The Worshipful Company of Engineers has announced PhD researcher Christopher Vagg as winner of The Fiona and Nicholas Hawley Award for Excellence in Environmental Engineering 2012 following his work through the University’s Powertrain and Vehicle Research Centre.
Chris’ paper, ‘A driver advisory tool to reduce fuel consumption in light commercial vehicles,’ was deemed by the judges to be an excellent demonstration of a practical application of known technology to industry.
Through a simple and low cost device, Chris’ work enables drivers of light commercial vehicles to achieve significant savings in fuel usage, carbon dioxide emissions and related maintenance by adopting improved eco-driving measures.
The device has been put into production by Ashwoods Automotive, a leading supplier of hybrid commercial vehicles, under the product name ‘Lightfoot’.
The Fiona and Nicholas Hawley Award was established in 2006, and is presented annually to recognise excellent work by a UK researcher under the age of 30, in the field of ‘Engineering for a Better Environment’.
Chris was presented with the Hawley Award and a cheque for £5,000 at the Worshipful Company of Engineers’ Annual Awards Dinner, at Carpenters’ Hall in London, by the Master of the Engineers’ Company, Mr David Scahill FIMechE and the guest speaker, Sir Alan Rudge CBE FRS FREng (Chairman of the ERA Foundation and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851).
Dr Chris Brace supervised Chris Vagg’s work on the project. Dr Brace said: “Chris’ work on transferring this knowledge from the University into a simple-to-use device to benefit drivers is a fantastic example of the way in which academia and industry can work together to achieve improvements.
“I congratulate Chris on his achievement, he thoroughly deserved the recognition this Award for Excellence has given him.”
……………..
If you enjoyed this article you might also like:
Eighth Bath Biomechanics Symposium, September 2012
Bath appoints new professor of healthcare engineering, August 2012
Bath student offered James Dyson Foundation scholarship, July 2012