INSIGHTS / News

A University of Bristol engineering mathematics graduate has been awarded one of Europe’s most important awards for science, engineering and technology undergraduates.

Philip Kingsley, a graduate in engineering mathematics, has been awarded the prestigious 2012 Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) award for the Best Information Technology Student.

The SET awards are Europe’s most prestigious awards for undergraduates and are given to the best students in each category following a competitive selection process where the technical, presentation, and communication skills are assessed by a panel of experts from world-leading companies.

Philip impressed the judges with the quality and breadth of his final-year individual research project, “a 3D haptic-elastic table with multi-touch capabilities.” This ground-breaking project involved designing, developing and testing a new 3D interactive table that goes beyond current touch-screen technology. Instead of sliding a finger across a screen Philip’s table lets users put their hands into the table. This means that much more sophisticated and natural user interactions are possible, such as grabbing, throwing and 3D gesturing.

Dr Jonathan Rossiter, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Engineering Mathematics and Philip’s project supervisor, said: “We are incredibly proud of Philip and his award. This is the perfect recognition for Philip’s dedication and enthusiasm in developing this project and all his work during the degree program.

“The aim of the Department of Engineering Mathematics is to ensure our students become the very best problem solvers in engineering and mathematics and Philip embodies that ideal.”

Philip Kingsley, speaking about his award, said: “I thoroughly enjoyed working on such an exciting project and am really grateful to everyone within engineering mathematics for their support and for making this project possible.”

Philip graduated in July this year with a first class MEng in Engineering Mathematics and is now working at IPL, a leading software engineering solutions company, as a junior programmer.

A demonstration video of Philip’s eTable is available on YouTube  here