Congratulations to Rachel Beel, Glasgow Caledonian University, and to Dan Hicks, University of Brighton, joint winners of the 2020 EPC Hammermen Student Award.
The Hammermen Award is an annual prize, presented in association with the Hammermen of Glasgow, to celebrate engineering studentsā excellence. This yearās award received an unprecedented number of submissions and five finalists competed for the coveted prize at the EPC Congress. To see Rachel and Danās posters and multi-media pitches, as well as the other short and longlisted applicants, please click here.
We asked Rachel to tell us about her win and this is what she said:
“My name is Rachel Beel and I was one of the winners of this years Hammerman Award for my poster on the link between Academia and Industry.
My poster highlighted how my work placement in industry ended up driving me towards my final thesis topic. The skills and experience I had gained in the workplace were built upon by researching and completing my final thesis on: The Design, Manufacture and FEA of a Thin-Walled Pressure Vessel. My placement was at Pacson Valves in Dundee where I was in the engineering office working on 2D and 3D drawings and models, alongside pressure retaining calculations and some supply chain work. The main skills gained from this was the ability to apply a design code to calculations correctly and figuring out how to do so effectively. I took it upon myself to use 3 different design codes in my thesis: the ASME BPVC, BS EN 13445 and PD500.
My poster also managed to highlight the struggles I had faced with being a student applying design codes and how certain sections and attributes would be left to āthe experience of the engineerā, along with a few others. However despite these struggles and a global pandemic I still managed to get a First-Class Honours degree from home.
My experience of the virtual congress and meeting the other finalists was great. Hearing about everyone elseās posters and what they were currently working on was very interesting and actually gave me little hope Iād manage to win since I seemed to be the only one at my level- just finishing my fourth year and graduating. If youāre thinking on entering you definitely should even if you donāt think youāll get anywhere with it. I never thought Iād be long-listed, never-mind a finalist or winning it so you never know what will happen! By next years congress I am hoping to be able to finally get a graduate job as COVID-19 has cancelled most, if not all, opportunities for me to get one right now. I have however managed to put the prize money towards a new iPad Air that will keep me entertained in the mean time, to draw and do some art commission work before hopefully moving forward in my engineering career.”
For information on other Hammermen awards, please visit their website.
