School News and Events
Dr Yong Sung Park wins prestigious prize
Dr Yong Sung Park of the Division of Civil Engineering has just won the 2011 Young Persons' Paper Competition organised by the UK Section of the International Association of Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR). The competition is open to all young scientists, engineers and practitioners working on novel applications of hydraulics. Dr Park’s winning paper “On the origin of the eddy behind a reflected solitary wave at a vertical wall” was presented alongside those of other short-listed candidates at the IAHR-UK Technical meeting inExeterin early September 2011.
Dr Park joined the University of Dundee from Cornell University, USA in May 2011 as a Newton International Fellow, under the highly-competitive scheme run jointly by The Royal Society of London and the British Academy to select the very best early stage post-doctoral researchers from all over the world and enable them to work at UK research institutions.
Racing Team Get New Wheels
DRIVE, the University of Dundee's Formula Student motor racing team, have taken delivery of a new, purpose-built trailer.
Specially built and donated by Brechin-based firm Duncan McIntosh Trailers, the trailer is designed to be towed by either a small car or a large van. It sits low on the ground to enable the loading and unloading of racing cars to be easily undertaken by two people.
The company’s Ian McIntosh worked closely with the team to build the trailer and spent many hours taking measurements and making sketches before the final design was agreed.
Mr McIntosh said he was delighted to be backing the team. He will be at the Fulton Building, University of Dundee, at 2pm on Wednesday, 15th June, to hand the trailer over to members of the DRIVE team.
'It was great to be able to work on such an exciting project,' he said. 'Although we sell trailers for all sorts of vehicles, it's not every day that someone wants one for such a lightweight and experimental racing car.
'The trailer itself is also lightweight and low but unlike the racing car it is restricted to the national speed limits!'
Dr Alan Slade, of the University’s Mechanical Engineering department and DRIVE’s Academic Co-ordinator, said the team were extremely grateful for the sponsorship from Duncan McIntosh Trailers.
Read more at the University Press Release Page.
Civil Engineering Ranked No. 1 in Scotland
The Guardian University Guide 2012
Civil Engineering at Dundee ranked 1st in Scotland and 2nd in the UK in the recent the 2012 Guardian University Guide!
In a recent survey carried out by the Guardian Newspaper Dundee University’s Division of Civil Engineering scored 99.4 out of 100, and is now ranked 2nd in the UK league table. All of the universities contained in the guide are ranked according to teaching excellence. Universities are ranked according to how much they spend per student; their student/staff ratio; the career prospects of their graduates; what grades applicants need; a value-added score that compares the academic achievements of first-years and their final degree results; and how content final-year students are with their courses, based on the annual National Student Survey (NSS).
NCE Graduate congratulated by First Minister
The NCE Graduate of the Year, Stuart Ross, was congratulated by the First Minister . Read more of this story.
Stuart Ross - Winner, NCE Graduate of the Year 2010
Overall winner of this year’s New Civil Engineer Graduate Award is Arup engineer and former
Drive Team at Knockhill
The University of Dundee's Formula Student motor racing team, DRIVE, will be putting their engineering, manufacturing and racing skills to the test when they take to the track against other student teams from across Scotland next week.
The DRIVE (Dundee University Race Innovation and Vehicle Engineering) teamwill go up against other Formula Student teams from across Scotland in a live race at Knockhill Racing Circuit on Wednesday, 24th November. (Read more of this story)
Coloured Concrete
The Concrete Technology Unit recently won £5k from the Scottish Funding Council to examine the potential for utilising spent printer toner as a colouring pigment in concrete. Dr Moray Newlands, Dr Laszlo Csetenyi and Dr Li Zheng, in conjunction with Scottish SME Moock Environmental undertook the pilot study and were able to colour concrete using toner powders and are currently examining the potential for the material to be used to improve the hydrophobicity of concrete. More details can be found on the SFC website:
http://www.sfc.ac.uk/knowledge_exchange/casestudies/case_study_dundee.aspx
8th International CTU Conference
We are delighted to announce that the next CTU conference will tke place at the University of Dundee on 9-11 July 2012.
Further information is now available online at www.ctucongress.co.uk and we would ask you to register your interest and to put these dates in your diaries.
The Conference Themes are available on the website along with abstract submission information.
