UCD College of Engineering & Architecture

Christian Nea
Civil Engineering Graduate
UCD

It is sometimes difficult for someone who has just finished their Leaving Certificate to be certain of which career is right for them. The benefit of studying Civil Engineering at UCD is that you learn problem-solving skills that are transferable to, and well recognised in, other fields and industries. A significant number of students in my year subsequently developed careers in other areas such as banking and management. A degree in Civil Engineering from UCD is a good solid degree. I put UCD top of my list because it has one of, if not the best, reputations for Civil Engineering in Ireland. My interest in the environmental aspects of civil engineering was initiated and developed while studying Civil Engineering at UCD. As a result I have been working as an environmental engineer at the National Roads Authority (NRA) for the last four years. I work in the Environmental Unit, where my work involves developing and communicating the NRA’s environmental policy. These policy documents provide guidance on dealing with a number of environmental impacts which can occur during the planning and construction of national road schemes such as: air quality; noise and vibration; ecological (e.g., impacts on bats, otters, badgers, watercourse, trees and hedgerows); landscape, architectural and archeological heritage; and, hydrological, hydrogeological and geological impacts. A significant portion of my time is spent advising those involved in the project management of individual schemes on environmental issues. I also advise on environmental law issues. This has led me to study law with a view to developing my knowledge in environmental law, which is why I recently completed a LL.B. I have great memories from my time at UCD. The Civil Engineering programme was quite intensive. Generally, there were lectures in the morning and lab work in the afternoon. Working in the various laboratories was very interesting and there was always a great camaraderie between students. The lab sessions were great craic, which made attending labs or lectures good fun. Engineering has always had a reputation for having an excellent social scene. I would recommend Civil Engineering at UCD to any prospective student. It certainly is an ideal starting point for a career in civil engineering, and it is also looked very favourably upon in other industries.

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David Burke
Electrical Engineering graduate
UCD

At Google’s London headquarters, amongst the primary coloured exercise balls and a giant projection of a spinning globe – highlighting all of the Google searches happening in real time all over the world, works Dave Burke, a graduate of Electrical Engineering (EE) at UCD.

“I decided to study engineering as I wanted to understand the fundamentals of all the cool technologies and gadgets I saw around me and have the skills and knowledge to one day invent my own.

My favourite subjects in school were physics, maths, applied maths and economics. I saw and still do see EE as a great foundation to allow students to pursue a wide variety of directions ranging from cutting-edge electronics, to software development and biomedical engineering.

I don’t think I could have selected a better course than the EE course in UCD. The EE course at UCD focuses on the fundamentals and not on technologies that quickly become dated. Moreover, the course equips you with the skills to analyse and think for yourself - you learn how to learn!

After my undergraduate degree, I went on to do a Masters and then a PhD. My PhD involved studying the electrical activity in the brain and allowed me to get a good grounding in other areas outside of engineering such as mathematical neuroscience. EE gave me the tools and confidence to learn any subject. As a result, I was able to bring together different ideas from different fields and really be innovative at an advanced level.

Later, I went on to found and manage a leading-edge software development company. Again, the skills I picked up doing EE were a real benefit here, notably being able to analyse a problem, propose solutions, and to think rationally, quantitatively, and objectively.

I am currently an engineering manager at Google’s largest mobile development office, based in London. I direct a team of around 30 of the smartest engineers from all over the world working on mobile products ranging from Google Maps for Mobile to Picasa and You Tube. We invent new technologies and techniques that touch a huge amount of people every day. I found my time at UCD fantastic! I met lots of smart interesting people who have become life-long friends. The social scene at UCD was really good. Engineers know how to party!”.

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Dr Mark Barrett
Chemical Engineering graduate
UCD - 2005

I chose Chemical Engineering as I really enjoyed both chemistry and maths for the Leaving Cert. I also was aware that Chemical Engineering offered excellent job opportunities, in Ireland and abroad. And I think that Chemical Engineering at UCD is a very well-rounded degree, offering real flexibility in terms of career paths choices.

