Our Electrical Graduate Matthew Jarvis has won two prestigious engineering awards; the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) Graduate of the Year Award and the Festo award for the Best Project in ControlAutomation and Robots.
“There are no secrets to success; it is the result ofpreparation, hard work and learning from failure. Winningthese awards reflects that as it would not have been possibleif I didn’t work hard, properly prepare and learn from mymistakes,” Matthew said.
He started with our business in 2012 as a summer placementstudent at Brinsworth Strip Mill and secured sponsorship forhis second year at university. He returned to the Scunthorpe site in 2013on a year-long industrial placement within thebusiness where he spent time learning in many of thedifferent areas. When Matthew completed his placement, hereturned to university to finish his final year and then rejoinedthe company as a graduate last September.He was nominated for the Graduate of the Year Awardby the head of the Electrical and Electronic EngineeringDepartment at Sheffield Hallam University. He was a strongcontender for the award as he achieved first class honours inhis Electrical and Electronic Engineering Bachelors Degree.He was nominated for the Festo Best Project in ControlAutomation and Robots by his project supervisor at hisuniversity, who was impressed by the project he createdfor the Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS) Plant, which wasto form part of his degree. Festo is an American companythat manufactures and supplies various instrumentation forcontrol applications.
Matthew named his project Sump 13, which involvedautomating and controlling the water being exportedfrom the sump to ultimately avoid potential flooding oremergency dumping of water in the beck. His project stoodout as he designed and built a control system that used boththe theory and knowledge he learnt at university as well asconsidering the practicality and application of the real-worldenvironment. Although Matthew won the award on his ownmerit, he said: “It’s safe to say that without the opportunityfrom the business and in particular the BOS Plant Electrical team,I may not have won this award.”
He was presented with the awards and the prize money– £50 from the IET award and £125 from the Festo award –during the faculty award ceremony on the same day as hisgraduation in November.
Glynn Hopkinson, Improvement and DevelopmentEngineer, said: “Matthew has worked very hard to achievethese awards over the last two years. His work-based finalyear university project at theBOS Plant has helped himachieve these accolades,putting theory into practice. Many congratulations tohim. He is a shining exampleto other graduates of whatyou can achieve if you putyour mind to it.”
Grahame Wallace, Chief Engineer, added: “Well done to Matt, who has progressed from a summer placement student to full-time employment, and deserves the recognition of the awards he has received for his application and hard work. He is an inspiration to all our trainees.”