newsletter
SCHOOL OF
2016/17
Engineering
Welcome to our latest Engineering Newsletter, this year is special as we are celebrating 175 years of engineering at Trinity. I would like to thank our alumni for their continued support and we look forward to sharing many more years of success with you. As a new head of School, I am looking forward to moving on with our development of the teaching and research programmes, and also in the important area of outreach. We have now established ourselves as leaders in gender balance in technology application, recently recognised by some new European Union ErasmusPlus funding. The School has made positive developments on the international front, we have a new Global Officer and have successfully established a twinned undergraduate programme with Thapar University in India. We have welcomed our second pilot cohort from Thapar and look forward to accepting over 40 students per year moving forward. Last year, the School hosted 50 Brazilian students funded by their government, many of whom extended their stay to work on research projects over the summer. We developed links with the Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari, with two students undertaking an internship with the company this year in Italy. We hope to expand this collaboration in future years. Notably, three Fulbright winners have come from the School this year and Google has acquired virtual reality technology developed by a team of Trinity engineers. We are also delighted to announce the first winners of the Kinsella Scholarships. We look forward to meeting you over the course of 2016/17 and we hope that some of you will join us for one or more of the 175th anniversary events that have been organised as part of the celebrations.
Professor Henry Rice Head of School
Finally it is always a pleasure to hear what alumni are getting up to. If you have any news that you would like to share with your fellow classmates please get in touch. For updates on events and lectures through the year visit our webpage: www.tcd.ie/Engineering. I hope you will find this newsletter enjoyable and informative. Henry Rice, Head of the School of Engineering
Newsletter 2016-17 2014 – 2015
Research Google Acquires Virtual Reality Audio Technology Developed by Trinity Engineers Google has acquired virtual reality technology developed by engineers at the university. As part of the agreement, Google Ireland has recruited a team of four postgraduate engineers that developed the technology Thrive, a personal 3-D audio technology for virtual reality applications. The technology has been developed over a number of years, by a team, led by Professor Frank Boland, with the support of funding from Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland.
(L-R) Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, Director of Trinity Research and Innovation at Trinity; Professor Frank Boland, Professor of Engineering Science at Trinity; and Kevin Ennis, Industry Marketing Officer at Trinity. Photograph: Conor McCabe (Irish Times)
Civil Engineering Receives €6 Million Grant from Horizon 2020 for Air Quality Improvement Engineers from the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering and the CONNECT Centre at Trinity, successfully secured a €6 million research grant as part of the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenges funding scheme to improve the air quality and reduce the carbon footprint of European cities. The iSCAPE (Improving the Smart Control of Air Pollution in Europe) project began in the summer of 2016 and will continue for three years. It is led by Dr Francesco Pilla (overall coordinator), Professor Brian Broderick, Dr Aonghus McNabola and Dr John Gallagher.
E3 Research Collaboration Receives EPA Funding to Investigate the Impact of Air Pollution from Diesel Vehicles in Ireland Trinity launched its Engineering, Energy and Environment (E3) Institute Strategy in 2012. This major initiative is embedded in the university’s strategic plan and will build novel cross-disciplinary research and teaching programmes. Under this initiative a new collaboration between the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Geology has received funding (€249,000) from the Environmental Protection Agency, Science, Research, Technology and Innovation for the Environment Programme, to examine a key current environmental challenge: the impact of diesel vehicles on the exposure of the population to particulate air pollution in Ireland. 2
Researchers target early warning system for concussion In recent months a cross-disciplinary team of researchers in Trinity, led by Dr Ciaran Simms, have joined forces with Leinster Rugby for two innovative projects into the diagnosis and analysis of concussion. Ultimately, the researchers hope that a simple blood test showing up proteins associated with concussion could be used to determine head injury. This advancement could then be used as an early warning system and predicate when a player should be taken out of a match. The research is being funded from the U.S. by the National Football League’s Head Health Challenge.
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Engineering
Engineers Develop Infrared Detector The Herschel to Map Invisible Sunshine Engineers from Trinity have developed a firstof-its-kind 3-dimensional infrared (IR) heat detector called The Herschel. It will function by mapping the presence and distribution of IR energy with - which has been dubbed invisible sunshine- with unprecedented detail. The Trinity team recently signed a licensing agreement with heating specialist Ceramicx Ltd, an Irish SME, that will see The Herschel built for market to over 60 countries across the globe. (L-R): Dr Graham McMullin from Trinity Tech Transfer; Gerard McGranaghan, Trinity Technical Officer, Dr Anthony Robinson, Professor in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Mr Declan McGee Innovation Partnership Manager - Enterprise Ireland
Dr Anthony Robinson, who led the team that produced the first prototype, said: “I think this project really shows how university research can support Irish SMEs. Here we have created a scientific instrument, from scratch, that is already creating profit and jobs and, in its own way, supporting the regrowth of the Irish economy.”