A great aspect of Chemical Engineering at UCD is the class size. There were just 33 students in my class, which meant that I got to know everyone on a one-to-one basis. The final year undergraduate design project is also really enjoyable as you work as a member of a team, with four or five of your classmates, designing a chemical or biopharmaceutical plant.

Through the School, I obtained an industrial placement during the summer of 3rd year, working in a pharmaceutical company in Ireland. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to apply engineering theory, which I’d learned in lecture and laboratory courses, to real life applications in a production facility. After I graduated in 2005, I was offered a place on the FÁS Science Challenge Program, which involved a summer studying at NASA and working with the Florida Space Authority (FSA). This was an amazing experience for me, being mentored by and working directly with NASA-based scientists and astronauts. I returned to Dublin determined to continue with Chemical Engineering research and in 2008 I graduated from UCD with a PhD in Chemical Engineering.

From a career perspective, the PhD program at UCD opened so many doors for me: I travelled throughout the world, attending and presenting at conferences, where I got to meet with leading international scientists, as well as potential employers. After spending some time in industry, I’ve now returned to UCD, as a Senior Research & Development Engineer with the Crystallisation Research Group. This group is a part of a national research effort, the SSPC (Solid-State Pharmaceutical Cluster) and my role is to work closely with our industrial partners from the pharmaceutical sector on collaborative research and training projects.

But it’s not all work! The social scene in UCD is great and life on campus offers everything a student could need! My strongest memories of UCD would have to be of the great friends I’ve made. And those friends, coupled with a Chemical Engineering degree and doctorate, have made my time in UCD extremely enjoyable and satisfying.

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William Purcell
Mechanical Engineering graduate
UCD - 2003

Rolls-Royce, Civil Aerospace, UK.
”I always had an interest in aerospace. I was good at maths, science and problem solving in school, so I decided to pursue Mechanical Engineering because it was such a broad discipline. The UCD honours degree had a great balance of lectures, practicals and project work. There‘s no denying it’s a challenging course, but we all had a great time doing it because the engineers are a fun-loving crowd. After Third Year the College arranged a summer internship for me in Canada. That's one of the great things about engineering – it’s a profession that travels easily. And now I’m working for Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace in the UK, doing what I want to do, working as part of a team of engineers that develop engines for the Airbus A380 Super Jumbo. The hard work really paid off. I feel confident in any technical meeting with other engineers, because of the solid background I received in UCD.”

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Brid Mullany
Marie Curie Research Fellow, Zeiss AG, Germany
Mechanical Engineering, UCD - 1995
PhD Mechanical Engineering, UCD - 2002

During the course of her PhD, Brid presented her work to international conferences in the United States and Europe. She also worked for a year in the US doing experimental work for her final thesis. On completion of her PhD she was awarded the prestigious Marie Curie Research Fellowship with Carl Zeiss in Germany. Carl Zeiss make optics and lenses for everything from eyeglasses to microscopes, from medical equipment to large telescopes.“I would recommend engineering as a career. Engineering provides great opportunities, not only with respect to what type of job you get but also with respect to what country you can work in afterwards. Even if you never work as an engineer, after completing your degree you will find that the problem-solving skills and reasoning that you acquired along the way will stand to you no matter what career path you take.”Brid Mullany Marie Curie Research Fellow, Zeiss AG, Germany. Mechanical Engineering, UCD, 1995. PhD Mechanical Engineering, UCD, 2002. During the course of her PhD, Brid presented her work to international conferences in the United States and Europe. She also worked for a year in the US doing experimental work for her final thesis. On completion of her PhD she was awarded the prestigious Marie Curie Research Fellowship with Carl Zeiss in Germany. Carl Zeiss make optics and lenses for everything from eyeglasses to microscopes, from medical equipment to large telescopes.“I would recommend engineering as a career. Engineering provides great opportunities, not only with respect to what type of job you get but also with respect to what country you can work in afterwards. Even if you never work as an engineer, after completing your degree you will find that the problem-solving skills and reasoning that you acquired along the way will stand to you no matter what career path you take.”Brid Mullany Marie Curie Research Fellow, Zeiss AG, Germany. Mechanical Engineering, UCD, 1995. PhD Mechanical Engineering, UCD, 2002. During the course of her PhD, Brid presented her work to international conferences in the United States and Europe. She also worked for a year in the US doing experimental work for her final thesis. On completion of her PhD she was awarded the prestigious Marie Curie Research Fellowship with Carl Zeiss in Germany. Carl Zeiss make optics and lenses for everything from eyeglasses to microscopes, from medical equipment to large telescopes.“I would recommend engineering as a career. Engineering provides great opportunities, not only with respect to what type of job you get but also with respect to what country you can work in afterwards. Even if you never work as an engineer, after completing your degree you will find that the problem-solving skills and reasoning that you acquired along the way will stand to you no matter what career path you take.”

