Student wins top award from the International Society of Automation

GMIT Science student Aoife Monahan from Tubber, Co Clare, has won a prestigious award from the International Society of Automation (ISA) at the ISA Honours and Awards ceremony held recently in University College Cork. Aoife won ‘Best Final Year Degree Student’ on the GMIT Bachelor of Science degree in Physics & Instrumentation.

The ISA, which recognises excellence in students training for careers in Instrumentation, Systems and Automation, made seven awards this academic year, four to third-level students and three to industry.

Aoife’s lecturer Gareth Roe, who nominated her for the international award, says: “Aoife has been an outstanding student. This is evidenced by her results from first and second year where she achieved overall results of 85.5% (GPA) and 90.2% (GPA) respectively and is further supported by her third  year degree results which show her overall average was 80% being at distinction level or well above. Her subjects range from Computerised Instrument Systems (79%) to Robotics & Automation (80%) to Physics (77%).”

Alan Bateman, ISA President, paid tribute to the Co Clare student, saying: “Aoife displays a natural aptitude and enthusiasm combined with a determined persistence in her studies of both the theoretical and practical aspects of instrumentation and applied physics. Through her coursework and experience to date Aoife has a proven impressive ability in both the theory and then the practical implementation of instrument systems. She has also demonstrated a distinct ability for both individual project work and collaborative work as part of a team.”

“In her second year individual project she took on the challenging task of building a working transmittance heart rate monitoring system. This involved constructing the sensor system and associated signal conditioning, interfacing the processed signal to a PC and then developing and using a LabViewTM program to interpret and display the incoming signal in terms of heart rate. The end result was a system that was not only fully functioning but was also delivered with significant attention to detail”.

GMIT’s Head of Dept of Computer Science and Applied Physics, Dr Sean Duignan, says: “This is a fantastic achievement for Aoife personally and indeed for GMIT.  I’m delighted to extend my congratulations to Aoife on this well-deserved award and recognition.  The award is a clear endorsement too of the quality of the B.Sc. in Physics & Instrumentation here in GMIT. This degree is highly regarded both nationally and internationally, and graduates of physics and instrumentation programmes continue to enjoy a wide range of exciting career opportunities.”

For further information on GMIT Science programmes, see: www.gmit.ie/science/school-science

About ISA Ireland: The Ireland section of ISA has conducted an annual Honours & Awards programme since 1980.  ISA has 35,000 members in 95 countries. The ISA is a global, non-profit, educational organisation connecting people and ideas in automation and control. The Society fosters advancement in the theory, design, manufacture and use of sensors, instruments, computers and systems for automation and control in a wide variety of applications.