2009 Graduate and Student Papers Competition
The culmination of ICE´s 2009 Graduate and Student Papers Competition took place on 25 June 2009 at One Great George Street. Three regional winners presented their papers in front of an audience of ICE student and graduate members.
ICE London´s Joshua Macabuag, a Graduate Engineer with a young structural consultancy, Edge Structures Ltd was announced the winner after delivering an inspiring presentation, `Extending the Collapse Time of Non-Engineered Masonry Buildings Under Seismic Loading´ which researched retrofitting technology specifically aimed at preventing or prolonging the collapse of adobe (mud brick) buildings in strong earthquakes.
“I am delighted to win the 2009 ICE Graduates and Students Papers Competition. It´s been a fantastic opportunity to research and discuss a topic that I am passionate about. It´s also been a great confidence boost to continue working in this field of development and the generous prize money will enable me to conduct further investigation in Peru.” said Joshua.
Joshua will receive his prize, which includes £1500 cash prize, three days Thomas Telford Training, an Institution Medal and a Thomas Telford Publications voucher worth £150, at the ICE Annual Awards Ceremony which is taking place on Friday 23rd October 2009.
Second place went to ICE Wales' Mark Glendinning, a Structural and Geotechnical engineer with Parsons Brinckerhoff in Cardiff. Mark presented his paper `Artificial Ground Freezing (AGF) – Behaviour, Application and Considerations´ which discussed his research work into the finite element modelling of soil-structure interaction problems.
On receiving his prize Mark said, “The Graduate and Students Paper Competition is a great way to gain experience in writing and presenting a paper amongst your fellow engineers. The fact that you can choose to write the paper on any topic which interests you allows you the perfect opportunity to promote yourself and the work you do. Throughout the competition I have heard a variety of interesting and varied papers and it has been great to be part of such a worthwhile competition.”
Mark won £500 cash prize, two days Thomas Telford Training and a Thomas Telford book voucher worth £75.
The third finalist was ICE Yorkshire and Humber´s Anneke Kellond, a Graduate Engineer with Mott MacDonald in Sheffield. Anneke´s paper, 'Improving communication on construction sites with the aim to improving health and safety' researched how communication can help reduce accidents rates on site. On her participation in the competition Anneke said, "I really enjoyed the experience of submitting a paper and urge all students and graduates to take hold of this opportunity to improve their written and verbal communication skills. Communication skills are a valuable asset in engineering and can give you the edge in what is currently a very competitive market"
Anneke won £250 cash prize and a Thomas Telford Publications voucher worth £75.
Chair of the Event, ICE President Jean Venables said, ““This was a superb evening that gave the opportunity for our members to debate with some of ICE´s top graduate and student members on some of today´s most topical civil engineering issues.”
Wei Liu, the Chair of the judging panel, added “As expected, the quality and standard of the submissions were extremely high. All three finalists must be congratulated for the innovation and breadth of understanding for their chosen topics. This was demonstrated in both their written papers and their impressive presentations. The atmosphere was excellent, with good pro-active questions from the audience, allowing the finalists to provide positive, direct and excellent answers. A job well done by all”.
Also speaking at the final was Emma Kent, 2008 NCE Graduate of the Year, who gave an inspiring speech celebrating the work of ICE student and graduate members. Emma urged those student and graduate members in the audience to get involved with competitions like the GSPC and the NCE Graduate Awards. “They are the perfect opportunity to showcase your talent, passion and commitment to engineering and entering alone will be highly regarded by those around you – this is a true case of “its the taking part that counts, not just the winning.”
To view a recording of the event please click here.