If you have any queries then please feel free to contact us through the website or at ctucongress@dundee.ac.uk
Dr Rod Jones
Chairman of the CTU Conference Organising Committee
University race team show off latest designs
The engineering advances made the University of Dundee's Formula Student motor racing team, DRIVE, will be on show at the city's Botanic Garden on Wednesday October 6th. The team will have both their 2009 and 2010 cars on display to show the massive improvements in the car over the year.
They will also be discussing their plans for 2011 and beyond, with a number of new developments in the offing.
This includes developing a new bio-diesel engine design for the Alternative Energy class of the Formula Student competition, which challenges students to design, build, test and race a Formula-style racing car, culminating in a test-and-racing weekend at Silverstone.
Another exciting new venture for the Dundee team is an entry in the IMechE (Institute of Mechanical Engineers) Corporate Challenge for electric racing cars. This is being undertaken by first-year Mechanical Engineering students as part of their undergraduate coursework. Some of the students involved in this project will also be available to explain their ideas as they prepare for the event at Silverstone in April 2011.
The DRIVE team has also recently been approached by one of the top Formula Student teams in Germany with a proposal to collaborate in the manufacture of a car for the Shell Eco Marathon.
Dr Robert Keatch, Head of Mechanical Engineering at Dundee, said, "This is a great honour and a tribute to the achievements of the team over the past few years. The have gone from strength to strength and the success of their design and hard work is paying dividends in showcasing the ability and professionalism of these exceptional Mechanical engineers."
Anyone who would like to meet with the team, or feels they can offer help or assistance in any form, is invited to come along to the Botanic Gardens on Wednesday October 6th. The event starts at 6:30 pm for 7 pm.
For further information contact Alan Slade on 01382 38 51 60.
Civil Engineering PhD student awarded prestigious Scholarship
James Franklin, a 2nd year PhD student in Civil Engineering has been awarded a John Moyes Lessells Travel Scholarship from the Royal Society of Edinburgh to enable him to spend 2 months in the Mechanics Division of the Department of Mathematics at The University of Oslo in
The Inaugural RV Jones Lecture : What Lies Beneath?
Peter Davies, Professor of Fluid Dynamics at the University of Dundee has been invited to present the Inaugural Lecture in the new RV Jones Lecture Series developed by the University of Aberdeen's School of Engineering to commemorate one of the institution's most distinguished Professors in Applied Physics, who played a key role in the defence of Britain during World War II. Further details - http://www.abdn.ac.uk/events/details-8465.php
Knowledge Transfer Partnership
Mechanical Engineering have been awarded two Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) grants worth £300k to optimise the performance and reliability of oil/gas tubular connections in ultra deep water wells. (Read more of this story)
University of Dundee Student wins Institution of Civil Engineers’ Papers Competition
Scott Robinson, an undergraduate civil engineering student from the University of Dundee has won the ICE Dundee Area Branch papers competition final. His paper was entitled "The Development of an Interactive Computerised Guide to Eurocode 2 Reinforced Concrete Design". He will now present his paper at the ICE Scotland final on the 22nd March. This will be held in the Tower Lecture theatre at 6pm, so please come along to support Scott.
Double whammy on the funding front for Dr Paul Campbell
Dr Paul Campbell, Reader in Physics in the School, has had a doubly-successful week on the grants front. On Thursday, it was announced that he had won a prestigious Royal Society Industry Fellowship, worth some £100K, and which will allow him to concentrate solely on cultivating a collaborative project with his industrial partners, the Cambridge-based scanning probe microscope manufacturers Ionscope, over the next 2 years, free of all teaching and administrative commitments.
The following day, Dr Campbell learned that a joint proposal with Professor Kishan Dholakia FRSE at St Andrews worth over £1 million had also been successful. This second grant, which is a follow up to an earlier Basic Technology Award from EPSRC, will allow the 2 University groups to develop their joint technology platform into a translational entity. The focus with the grant will be to exploit lasers and laser-based tools, for generic drug delivery but with a special interest with molecular delivery into skin. This latter aspect will be pursued in collaboration with Professor Irwin McLean FRSE of the Division of Molecular Medicine in the College of Life Sciences, who is a co-applicant to the award.
