Published on: Saturday, 09 November 2013

Link: An illustrated one page summary of Patrick's National Award Winning project.

On Friday 8th November. CIT's Patrick Byrnes was presented with the Engineers Ireland Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Level 8 Award sponsored by Siemens at the Excellence Awards Ceremony.

This award represents a unique achievement for Patrick as he is the first ever student to have won the Engineers Ireland Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Level 7 Award (2011 with student colleagues Danny Allen and Richard Childs) and now the Level 8 Award (2013).

It is also the first time that the Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Award was presented at the prestigious Excellence Awards Ceremony.

Patrick capstone project concerned the “Automation of Femoral Implant Ultrasonic Cleaning and Blast Processes” and was carried out in conjunction with Zimmer Orthopaedics.

Patrick was conferred with a First Class Honours Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering Level 8 Degree on Monday October 21st.

Congratulations also to CIT’s Cloud Computing team most admirably led by Tim Horgan and Pat McCarthy at the event, whose excellent submission on "Education in the Clouds; Cloud Computing - Cork Institute of Technology"  was short-listed for the highly competitive Best in Class Education Award 2013 sponsored by CRH PLC.

The purpose of this award is to highlight developments in Irish education that clearly demonstrate a real impact on the student community coupled with an actual or future contribution to the economy. This award is presented to the third level education institute which has demonstrated excellence in the field of education. The award this year went to Institute of Technology, Sligo.

CIT's multidisciplinary Innovative Product Development Laboratories modules were the inaugural recipient of the Engineers Ireland Best in Class Education Award in 2011.

Patrick, Engineers Ireland  Student Engineer of the Year 2013 is pictured above demonstrating his developed novel prototype to Margie McCarthy, Membership Director, Engineers Ireland and Liam Mulligan, Siemens Sustainability Manager.

Photographer Mark Maxwell