Showcasing of Research Project on MicroHydropower in Water Supply Systems
(L-R): Mr Ian Harris and Dr John Gallagher, SENRGY, Bangor University; Minister Jane Hutt AM, Minister for Finance and Government Business, Welsh Government; Minister Brendan Howlin TD, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform; Dr Aonghas McNabola, School of Engineering, Trinity; Professor Paul Coughlan, School of Business, Trinity
At the launch of Interreg 2014-2020 funding programme, Trinity’s Micro-Hydropower (MHP) was showcased by Dr Aonghas MacNabola. The supply and treatment of water is an energy-intensive process, consuming large amounts of electricity and contributing heavily to climate change. Addressing this challenge, the HydroBPT project commenced investigating the technical, economic and environmental viability of Micro-Hydropower in water supply networks in Ireland and Wales.
The results of the project highlighted over 338 locations within the existing water networks of Ireland and Wales where MHP energy recovery systems could reduce the energy demands and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions of the network, which could equate to up to €2.5 million saving in annual electricity costs and a reduction of over 10,000 tonnes CO2 equivalent from the industry per annum.
Engineering Students Intern in Ferrari
Students Giacinto Rittgers (left) and Niall Williams (right), pictured with Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Trinity, Dr Ciaran Simms (centre)
Two of our engineering master’s students have recently returned from Italy after interning with iconic motor company, Ferrari. Niall Williams and Giacinto Rittgers, spent six months developing hybrid concept aluminium/carbon-fibre chassis structures and optimising energy absorption to minimise car weight. They worked under the watch of Trinity graduate, Max Szwaj, who is Head of Innovation and Body Engineering Department Ferrari S.P.A. Since leaving Trinity, Max has worked exclusively in automotive design with appointments at Jaguar, BMW, Porsche and, more recently, Ferrari. Max said, “Ferrari is delighted to initiate collaboration with Trinity’s Engineering School. We are confident that research following from these two projects will lead to significant advances in vehicle structural performance and will expose the students to the reality of working in a highly innovative environment such as Ferrari R&D.”
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Newsletter 2016-17 2014 – 2015
International Activities Thapar and Trinity Collaboration Trinity and Thapar university have now formalised an institutional partnership, which has led to the development of a twinned undergraduate programme. This will encourage joint research between the two institutions in areas of strength and opportunities for international mobility for faculty and students. The School has already welcomed a pilot cohort of eight Thapar students into Engineering in 2015/16, who have all integrated and performed extremely well. We welcomed our second pilot cohort of ten students in 2016/17 and these numbers will increase to more than 40 annually for 2018/19. Some of the Thapar University students were runners-up at Trinity Engineering Student Entrepreneurs of the Year Competition in April 2016. L-R: Éamonn Dunne, Jaspreet Brar, Tushti Singla, Achin Agarwal, Abhinav Arora
Postgraduate Students Take Part in International Aeronautics Summer School in China
Engineering Students Take Part in Seeds for the Future Programme in China
Huawei’s Seeds for the Future programme will teach Trinity students Katie Rock, Alan Flynn and Helen Fletcher many aspects of the IT firm’s business
Patrick Okolo receiving his award in Beihang University, Beijing, China in July 2016
Eleonora Neri and Kun Zhao (postgraduate students in the Mechanical Engineering department) attended the summer school in Beihang University, China, in July 2015. Patrick
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Okolo (Ph.D. candidate in the Mechanical Engineering department) attended in July 2016 and was given an award for the best foreign student in Energy and Propulsion Class.
Five Trinity engineering students took part in the Huawei-sponsored “Seeds for the Future” programme in Beijing and Shenzhen in China last August. Katie Rock, Darragh McKay, Aine Cahill, Edmund O’Floinn and Helen Fletcher were chosen as part of a group of 42 students from Ireland and the UK. Extensive funding for the trip is provided by Huawei Technologies.
