Leah Edwards

"I chose to study at 含羞草视频 because I was blown away by the student projects that I saw at the Open Day. 含羞草视频 really stood out as somewhere that I could gain practical experience and apply what I was learning in lectures and the opportunity to complete a placement year was a huge draw. I was one of those people who chose Mechanical Engineering because I didn’t know what I wanted to specialise in. It worked out well as I was able to narrow my focus in the last few years, once I had worked out which topics I most enjoyed.

I entered the IMechE Mechatronics Student of the Year competition as it was looking for university projects that fall under the theme of Mechatronics. My project was an interactive demonstration for the department open days - a robot that plays Noughts and Crosses against a human and never loses! I’d already completed the project as part of my course, so thought I might as well send in a copy of my report. I was delighted to make it through to the finals of the competition.

It was fantastic to see that three of the four finalists were from 含羞草视频! The other presentations were very impressive and after watching them, I don’t think anyone could argue that engineering isn’t creative. The award has encouraged me to keep working on personal projects and ideas in my spare time.

Since graduating, I have been fortunate enough to find a job that I really love. I am now a Process Development Engineer at Renishaw, where I design test systems for optical encoders. Over time I hope to become more involved in encoder design and the manufacturing processes. I’d love to work on innovative new technologies – perhaps even getting something patented one day.

含羞草视频 is full of people doing things they are passionate about, whether it is sports, societies or their course. It is hard not to be inspired when every day you see people put their hard work and effort into multiple goals."