Hammermen award for engineering graduate
Published: 26 November 2024
A graduate from the James Watt School of Engineering has received a prestigious award from one of Glasgow’s historic trade guilds.
A graduate from the James Watt School of Engineering has received a prestigious award from one of Glasgow’s historic trade guilds.
Lisa Chestnutt was presented with the Incorporation of Hammermen of Glasgow’s Prince Philip Prize at an event in the city on the 14th of November.
The Incorporation of Hammermen of Glasgow is a charity based on engineering trades. Founded in 1536, it supports students in engineering courses and pensioners across the west of Scotland.
The Prince Philip Prize, which is accompanied by an award of £2000, is presented to an outstanding student from one local university and one local college every year.
Deacon Raymond Lyon of the Incorporation of Hammermen of Glasgow presents Lisa Chestnutt with the Prince Philip Prize. Photo courtesy of George Mahoney.
The Hammermen’s judging panel were impressed with Lisa’s achievements, her commitment to her studies and her potential to build an outstanding career in engineering.
Glasgow native Lisa, 23, graduated in June with a first-class MEng degree in Biomedical Engineering.
Her final-year project involved the development of a digital simulation tool to test a novel stent that has been designed to support the surgically-altered blood vessels of children with specific severe cardiovascular defects. The tool uses patient-specific data to help make the testing more accurate.
As part of her project, she spent time as a research placement student at University College London’s Institute of Cardiovascular Science in Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, where she has recently begun a PhD.
During her time at the University of Glasgow, she also was a member of the School’s FemEng society, where she variously served as mentoring convenor, vice-president and outreach convenor. Lisa also took part in Entrepreneurial Scotland’s Saltire Scholars Programme, where she completed a summer internship with the agri-tech company Intelligent Growth Solutions.
At the engineering graduation ceremony in June, Lisa was awarded the Glasgow University Engineers' Society Medal and Prize as the most distinguished graduate in Engineering of the academic year 2023-2024. She also received another prize from the School for the best overall performance from a graduating biomedical engineering student.
Lisa said: “I’m delighted to have been selected to receive the Prince Philip Prize by the Hammermen’s judging panel. It’s a real honour to have my work recognised in this way. Studying at the James Watt School of Engineering gave me a fantastic opportunity to learn from some of the country’s best bioengineers.
“I’m grateful for the support of so many of the staff in the School, particularly Dr Ankush Aggarwal, Dr Henrik Golllee, Professor Huabing Yin, and Professor Julien Reboud, all of whom were very generous with their time and guidance.”
Dr. Henrik Gollee, Head of Biomedical Engineering Teaching in the James Watt School of Engineering, nominated Lisa for the award. He said: “It’s fantastic to see Lisa’s achievements during her time at the School celebrated with this very well-deserved prize.
“I wish her all the best with her PhD and I’m looking forward to following her career in the years to come.”
First published: 26 November 2024