TCD Students Awarded SFI/ Dell Young Women in Engineering Scholarship Awards

Posted on: 27 November 2009

Three Trinity College Dublin School of Engineering students were among a group of ten students nationwide to win the 2009 Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)/ Dell Young Women in Engineering Scholarship Awards.  The awards, which were announced recently by the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Conor Lenihan, aim to encourage more female students into engineering as an undergraduate degree and future career.

In announcing the winners Minister Lenihan said: “These awards play an invaluable role in helping to raise the profile of engineering among women to encourage wider female participation within the profession in Ireland. Considering the impact of science and technology on society, it is essential that women contribute to, and bring the perspective of women to the design and development of future production and innovation.”

Ciaran Simms TCD, Fiona McCarthy Dell, TCD Students Triona Byrne, Kate Gillen and Helen Fletcher together with Minister for Science Technology & Innovation Conor Lenihan and Wendy McLoone, SFI 

The three TCD first year engineering students who won awards were Triona Byrne from Kildare along with Helen Fletcher and Kate Gillen, both from Dublin.

This is the fourth year of the SFI/ Dell Young Women in Engineering awards for women starting engineering degree programmes.  The designated courses are among those where women have traditionally been under-represented at the undergraduate level.  The overall value of the SFI/ Dell Scholarship award per student amounts to approximately €20,000.  The scholarship package comprises an annual award of€?2,000, a Dell notebook computer, together with the assistance and support of a research active mentor throughout their undergraduate career and the opportunity to spend summer months in a research internship in either university or industry.

Director HR, Dell Global Operations, Fiona McCarthy, said: “One of the reasons for Dell’s success as a company globally is that we have a diverse workforce to meets the needs of our extremely diverse customer base. It is incredibly important that women continue to enter disciplines like engineering, science and technology because if Ireland is truly to develop as a Smart Economy, we need the people working in it to represent different backgrounds, disciplines, ethnicities and sexes. I congratulate the graduates today who are role models for girls at school who are thinking now about what they want to study and I would strongly encourage them to consider careers in science, technology and engineering.”

2009 SFI/ Dell Scholars List:

Student Name                    Degree

Triona Byrne                        Trinity College Dublin – Engineering 

Helen Fletcher                     Trinity College Dublin – Engineering     

Kate Gillen                          Trinity College Dublin – Engineering   

Deirdre Doody                     University College Cork – Energy Engineering    

Clare Dunne                        University College Cork – Energy Engineering    

Fiona Edwards-Murphy        University College Cork – Electrical and Electronic Engineering 

Clíona Flood                       NUI Galway – Engineering

Fiona Malone                      University of Limerick – Biomedical Engineering

Anne O’Connor                    University College Dublin – Engineering Science 

Rhoda Wade                       University College Dublin – Engineering