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Engineering
Scholarships and Fellowships Student Engineers Win Kinsella Scholarships Three engineering students, who have demonstrated outstanding potential in experimental work, were recently awarded 2015/16 Kinsella Scholarships to pursue fulltime degree courses in engineering in Trinity. The inaugural awards went to students Stefano Lupo, Darragh McKay and Cara O’Brien who were selected by an expert panel made up from Trinity and Jones Engineering Group.
Students Darragh McKay, Cara O’Brien, Stefano Lupo with graduate Eric Kinsella (MSc, 1970)
The Kinsella Scholarships were established in 2014 through a donation from the Chairman of Jones Engineering Group, Eric Kinsella and his wife Barbara. Professor Brian Foley, welcomed the support for Trinity’s engineering students stating, “It is most gratifying to see such a successful alumnus as Eric give back to Trinity. This generosity will provide vital support for future generations of Trinity engineers, among whom will be the engineering leaders of tomorrow’s Ireland.”
Paul and Theresa Johnston Graduate Fellowship Fund Announced Trinity graduate Dr Paul Johnston and his wife Theresa have recently endowed a graduate fellowship to cover the cost of a student attending Stanford University each year. The $1.2 million Fellowship Fund was established to attract exceptional graduate students in engineering and computer science from Ireland, with a special focus on graduates of Trinity. It is hoped that this fellowship will encourage further links with the Stanford School of Engineering.
Trinity graduate Dr Paul Johnston (B.A.I. Civil Engineering 1976) and his wife Theresa Johnston
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Newsletter 2016-17 2014 – 2015
Notable Achievements Engineering Professors Awarded for Teaching and Global Engagement
Joint Award of the Professor John Fitzpatrick Memorial Medal
(L-R): David Murphy, Mrs Hilary Fitzpatrick (wife of the late Professor Fitzpatrick) and John Hickey at the presentation of the medals in Trinity on Monday, 2 November, 2015
(L-R): Dr Michelle D’Arcy, Dr Shane Bergin and Mr Kevin Kelly were presented awards by the Provost Prendergast at the annual Provost’s Teaching Awards ceremony
In June 2016, Professor Kevin Kelly was one of the three members of Trinity staff awarded a Provost’s Teaching Award in recognition of his enthusiasm and commitment to ensuring students receive quality teaching and learning. In 2015, another engineering professor, Dr Ciaran Simms also won one of the Teaching Awards. The inaugural Global Engagement Awards were presented in 2015 by the Provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast, in recognition of contributions by staff to global education, cultural understanding and global experiences that directly benefit the Trinity community. In 2015, Dr Roger West and in 2016, Kevin Kelly, both from the School of Engineering were amongst the Awardees.
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The 2015 Professor John Fitzpatrick Medal was awarded jointly to John Hickey, a Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering graduate, and David Murphy, an Electronic and Computer Engineering, as the top performing students in the 2014/15 MAI degree programme. This prize was established in 2013.
SCHOOL OF
2016 EUROTHERM Young Scientist Prize
Computer Engineering Student Wins Naughton Fellowship Four students from Trinity have secured Naughton Fellowships for 2016. The Naughton programme allows students with a background in technological fields, to experience international research and educational opportunities through a funded exchange programme with the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
Engineering
Trinity Ph.D. graduate Dr David Donoghue was awarded the prestigious 2016 EUROTHERM Young Scientist Prize for his research on Bubble Impingement and the Mechanisms of Heat Transfer Enhancement. The EUROTHERM Committee was formed with the aim of promoting and fostering European cooperation in Thermal Sciences and Heat Transfer by gathering together scientists and engineers working in specialised areas.
2nd from the left: Ph.D. graduate Dr David Donoghue receiving his prize
Announcement of New Fellows and Scholars In April, Provost Prendergast announced the new Fellows and Scholars. Congratulations to our two new Scholars: Patrick Sullivan and Cian Weldon. Congratulations to Professor Roger West of the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering who was elected to Fellowship this year. Professor Luiz Da Silva of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering was also elected to Professorial Fellowship. Luiz named as a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE in 2015. Congratulations also to Dr Trevor Orr, who has just been elected to Fellowship of the Institution of Civil Engineers in London (FICE).
