Science in the spotlight through CEIA awards
Two teachers have been awarded for their efforts to advance science in secondary schools. Cork’s technology network, the CEIA, honoured Rosemary Ferriter, a teacher at St Vincent’s and Sean Finn of Coláiste Daibhéid, at its 35th AGM.
Rosemary and Sean are practising teachers who help develop electronics and physics skills in the next generation of student teachers through the delivery of the CEIA-funded Exploring Electronics module at UCC.
On receiving his award, Sean spoke of his pride at helping others to improve how they deliver their lessons.
“This is a real team effort involving industry and education. By improving how we teach STEM subjects, and by interacting with industry early, we can all work towards the common goal of increasing the numbers interested in engineering subjects at third level. I am very proud to have been given this award, and hope that other teachers will benefit from the work of the CEIA,” he said.
Top-performing third level students were also acknowledged. Conor Walsh studied electronic engineering in CIT and received top marks in his class in three out of four years, earning him the CEIA award for Electronic Engineering Student of the Year.
Conor also benefited from UCC’s Ignite program, an award-winning business incubation programme supporting recent graduate entrepreneurs. Conor has co-founded Traxsit, which is an innovative GPS tracking device to fight rural theft. The wireless device is independently powered for up to nine years and requires no installation.
The award for the top graduate from UCC’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering was Barry Ryan. Barry is currently an employee in Qualcomm, a CEIA member company.
Valerie Cowman, Skills & Education Chairperson of CEIA congratulated the winners and said: “For three and a half decades, CEIA has recognised excellence in education attainment, giving an award to the top level 8 graduate in CIT Electronic Engineering and to the top graduate from UCC’s school of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. We congratulate both Conor and Barry on their success and wish them well in their future careers. We are also very proud of the standard of teaching of science subjects, as exemplified by the winners of our teaching awards, Rosemary and Sean. We believe it is important that teacher’s voices are heard to ensure our students are allowed to reach their full potential in the areas of science, technology, engineering and maths.”
The recent CEIA AGM was attended by industry leaders from across Cork, including CEO of Cork Chamber Conor Healy, Chief Operations Officer of Boston Scientific, Cathal Reilly and Enterprise Technical Sales Representative at DellEMC Alan Kelly. In his address to the AGM, Mr Healy noted the incredible contribution that the CEIA continues to make connecting the tech sector in Cork.
Mr Healy said: “I would like to pay tribute to the work of the CEIA as a support for this vitally important industry. Thirty-five years as a voluntary organisation should not be underestimated, and CEIA is critical to bringing together the various elements of this vital sector in a meaningful way.”