Engineering students strike gold

THREE Irish college students who developed revolutionary medical devices swept the boards at an international competition yesterday.

Kathleen Hurley, Brian Guilly and Timmy O’Keeffe, graduates of Cork Institute of Technology’s (CIT) mechanical engineering department won gold and silver in separate categories at the prestigious IMechE International Medical and ISEA International Sports Engineering competitions in London.

They arrived home to a heroes welcome yesterday.

Kathleen, aged 23, from Dungarvan, who was the only girl in her engineering class of almost 40, won gold in the best international medical device competition. She developed a special medical glove which drastically cuts the healing time for a common hand-bone fracture known as boxer’s fracture.

The project, which was supervised by Dr Keith Bryan in partnership with Mr James Harty, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at CUH, has eliminated the need for doctors to cast patients in plaster of Paris from below the elbow to the knuckles.

Kathleen said the competition had been a fantastic experience and she encouraged girls to consider engineering in college.

“Go for it,” she said. “Girls bring a new slant and a level of attention to detail to the discipline.”

She is now working in quality engineering with Boston Scientific in Cork.

Timmy O’Keeffe, aged 23, from Kanturk, won gold in the best international medical engineering competition for his orthodontic thermal cycler.

Timmy, who now works as a biomedical engineer at CUH, developed a robotic device to simulate conditions in the human mouth which allows orthodontists test adhesives used to glue braces to teeth.

Brian Guilly, aged 21, from Clashmore, near Dungarvan, won silver in the best international sports engineering section.

He developed a device which simulates a horse’s leg to allow Glanmire-based Dalmar Ireland test one of their main products — an equine tendon support boot. His project was supervised by Dr Keith Bryan with Dalmar Ireland as the industrial partner. He is now working with Togher-based Schuf Technology designing specialist valves and pipes for the pharmaceutical industry.

Sean F O’Leary, head of CIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering prepared the students for the competition.

“This is a fantastic achievement for Kathleen, Timmy and Brian and a red letter day for CIT and engineering education in Ireland,” he said.