Celebrating student success in the School of Engineering and Built Environment

The annual School of Engineering and Built Environment prize-giving ceremony celebrated outstanding academic achievement last night (June 29).

Graduates, students and academics from across the School were joined by key stakeholders, including industry leaders and professional institutions, to recognise success in areas such as construction management, building surveying, quantity surveying, civil, mechanical, electronic and environmental engineering, as well as networking and computing web systems development, and digital security.

The annual event was supported by national, international and global businesses, which provided sponsorship and awards.

The big winner on the night was BEng (Hons) Computer Aided Mechanical Engineering graduate David Thompson, who was awarded four prizes. He took home the Institution of Engineers & Shipbuilders in Scotland Best Student Award; the Institute of Mechanical Engineers Best Student Award; the Thales Prize for Best Student; and the NAFEMS Prize for Best Project involving Engineering Analysis and Simulation.

Keynote speaker on the night was Elaine McKechnie, a board member of Scotland Women in Technology, a joint initiative between Cisco, Dell, HPE, IBM, HSBC, JP Morgan and Skills Development Scotland, which aims to attract, inspire, empower and retain women by developing a community and network to help grow women’s contribution in the IT industry.

She said: “I'm delighted to return to GCU to share some insights on my career journey so far with these new graduates. As a STEM ambassador, I am keen to encourage more people into STEM studies and careers. The achievements of the students are an inspiration and I congratulate them all.”

Professor Iain Cameron, Dean of the School of Engineering and Built Environment, said: “We are delighted to hold this prize-giving event celebrating our student successes and thank the employers of our students for continuing to be our academic partners.

“As we continuously strive to enhance our students' employability prospects, we hold the prize-giving in June, before summer graduation. This allows students to promote their successes prior to entering the job market and it offers a networking opportunity for all students seeking summer employment.

“I offer my own thanks to donors and academic staff for all their support and, of course, my heartfelt congratulations to all of the prize winners.”