Four University of Canterbury students win Todd Awards

Four University of Canterbury students win Todd Awards

Four University of Canterbury (UC) postgraduate students are among nine New Zealand university students to receive Todd Foundation Awards for Excellence.

The aim of the awards is to support projects that promote excellence and encourage the development of new concepts, technology or research that will be of benefit to New Zealand.

The UC students who received awards were Regine Morgenstern, Nicholas Lowther, James Hewett and Jarrod Cook.

Lowther, a Master of Science in medical physics student, has been awarded $10,000 and is investigating a real-time cardiac MRI tracking technique based on anatomical matching used for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (which triggers 20% of strokes), with radiosurgery.

Hewett, a PhD student, has been awarded $9000 for his research into computational fluid dynamics. His research will model the accumulation of unwanted fouling or scaling material in pipes and heat exchangers.

Morgenstern, who is completing a Master of Science degree in geological sciences, has been awarded $8500 for her research into mineral resources to help determine their future management or protection.

Cook, who is completing a Master of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering, has been awarded $7000 to develop, test and model a ratcheting, tension-only device to improve the performance of seismic energy dissipation mechanisms to avoid buckling, and protect buildings and their occupants during earthquakes.

UC Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Steve Weaver says to have four of the nine award recipients come from UC was outstanding.

“It is testament to the high quality, innovative research being undertaken by our postgraduate students and the excellent support they are receiving from our world-class teachers.”

The UC success in 2015 follows that of 2014 where four of the ten awardees were from UC.

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