DkIT Hosts Annual Peter Rice Awards Ceremony
15 December 2016The annual Peter Rice medal competition took place on 14 December 2016 in the School of Engineering in Dundalk Institute of Technology. This event is organised annually by the School of Engineering and is run in conjunction with and sponsored by Engineers Ireland North East Region.
Peter Rice, who was born in Dundalk, worked for Ove Arup on projects such as Centre Pompidou, Lloyd’s of London, the Louvre Pyramid and Sydney Opera House and is considered to be one of Ireland’s most outstanding engineers.
The Peter Rice medal commemorates his life and work and the award is made annually to the best Level 7 Engineering student project in Dundalk Institute of Technology.
The event is also used to showcase project work within the School of Engineering, with student posters and projects on display during the event. For the competition itself, three candidates from a range of Engineering disciplines presented their Level 7 student projects to an audience of students, staff and a panel of judges from Engineers Ireland North East Region.
The finalists were Waleed Alshammari from Electrical and Electronic Systems who presented his work on the control of the speed of a train using LabVIEW and MyDAQ; Olegs Agafonovs from Civil Engineering who presented his work on the design of a multi-storey steel framed building; and Fergal McArdle from Mechanical Engineering who presented his work on the development of a rainwater harvester filter.
Following the presentations, each candidate was interviewed by the judging panel. The judging panel consisted of Sheila Broderick, Senior Assistant Chief Fire Officer of Monaghan County Council; David Hatchett, Mechanical Engineer from Combilift, Co Monaghan and Chairperson of Engineers Ireland North East region; and John Quinn, Consultant Civil Engineer from J V Quinn and Associates, Co Meath. The panel decided to award this year’s Peter Rice Medal to Olegs Agafonovs from Civil Engineering for his project on the design of a multi-storey building. The two other finalists each received certificates of commendation.
Congratulations to Olegs and all the finalists who took part in the competition.