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Laura Dillon
Chemical Engineering Graduate
UCD - 2001

‘I chose Chemical Engineering as I always liked mathematics and quantitative problems. I also wanted to study something which would leave my future career options open. Chemical Engineering met all my requirements. It’s a demanding but very stimulating course. I loved the diversity of subjects studied. While at UCD I made great friends and found time to sail competitively, representing Ireland at Olympic level. After graduation in 2001, I moved to London to work in management consulting. My classmates have taken very different career paths – many in the pharmaceutical and oil industries, some in strategy management consulting, others in banking – and are now located all over the world, including Africa, Japan, San Francisco, Chicago, London and Ireland After two years with McKinsey & Co. in London, I volunteered in Africa for four months, leading a project team funded by the World Bank to “Assess the Feasibility of Horticulture in Mozambique”. This required the project management and strong technical skills in which my Chemical Engineering degree gave me great credibility. I worked with agronomists, freight experts, farmers, flower growers, NGOs and many great African people! As a result of this project, the horticulture and farming sector in Mozambique is growing and the World Bank has invested in the region. Now, having just completed an MBA in Harvard, I’m returning to London to work as a Private Equity Senior Associate.’

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Padraig McManus
Chief Executive - Electricity Supply Board (ESB)
Electrical Engineering Graduate

UCD. Padraig joined ESB in 1973. In 2002 he became the Chief Executive. In the intervening period he has worked for ESB Networks and ESB International. He spent time in Saudi Arabia, as well as Ghana, where he managed the electricity system and spent four years rebuilding the power system on a World Bank project. This was followed by projects in Cambodia, Sierra Leone and the Philippines for ESB International. During the mid-1990s, as part of the ESB management team, he helped to develop and deliver the major company restructuring agreement. He was appointed Managing Director, ESB International in 1997, and Commercial Director of ESB in 2001 until his appointment as ESB Chief Executive.

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Shane Kelly
Chemical Engineering Graduate
UCD - 2003

‘For me, Chemical Engineering offered the perfect balance of problem solving, maths and science (especially chemistry). It’s also a very wellrounded course, combining lectures, practical and project work. The degree is so solid in its foundation that it allows graduates the flexibility of exploring many professions. Without doubt, it was a demanding course but the rewards after graduation certainly make it worthwhile. I enjoyed taking what I learnt at lectures in the morning and putting the theory into practice that afternoon in laboratory practicals. At the end of third year I worked for an engineering consultancy and was based on a large biopharmaceutical construction site. The experience provided a fantastic insight into the complexities and issues involved in the construction of a major Bio-Pharma facility. After graduating in 2003 I returned to the pharmaceutical sector, joining a two-year graduate training programme. This programme allows graduates to gain vital experience in many aspects of the Pharma industry before specialising. The job provided a superb experience base in a very short period of time. Now, I’m a Project Manager with a biotechnology company and part of the team responsible for planning the company’s $1bn manufacturing facility in Cork.’

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