November 2009 Success at Undergraduate Awards of Ireland for NUI Galway Students

President Mary McAleese presented six inaugural Undergraduate Awards of Ireland to NUI Galway students on 20 October in the Royal Irish Academy where 41 of Ireland's most outstanding undergraduates received awards. Over 1,600 submissions were received and the winners were selected through an academic review process by 33 separate panels. The Undergraduate Awards of Ireland were established to recognise and reward Ireland's most innovative young knowledge creators, to catalyse the development of the brightest undergraduates, and to inspire all undergraduates to achieve. In congratulating these students on their success in the Undergraduate Awards of Ireland programme, NUI Galway President Dr James J. Browne commended them on receiving this distinction by a body which recognizes Ireland's brightest undergraduates. "Their success will undoubtedly add lustre to the students' academic development, as well as underscore NUI Galway s increasing profile as a centre of world-class research and teaching". He continued by wishing them continued success in their academic endeavours. NUI Galway winners and essay titles: Philomena Ní Fhlatharta - Irish "Cillíní Páistí: briseadh croí faoi rún" Russell Ó Ríagáin - Archaeology "The rectilinear houses of the Irish early neolithic: the introduction of new identities, ideologies and economies" Kayla Reed - Irish "Innéacs de bhailiúchán amhrán a rinne Cosslett Ó Cuinn i nGabhla, i dToraigh agus in Árainn Mhór" Geraldine Galand - Nursing and Midwifery "Define nursing and discuss what you consider to be the key components of nursing care" Caroline Maritin - Earth & Ocean Sciences "Early human settlement in the British Isles as a function of retreat and advance of Northern Hemisphere glaciations: Comparisons with other mammal fauns" Linda O'Connor - Chemistry "Catalytic Methods for the Destruction of Chemical Warfare Agents under Ambient Conditions" The awards are open to undergraduates across the island of Ireland's nine Universities. Submissions are drawn from the outstanding papers, essays and dissertations produced as a normal part of course work during each academic year. In addition to receiving a gold medal for their submissions each students winning essay will be published in an annual journal. -ends-