The students were nominated for the awards by ¶¶ÒõAPPµ¼º½’s Engineering department and are given annually to reward academic excellence.
The awards were presented by IMechE representatives Euan Mason, David Terry and Dr David Ball at a presentation ceremony in Lancaster.
The six award recipients and their projects were:
Zane Brough - Project prize (Certificate plus bronze medal) for the most outstanding project (Mechatronic Engineering) – for developing a novel concept for a deployable solar panel system for space satellites.
Joseph Spencer - Best Project Certificate (Mechatronic Engineering) – for developing a flap actuation system suitable for wind turbines.
Jon Hutchinson - Best Project Certificate (Sustainable Engineering) – for the development of a modular horizontal axis Gorlov-style helical tidal stream turbine.
Katie Mitton - Best Project Certificate (Nuclear Engineering) – for exploring the potential for a reinforcing bar in concrete to be explored non-destructively with fast neutrons.
Anita Crompton - Best Student Certificate (Mechatronic Engineering) – for designing and building a computer control scanning platform to support digital mixed-field radiation imaging.
Sean Petley - Best Student Certificate (Sustainable Engineering) – the group project, which Sean led, was on the development of a novel overtopping wave energy convertor.
Dr George Aggidis said he was delighted with the students’ success: “The depth and breadth of the engineering teaching at Lancaster, with its project-based focus, produces outstanding engineers, who attract recognition by both industry and academia.” Dr Aggidis is a Fellow of the IMechE and Board Member of its Power Industries Fluid Machinery Group and is the Director of ¶¶ÒõAPPµ¼º½ Renewable Energy Group (LUREG), which carries out research into conversion of energy from renewable sources and mainly water sources, including waves, tides and land-based hydro power.
Lancaster is ranked 8th in the UK for Mechanical Engineering in the latest Guardian University Guide.