also achieved national success in 2020, winning the M E E TA A s s e t M a n a g e m e n t a n d Maintenance Student Project National First Place Award 2020. Jack’s National First Place Award was a n n o u n c e d a t t h e M E E TA A s s e t Management Awards Ceremony, which took place yesterday Thursday 26th November a t t h e h i g h p r o f i l e M E E TA A s s e t Management National Virtual Conference “Restoring Vision from 2020”. Jack’s final year capstone project concerns the “Energy Optimisation of Compressed Air at Thermo Fisher Cork” and was carried out under the supervision of Mr. Edmund Collins of Thermo Fisher Cork and Senior Lecturer Chris Gibbons. Remarkable platform The Universal Design Grand Challenge also proved another remarkable platform for national success in 2020. At the Virtual Finals in Dublin on 11th November 2020 the First Place National Award Winner 2020 in the Built Environment Category was announced as Lydia Rose Morgan, Interior Architecture, Cork Institute of Technology for her project on “Wandesford Quay Intergenerational Community Hub” carried out under the supervision of Dr Marc Ó Riain and Dr Jason O’Shaughnessy of the Department of Architecture. The SafeSource Multi-Disciplinary Team of Stephen Moroney, Patricia O' Sullivan, Evan Enright, Kieran Pyke, Darragh Bateman, Stephen Lynch, Peadar Keane, Hannah Ahern and Andrew Clarke under the supervision of lecturers Dr Hugh O’Donnell, Paul Keane, Lisa Murphy, Scott McGowan and Professor Sean F. O’Leary also were shortlisted as National Finalists 2020 in the Product and Services Category of the Universal Design Grand Challenge 2020. The multidisciplinary programmes, developed and led by the Innovative Product
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