February 2013 NUI Galway Students Win Prestigious National Logistics and Transport Awards

NUI Galway’s Commerce students scooped first, second and joint third prize in the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport Ireland ‘Student Idea of the Year’ Awards at a special ceremony in Dublin recently.

The awards are presented to the originators of the most innovative ideas which could make the most significant contribution to some aspect of the logistics industry in Ireland.

NUI Galway student Seán Ó Muircheartaigh from Rahoon, Galway City, was announced winner with his project ‘Easy Smart Travel Ireland’. Seán wrote a paper which focused on the feasibility and the design of a system which integrated public transport services using seamless smart mobile ticketing technologies.

Second place was awarded to NUI Galway student Alex Hannon-Cross from Barna, Co. Galway. His project, ‘An Intelligent Public Transport System’, aimed to assess the viability of big data application orientated solutions for the public transport system, with the purpose of increasing efficiency and maximising resource usage.

Third place was presented to NUI Galway international student, Kerry Creehan from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, USA. Her project ‘Exploring Out of Bounds’ designed a mobile application which uses offline capabilities for navigation and points of interest. The prototypes uses technology efficiently employing vector based maps rather than raster so that data is not stored as pixels.

Mary Dempsey, College of Engineering and Informatics, NUI Galway said: “The positive indicators of economic growth are fuelled by the knowledge economy. I believe our graduates are well positioned to aid in the continued recovery of our country. Our students have an important role to play in creating the technologies of the future and engineering a path to a better future for all citizens. NUI Galway has established a learning platform for student innovations to be nurtured. I am encouraged that professionals in the industry who judge this national competition continue to reward our students for their innovations.”

-ENDS-