Dr Luiz DaSilva
Eoghan Martin (MAI Computer Engineering) will join the Engineering, Science, and Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence master’s (ESTEEM) Program at Notre Dame. Richard Taylor, Director of the Naughton Fellowship programme said, “Naughton Fellowship programme has provided students with support for international study, collaborative research, and impactful exchange between Notre Dame and Ireland. We are so grateful to the Naughton family for the continued support that they provide for these opportunities”. Dr Roger West
Dr Trevor Orr, and his wife Diane
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Newsletter 2016-17 2014 – 2015
Winners of the Trinity Engineering Student Entrepreneurs of the Year Competition 2016 Announced
Engineering students in Trinity take a 12-week module on innovation and entrepreneurship in their third year. As well as learning about the basics of business, they get to put their own business ideas into practice. A group of five students won first prize at the Trinity Engineering Student Entrepreneurs of the Year competition for their new business Alpaca Lunch, a lunchbox with an inbuilt heater to heat your food quickly and safely saving both time and money.
(L-R): Winners - Alpaca Lunch Laura Byrne, Jennifer Long, Siún McMenamy, Robyn Moran and Rachel Mullane
Engineering Alum Vincent Garvey Wins the 2016 Affordable Dialysis Prize
After a year-long global quest, the world’s first low cost dialysis system was invented by Trinity graduate Vincent Garvey on World Kidney Day 2016. It is an invention that could save millions of lives each year and transform the way kidney disease is treated around the world.
Vincent Garvey B.A.I. (1974)
He was awarded the Affordable Dialysis Prize for a dialysis system that can fit into a small suitcase and uses a standard solar panel to power a highly efficient, miniature distiller capable of producing pure water from any source. Work on a prototype is now underway.
Four Fulbright Awardees from the School of Engineering Trinity’s Dr Gareth Bennett, was one of the 31 Irish Fulbright Awardees in 2015 (and also won the Aviation Research and Development Award the same year). In 2016, nine researchers from Trinity are among the 39 in Ireland to have secured prestigious Fulbright Awards, three of whom are from the Engineering School.
Trinity’s Fulbright Award winners for 2016-17 (L-R): Ms Rosemary Hennigan; Mr Eoin Mac Réamoinn; Dr Anthony Quinn (Associate Professor in Electronic and Electrical Engineering); Dr Eva Barrett; Mr Ronan Doorley (Ph.D. candidate in Civil Engineering); Dr Linda Buckley (Professor of Music and Media Technologies); Dr Andrew Jackson; Ms Saskia Ryan (not pictured); Ms Aisling Murray.
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These all-discipline awards facilitate knowledge-sharing and cultivate connections between Ireland and the US. The Fulbright Program runs in 155 countries worldwide, giving awardees access to an ever-growing network of international expertise.
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Engineering
David Hoey Wins Marie Sklodowska-Curie 2015 COFUND Award The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) Award rewards excellence in research by selecting the most promising scientists who received funding under the MSCA COFUND Schemes for their research projects carried out between 2008-2015 under the Horizon 2020 programme. Dr Hoey’s research focusses on how stem cells within our bones can sense physical activity when we exercise and consequently start to make new bone. He explains, “With approximately 200 million people suffering from this disease worldwide, this research could potentially be used to develop new treatments for bone loss diseases such as osteoporosis by mimicking the beneficial effects of exercise”.
Dr David Hoey, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Paul Mannix Wins the Maurice F. FitzGerald Prize 2015 The Maurice F. FitzGerald Prize was instituted in 1961 by a bequest from Anna Maria FitzGerald. This year Paul Mannix received the annual award having obtained the highest aggregate grade within the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering stream.
Centre: Prizewinner Paul Mannix (Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering) (L – R): with Trustees - Associate Professor Brian Foley, Mr Finbar Callanan (former Director General of Engineers Ireland), Associate Professor Ciaran Simms and Assistant Professor Mike Brady
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Newsletter 2016-17 2014 – 2015
Alumni Interview One-to-One with Brian Caulfield Where did your interest in engineering come from? As a child, I was interested in everything. Anything to do with science and technology but also geography, history, etc. but I struggled to know exactly what I wanted to do. For me engineering was the perfect opportunity to allow me to exploit those interests without being pigeonholed into a very specific career path. What are your strongest memories of Trinity? The dangerous freedom compared with school. The incredible diversity of the people that I met – not just in terms of the courses people studied but nationalities, backgrounds, points of view. I think Ireland was really just starting to open up as a society at the time. It was a very exciting time. Brian Caulfield B.A.I. (1986), Social Entrepreneur and Managing Partner of Draper Esprit, a venture capital firm that announced an IPO in 2016
Which Trinity lecturer had the greatest impact on you? It would have to be the late and greatly lamented Professor John G. Byrne. Through my involvement in the Student Union as Faculty Convenor for Engineering, I got to know him reasonably well and he was an influence in
my life long after I left college. The first two people that I hired in my first start-up were recommendations from the Professor. Not surprisingly to those who knew him, both were women who went on to make a huge contribution to our success. What are you doing with yourself these days? I am a partner in Draper Esprit, a pan-European venture capital firm mainly based in London. I am also involved in a number of technology start-ups as an investor and board member and I sit on the board of the Irish Times. Are you still in touch with fellow alumni? Do you visit often? Many of my closest friends are still people that I know from college. I probably walk through the campus at least once or twice a week and visit often through my involvement with some of the universities, burgeoning entrepreneurship activities. If you lost everything tomorrow, what would you do? Start again.
