Postgraduate Awards 2014

Postgraduate prizewinners at the Electrical & Electronic Engineering reception (l-r) Jean Baylocq, Florent Vouin, Michael Merlin (PhD), Priyank Hirani and Jean Weatherwax. (Photo: D Harvey)

The Postgraduate Awards ceremony on 7th May gave the department the opportunity to welcome back 62 MSc graduates and 39 PhD graduates.

Following the formal award ceremony in the Royal Albert Hall where the graduates were presented with their degree certificates by Professor Keith O’Nions, the Rector and President, the Department held a reception for our graduates and their guests. Professor Andrew Holmes, Director of Postgraduate Studies, presented the Departmental prizes.

Michael Merlin was awarded the Eryl Cadwaladr Davies Prize for best doctoral thesis: “Energy management system of an electric cart” which was supervised by Professor Tim Green. Michael's thesis details the development and the extensive study of a new type of hybrid voltage source converter, named the Alternate Arm Converter (AAC), intended for high voltage DC applications. Some of his work focuses on the complex control aspects associated with the AAC and their associated design trade-offs. While working on his PhD, Michael has had the opportunity to work closely with a major power electronics manufacturer, which has led to the filing of three patents.

Michael’s passion for electrical engineering sparked while he was studying at “Institut Universitaire de Belfort-Montbéliard” (France) from 2003 to 2005. He gained his MSc in Control Systems with Merit from Imperial College in 2008 before beginning his PhD in the department. Since completing his PhD last year, Michael has worked as a research associate in our Control and Power group, where his research focus is the modelling and control of high power HVDC converters.

Jean Weatherwax was awarded the Hertha Aryton prize for MSc project with most significant contribution for her dissertation on "A self-calibrating sensing array for continuous glucose monitoring in diabetes." Jean was awarded a Marshall Scholarship to study in the UK for two years, and is now studying for a MSc in Space Science and Technology at University College London.

Prizes for outstanding achievement in MSc were presented to Florent Vouin (MSc Communications and Signal Processing), Priyant Hirani (MSc Analogue and Digital Integrated Circuit Design). Jean Baylocq was awarded the Ivor Tupper Prize for Excellence in Signal Processing, Broadcasting and Video Technology. Yu Lei, winner of the MSc Control outstanding achievement award was unable to attend the ceremony.

We send our congratulations to all our graduates and prizewinners, and wish them all the very best in their future careers.