Winner reports

Graham was voted the winner of  in 2018. Here he reports back on using his €500 prize money to do purchase 3D printers for the members of a local CoderDojo club to use. If you’re an engineer who’d like funding to support your own STEM outreach activities, apply now for I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here at imanengineer.ie/engineers Having won the I’m an Engineer Robotics Zone, I looked for an organisation that could help me to bring 3D printing to young people. I went with CoderDojo Dun Laoghaire and signed up as a Technical Mentor. I purchased three ANET A8 3D printers and some filament and some of the young people recently assembled the first one. This 3D printer is now available to the members of the CoderDojo for printing out parts they may need for their projects such as Robotic Arms, Remote Control vehicles, or cases for their Raspberry Pi’s. … Continue reading →

Martin won the Metre Zone of I’m an Engineer Ireland in 2015. He reports on how he used his €500 prize money for further engineering outreach work. The take-home message from my work with the I’m an Engineer project was that the future of engineering in Ireland is extremely bright. Over the course of the two weeks I was involved in the project, the number of insightful, clever and well-considered engineering questions coming from the students was remarkable. Working as a medical device engineer in the National University of Ireland Galway, we benefit from the fundamental science and engineering skills developed by students at both primary and second level. By the time they arrive at third level, their interest and engagement with science and engineer has already been well nurtured. This is exemplified by the recipients of my I’m an Engineer prize fund, the local Presentation College Headford, who used … Continue reading →

Ned was voted the winner of Space Zone in February 2016. Here he reports back on how he used his €500 prize money for more public engagement with space engineering. If you’d like to engage with schools online, and have the chance to win funding for your own outreach activities, apply for the next I’m an Engineer at imanengineer.ie/engineers-apply The charity Brighter Communities (formerly Friends of Londiani) brings together schools in Ireland and Kenya to share experiences, break-down barriers and promote understanding around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. One of the methods used is Skype conferencing. Given the limited resources available to the many schools in rural Kenya, I thought it would be great to support their access to our technological world, by donating the money I won through I’m an Engineer, to Brighter Communities, to help them purchase a laptop, with internet accessibility which could be used as part of … Continue reading →

Padraic was voted the winner of the Boole Zone in February of 2015 and got straight to work making the most of his £500. Here he tells us what he’s been up to in the last year… Since 2015 was the International Year of Light I thought the most fitting way to spend the prize money from I’m an Engineer was to develop some workshops to explain how lasers and light are used in high speed internet connections and data transmission. After some research, I found a really interesting experiment where a laser was used to transmit the sound from a CD player across a room with the data encoded on the laser beam itself. I bought some electrical adapters, lasers and circuit boards online and started to build one of these transmitters myself. After a little work I got it going and had music from my phone being wirelessly transmitted … Continue reading →