Announcing UKESF Scholar of the Year shortlist

Announcing UKESF Scholar of the Year shortlist

The UK Electronics Skills Foundation announces the shortlist for its best scholar of 2013.

The four shortlisted UKESF scholars were selected from a strong group of candidates endorsed by the companies sponsoring their scholarships. The shortlist is:

• Adam Crofts, reading for an MEng in electrical and electronic engineering at Cardiff University. He is a scholar at Wolfson Microelectronics.
• Eithne Glackin, reading for an MEng in electrical and electronic engineering with management at Imperial College London. She is a scholar at Fujitsu Semiconductor Europe.
• Veronika Nesheva, reading for an MEng in electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Edinburgh. She is a scholar at ARM.
• Ashley Robinson, reading for an MEng in electrical and electronic engineering with artificial intelligence at the University of Southampton. He is a scholar at CSR.

The winning scholar will be announced on the evening 21st November at the NMI awards dinner. This takes place at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair, London.

The four finalists were seen to have made valuable contributions to projects at the core of their sponsors’ research and development programmes, with some solutions developed by the scholars being implemented already and used commercially.

Additionally, the four finalists have become actively involved in the promotion of electronic engineering and STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering and Maths) to school students; participating in after school clubs, designing projects for schools student of different ages, and raising aspirations in children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Neil Dickins, director of award sponsor the IC Group said: “As highlighted in the ESCO report for government, the industry has an acute need for world class talent, so it is imperative that initiatives such as UKESF gain industry-wide support. We are backing this award to ensure there is proper recognition of the achievements of these promising young engineers.

“There was a consistent theme in all of the applications and that was one of quality, with the students repeatedly exceeding expectations.”

Wendy Daniell, UKESF programme director said: “The sponsors’ endorsements highlighted that there is significant talent at undergraduate level. The applicants consistently demonstrated true self-motivation and the ability to work with minimal supervision as well in teams to deliver on key projects for their sponsors.

“UKESF sees its scholars as future leaders of the industry, so we are also delighted to see, through their work with younger students, that they already recognise their responsibility in attracting the next generation of electronic engineers.”

This is the UKESF Scholar of the Year award’s third year with past winners including Adam Malpass (University of Southampton and Dialog Semiconductor) and Rares-Mihai Popa (University of Edinburgh and CSR).

This award is open to undergraduate students in receipt of a UKESF Scholarship that have made a real and significant contribution to their sponsoring employer through their work placements; and actively promoted electronic engineering or related disciplines to younger people.