MTU student wins €5,000 Huawei scholarship
A third-year Biomedical Engineering student at Munster Technological University was awarded a ‘Seeds for the Future’ scholarship from Huawei worth €5,000.
Uzoma Ogwudiegwu, from Clonakilty, won the coveted scholarship following a week-long programme involving shortlisted students from Ireland and The Netherlands.
Throughout the week, the students engaged in lessons on subjects from AI to cloud computing, as well as visiting Huawei’s campuses online and taking part in other cultural experiences such as panda tours, tours of famous landmarks and insights into modern Chinese businesses.
There were also guest lectures on digital transformation, sustainable technology, and strategic leadership delivered by Huawei senior engineers and industry thought leaders. In addition to the programme’s course work, all student participants worked on team projects in which they collaborated to develop solutions to problems with the objective of addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Ogwudiegwu, who was elected as leader of her team, won a Best Team Leader Award and her group finished in the top three. At the close of the programme, the fifty top performing students from the overall group of 500 participants were each awarded a €5,000 scholarship.
A global Huawei initiative, the ‘Seeds for the Future’ programme aims to develop skilled local ICT talent and bridge communication between countries and cultures. Launched in 2015, the programme invites third-level university students studying science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects and leaving certificate students considering a third-level course in STEM to apply to the programme for access to the €250,000 scholarship fund.
“I am so glad I was able to participate in the ‘Seeds for the Future’ programme which gave me valuable insight into topics on ICT and new communication technologies,” said Ogwudiegwu. “A highlight of the competition for me was competing in the Huawei #tech4good programme and leading our team to the finals. I am so honoured to receive this scholarship which will be of enormous benefit as I pursue my STEM studies.”
The ‘Seeds for the Future’ scholarship is the latest in a line of STEM achievements for Ogwudiegwu. As a pupil of the Sacred Heart Secondary School Clonakilty, she participated in the BT Young Scientist and Technologist 2017 Competition, receiving a Highly Commended award in the Intermediate Category for her team’s project, ‘Can music help to retain memory?’
Ogwudiegwu’s most recent work placement was a six-month Co-op engineering internship at DePuy Synthes earlier this year. Ogwudiegwu was also a member of the all-female MTU team of engineering and business students that represented Ireland on the international stage in the prestigious Engineering and Commerce Case Competition 2022 (ENGCOMM), hosted by Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, with teams participating from Canada, America, Ireland and Egypt.
Ogwudiegwu is the founder and co-chair of the MTU African and Caribbean Student Society, and former committee member of the award-winning WiSTEM (Women In STEM) MTU Cork Student Society.
Niall Morris, head of the department of Mechanical, Biomedical & Manufacturing Engineering at MTU, said: “I, along with my colleagues in the department, am very proud of Uzoma as with all our students in the department. This competition adds to a long list of competitions won by our students as we continue to strive for excellence. Our graduates are of a very high calibre and future employers are constantly engaging with us to attract them into their companies. Congratulations to all staff in the department who demonstrate commitment and encouragement to all our students. Huge congratulations to Uzoma who has a bright successful career ahead of her.”
TechCentral Reporters
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers