Imperial graduates share their thoughts at the 2014 Alumni reunion

Alumni spanned generational and geographic devides with former students coming from as far as Nigeria, India & Bahrain. We spoke with some of them.

Shiten Patel (Computing 1989, MSc Management School 1990) Nital Patel née Aujla (Computing 1989, MSc Management School 1990)

N: We're celebrating our 21st wedding anniversary this weekend, so it seems quite fitting to be here at Imperial, where we met all those years ago, as first year Computing students on the steps of the Huxley Building! We tried to find the steps to recreate the moment, but they look a bit different, best to preserve the pristine memory perhaps! I do remember those first words I said to Shiten though, which were along the lines of 'are you studying Computing?'

S: Having attended all-boys schools my entire life previously,  this was a completely new situation to find myself in, with a girl speaking to me, but eventually, I think I just about managed a yes!

N: The Festival has been fantastic; just a really great day. We explored some of the Research Zone and then caught up with some old friends at the decade networking sessions and now we're in the Union just enyoing a drink before we go. This building brings back some great memories too - Shiten and I used to run the Indian Society together and we hosted a Holi festival event in here and made an almighty mess with the coloured powder all over the wooden panels. We've been expecting a cleaning bill ever since!

Steven Dobney (Electrical Engineering, 1980)

It's my first time back to Imperial in over 20 years since graduating so it's just quite strange to be back. I used to be president of the rugby club, so I'm hoping to be able to find the ale tankard in the union with my name engraved on it!

Nostalgia aside though, it's a great event - my son is starting to show a real interest in science and maths, so it's useful to be able to show him where that can potentially lead, even if he's too young yet to be making a firm commitment to any avenue in particuar.

Ang Hamilton née Creissen (Chemistry 1991, Management School 1992

I decided to bring along my kids and husband [pictured] and they seem to be having the most fun! I really wasn't sure what to expect to be honest, but I'm so glad that there is something for the young ones too... and all age groups really! I think we're going to do some activities at the Reach out Lab after this.

It's my first time back here in many years. I emigrated to Australia and lived and worked there as an IT analyst for around 10 years then returned to the UK recently.

Brian Swinburne (Mathematics 1991)

I never got the chance to explore the tunnels nor go upto the Queen's Tower whilst I was studying here, so it's quite a novelty to do that now, 20 years after I left, and a nice thing to offer alumni I think.

I've travelled from Wiltshire where I work for Astrium, as a spacecraft and satellite engineer designing flight systems, primarily for military and defence applcations.

It's interesting to see some of the robotics research going on the College, trying to work towards autonomous systems, which is related to my own field.

Dr Michael Gray (Chemistry 1988, PhD Organic Chemistry 1992)

I've just been on a tour of the Hamlyn Centre for Robotics Surgery, which was really interesting, particularly the work with the non-invasive imaging of tumors using an endoscope. In my career I've been involved in developing  imaging agents for Alzheimer’s Disease and tumor detection, as well as new generation medical devices.

I'm currently working on a new outreach project, Arts Tech Fusion, which is a sort of summer school to get kids interested in science and arts with a range of hands-on activities, so I'm looking for possible inspiration and ideas at the Imperial Festival as well.

Dr Ibironke Sodeinke née Abari (Royal Postgraduate Medical School 1994)

I've travelled from my home country of Nigeria to be here. I attended the reunion with my daughter who is currently a student at Cardiff Sixth Form College and is interested in stuying Medicine at the College. It was, for both of us, an excellent experience; the program was splendid.

Let our great College keep the flag of outstanding excellence flying!