Scottish Geotechnical Group Poster Competition. John Jeffrey, a Civil Engineering PhD student scoops first prize
John Jeffrey, a Civil Engineering PhD student at Dundee University, scooped first prize at the annual poster competition hosted jointly by the ICE Scottish Geotecnical Group and the Central Scotland Regional Group of the Geological Society on 8th December 2009. Jeffrey's poster on 'Investigating the Performance of the CHD Piling Technique in Granular Soil' saw off competition from 12 other entrants with poster topics including the site investigation for the new Forth crossing and retaining walls at the New Lanark World Heritage site. Jeffrey wins an engraved trophy and a geotechnical text of his choice. Mike Brown, Scottish Geotechnical Group
Day of physics to give taste of university life
Around 120 Advanced Higher pupils from Dundee, Angus, Fife and Edinburgh went to the University of Dundee for a "Day of Physics" designed to give them a flavour of studying the subject at undergraduate level. (Read more of this story)
Excellence and innovation in teaching recognised
Academics from the University of Dundee have had their contribution to teaching at the University recognised with a series of awards that celebrate excellent and innovative teaching. (Read more of this story)
£1.7million grant to help solve maths cancer puzzle
Mathematicians at the University of Dundee have been awarded a major European grant of almost €1.7million to develop a virtual model of cancer growth and spread. (Read more of this story)
Future bright for Dundee's Leverhulme prize winners
Two researchers in the School of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics at the University of Dundee have been named among the winners of this year’s Philip Leverhulme Prizes, awarded by the Leverhulme Trust.
Dr David Pontin, Lecturer in Mathematics, and Dr Maria Ana Cataluna, Royal Academy of Engineering/EPSRC Research Fellow & Lecturer, each receive £70,000 to fund activity around their research.
The Prizes are awarded to outstanding scholars who have made a substantial and recognised contribution to their particular field of study, recognised at an international level, and where the expectation is that their greatest achievement is yet to come.
The Prizes commemorate the contribution to the work of the Trust made by Philip Leverhulme, the Third Viscount Leverhulme and grandson of the Founder.
The broad fields of research covered by this year’s awards were:
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Economics
- Engineering
- Geography
- Modern European Languages and Literature
- Performing and Visual Arts
Dr Pontin's research examines the behaviour of magnetic fields, which play a crucial role in the dynamics of plasma on all scales, from galaxies to the Sun, the Earth's magnetosphere and laboratory nuclear fusion devices.
'My work is based around modelling the behaviour of these magnetic fields, which typically have a highly complex three-dimensional structure,' said Dr Pontin. 'One particular focus is on understanding ‘magnetic reconnection' - the process which allows a magnetic field to change its structure, often accompanied by an explosive release of energy. Studying this underlying physical mechanism of energy release can help us understand a wide variety of phenomena, such as solar flares, the formation of stars, magnetospheric substorms in the Earth's upper atmosphere, and disruptions that halt the production of energy in nuclear fusion machines.
'One research topic that this award will help me pursue is the evolution of the magnetic field in the Sun's atmosphere (or 'corona'). One of the greatest puzzles in solar physics is how the corona is heated to temperatures of millions of degrees, while the solar surface temperature is only a few thousand degrees. One key aim of my research will be to understand under what conditions explosive energy release can occur, and the details of how this may heat the coronal plasma.'
Dr Cataluna is engaged in the research and development of a new generation of miniature and versatile ultrafast lasers.
'Instead of emitting light in a continuous manner, an ultrafast laser generates incredibly short bursts of light. Ultrafast lasers have important applications in medicine, micromachining, optical communications, spectroscopy, and other applications which require extremely high optical peak powers or extremely short time scales. For example, ultrafast lasers have shown a tremendous potential for non invasive imaging techniques which can probe into live cells or tissues, without disrupting their biological activity. However, most of the currently available ultrafast lasers are bulky, costly and complex, which inhibits the widespread uptake of these non-invasive diagnostics.'
'This award will be really helpful in accelerating the development of these miniature lasers and maximise their far-reaching impact in a number of imaging and sensing applications, particularly in the biomedical sciences,' said Dr Cataluna.
Professor Gordon Marshall, Director of The Leverhulme Trust, said 'The standard of the nominated candidates was encouragingly high, and the eventual recipients of Prizes were judged by the panel to be truly outstanding in their fields, with records of proven achievement, as well as telling promise for the future.'
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