School of Engineering News

Engineering student follows in supervisor’s prize-winning footsteps

School of Engineering student Therese Sheehan was presented with the First Prize award for her oral presentation at the recent Institution of Structural Engineers ‘Young Researchers’ Conference’. She was placed ahead of other research students from across the UK to be awarded the top prize, with representatives from Imperial and Cambridge taking joint second.

Her presentation is entitled “Strength, ductility and energy dissipation of concrete-filled tubular braces under cyclic axial loading”. By receiving this award, Miss Sheehan follows in the footsteps of her supervisor, Dr. Tak Ming Chan, who received the same award in 2007 with his paper “Development of design rules for elliptical hollow sections”. She is Dr. Chan’s first PhD student and started at the School in early 2010.

The IStructE Young Researcher Conference is an annual event bringing together research students to present their work to peers, industry leaders and selected members of the Institution. The organising committee then selects and invites only particular applicants to present to the panel.

Speaking of the prize, Miss Sheehan said; “I’m absolutely delighted about winning this award. I have been nervous presenting my research in the past, but the event gave me a great opportunity to practise this, and I found it an enjoyable experience and look forward to doing so again. I am grateful to Dr. Chan, Prof. Toby Mottram, Prof. Roger Johnson and all of the technicians in the School’s strong floor and workshops who assisted with the laboratory work. Thanks also to the University of Warwick and Tata Steel for providing sponsorship”. Dr. Chan is “extremely proud” of his student, who has proven consistently diligent in her research.

The pair also received a Commendation at the research category (Structural Engineering Awards) from IStructE – Midland Counties Branch in 2011 for their paper entitled “Concrete-filled Elliptical Hollow Sections – Performance under Eccentric Compression”.