Laurence Gill and CDEnviro Win InterTradeIreland Project Exemplar Award The InterTradeIreland FUSION project involving CDEnviro Ltd. partnering with Professor Laurence Gill from the Department of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering in Trinity has been awarded the prestigious InterTradeIreland FUSION Project Exemplar award. The Project Exemplar award recognises exceptionally high levels of innovation and collaboration between a firm, their graduates and an academic as part of the InterTradeIreland FUSION programme and was presented this year to only five projects in total across the island. Kevin Vallely (CDEnviro), Sean Dobbs (CDEnviro), Thomas Hunter McGowan (CEO InterTrade Ireland) and Laurence Gill (Trinity) with the FUSION Project Exemplar Award at CDEnviro Ltd.’s factory in Co Tyrone
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SCHOOL OF
Engineering
Celebrating 175 Years of Engineering at Trinity
Photos of the School of Engineering’s 175th anniversary events
The School of Engineering at Trinity celebrates its 175th Anniversary The School of Engineering is this year commemorating 175 Years of engineering in Trinity. The School first began lectures on 15 November 1841 and on 15 November of this year, a plaque was unveiled at the Lloyd Building in honour of Humphrey Lloyd, the founder of the School. Lloyd is known for experimentally verifying William Rowan Hamilton’s theoretical prediction on conical refraction, the way light is bent when travelling through a biaxial crystal. This was considered to be one of the most important discoveries of the time. Other events celebrating the anniversary included a lecture “Reflections on an Engineering and Industrial Journey” by Sir John Parker GBE, FREng. The lecture took place in the Macneill Lecture Theatre, named after Sir John Benjamin Macneill who was the first holder of the Chair of the Practice of Engineering, and was a prominent civil engineer and railway consultant. The School also hosted a celebratory Gala Dinner in the Dining Hall and music from the College Chapel Choir and launched a booklet “A Brief History of Engineering at Trinity”. More events are planned for 2017. Please check the School of Engineering events page for more details.
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Remember. The power of a legacy to Trinity Oregon Maple Library Square Planted early 1800s
There’s an old saying that the true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade one does not expect to sit. When you leave a legacy to Trinity however big or small, you’re planting a tree which will grow to provide shelter to many. You’re empowering ground-breaking research which will benefit people in Ireland and all over the world. You’re supporting students from all backgrounds to access a Trinity education. You’re helping preserve our unique campus and heritage for new generations.
Get Involved
Upcoming Alumni Events
Trinity has a long tradition of outreach and community engagement. To find out about the numerous ways you can get involved with Trinity both at home and abroad, please visit www.tcd.ie/alumni/volunteer
Alumni Weekend 2017 25-27 August 2017 Other Upcoming Events: www.tcd.ie/alumni/news-events/events
www.tcd.ie/engineering @tcdalumni
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When you remember Trinity in your will, you join a tradition of giving that stretches back over 400 years – and reaches far into the future. For more information about leaving a Legacy to Trinity, please contact Carmen Leon. T. +353 1 896 1379 E. carmen.leon@tcd.ie www.tcd.ie/development
Class Notes Do you have any news or updates that you’d like to share with your fellow alumni? Submit your news with an image, subject of study and year of graduation to alumni@tcd.ie For more information please visit www.tcd.ie/alumni/news-events/publications
Faculty of Engineering, Mathematics and Science Trinity College Dublin Dublin 2, Ireland Ph +353 (0) 1 896 1142 Email engineering@tcd.ie www.facebook.com/TrinityEngineering
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