Engineering award no sweat for student (From The Northern Echo)

Engineering award no sweat for student

9:15am Thursday 10th December 2009

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THE Institution of Civil Engineers’ (Ice) has named its student of the year.

The annual award was presented to Srimali Abeyrathne in recognition of her talent in engineering design, her coursework and examination results.

For the past four years, Ms Abeyrathne has studied civil engineering at Teeside University after moving to the area from Sri Lanka where she first became interested in water-related engineering design.

After impressing bosses during a placement year at Scott Wilson Civil Engineers, Ms Abeyrathne earned herself a job as a graduate civil engineer with the Middlesborough-based firm. She said: “I’m very proud to have received the institute’s Student Prize.”

With more than 80,000 members, the Institution of Civil Engineers has been established for more than 200 years as a global qualifying organisation for engineers, aiming to provide and encourage professional development within the industry and act as a voice for it’s members.

Membership development officer for the North-East, Mike Airey said: “Srimali has done very well and is a very deserving winner.”

The institution said that figures from October 2005 until October this year show a significant increase in the number of student members as a result of work with schools and universities. There has also been a rise in graduate membership.

Student membership has grown from 159 to 454, an increase of about 285 per cent, during that time.

Graduate membership has risen from 419 to 460.

Laura Tweddle, chairman of the the institution’s North-East Graduates and Students Committee, said: “A lot of hard work goes into our education programme and it is great to see it paying off.”

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