Portumna student wins top prize in national MIDAS electronic project competition

Paul Casey, a third-year student on the Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Services & Automation Engineering, has scooped the top award in the 2018 third-level MIDAS Electronic Project Competition, for designing, building and programming a product called ‘Check Weigher Conveyor System’, for his final year project. Paul came joint first with Anthony Wall, a final year PhD student from University College Cork (UCC).

The Check Weigher Conveyor System automatically loads product, weighs it and sorts it based on its weight. The project encompasses many of the skills and technologies Paul learned and practiced throughout his degree studies, notably the Automation and Electrical design module.

Paul, from Portumna, says: “To be shortlisted and to win the MIDAS Electronic Project Competition is a huge honor. It’s been hugely gratifying to have the work that I put into the project pay off. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have such a helpful cohort of lecturers throughout my degree programme who were always there to offer advice and support. I would especially like to thank Paul Ryan, my project supervisor, who was always available to offer advice and who helped me throughout every stage of the project development, Ray Weldon for making Industrial Automation such a dynamic an interesting subject to learn and also Barry Finnegan, Thomas Mullin, Seamus Leonard, Pat Cassidy, Clare Lundon and  Mairtin O’Conghaile who all played a part in making my time at GMIT a memorable and enjoyable experience.”

Ray Weldon, Course Director of the B. Eng. in Electrical Services and Automation Degree, says staff are very proud of Paul’s achievement. “Attaining such an accolade brings great honour to GMIT and to all in our department.”

Leonard Hobbs, Chairperson of MIDAS Ireland commended the calibre of the finalists, saying: “the standard was so high, it was impossible to divide the quality of the winning projects”.
Joint winner Anthony Wall's project is ‘Motyxia – Design and Stimulation of an Analog Front End for Cancer Detection by Fluorescence Imaging’. He and Paul Casey were each awarded €1,000.

MIDAS Ireland is an industry-led cluster consisting of industry, educational, research and government agencies working together to assist in the development of the micro and nano-electronics based systems sector in Ireland.

All entries were rated based on a number of criteria including, Technical quality, Originality, Abstract, Background and Motivation, Conclusions Drawn, Supporting References Used,Presentation Impact and Quality. For further information on this competition see:  http://www.midasireland.ie/news/2018/09/07/Shortlist-for-MIDAS-Electronic-Project-Competition-2018-Announced

ENDS

Regina Daly
GMIT Communications Officer
GMIT, Dublin Road, Galway
Tel. 091 742826 / 087-9618355 (m) regina.daly@gmit.ie
www.gmit.ie/news