18-year old, Richard, a sixth year student from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal, Blarney, Co. Cork received the prestigious honour with his winning project titled: “A biomass fired cooking stove for developing countries”.
The project focussed on the design of a biomass-fuelled cooking stove for use in developing countries. Over 2 billion people in the world depend on stoves to cook their meals every day, and his project built a new one which uses as little fuel as possible and which ideally produces no smoke. Richard made a strong impression at the national competition with his detailed research into the chemical processes involved in burning timber, and with the various designs he came up with using very simple materials such as tin cans and nails which are very easy to find in Third World countries. An added bonus is that his stoves can be built using simple tools such as a Swiss army knife. In demonstrating his stove in UCC today, Richard clearly showed both his science knowledge and the engineering skill in the construction of his innovative stove.
Richard conducted part of his research in UCC’s Chemistry Department, aided by PhD student, Daniel O’Sullivan.
Welcoming Richard, his parents, brother, teacher and School Principal, UCC President, Dr Michael Murphy congratulated Richard on his innovation and commended him for his outward vision to support those less fortunate than us. Dr Murphy announced that the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science (SEFS) will offer Richard a special First Year Scholarship if he successfully secures a place on a course within the College.. This new special first year scholarship will be offered to any winner(s) of the BT Young Scientist Competition who wish to pursue a degree in the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science.
Pictured L-R: UCC President, Dr Michael Murphy, Richard O'Shea, BT Young Scientist of the Year and Professor Patrick Fitzpatrick, Head, College of Science, Engineering & Food Science (SEFS), UCC.
1327MMcS
February 18th 2010
