First
Oil
Prize
Petals of Hope...
Speed Skating
Fashion
Sheriff
Software Award
Royal Academy
Aromatherapy
Italy
Engineering
Revamp
Turner
Award
John Young, who graduated in 1983 with a first class honours in microbiology, has received a prestigious award for his research in the field. Now associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, John was honoured with the 1999 Eli Lilly & Company Research Award. Originally from Kirkcaldy, his work has given insight into gene therapy and prolonging life in cells which are infected with diseases such as cancer and anti-immune viruses like HIV.
Graduate of 1972, Simon Rogerson, was last year made the UK's first professor in computing ethics. Based at De Montfort University in Leicester, Simon has pioneered in this increasingly important field, playing a leading role in its recognition. He conceived and directs a conference series, known as ETHICOMP which provides a European forum to discuss the ethical and social impact of information and communications technology.
Bill Laver, who graduated in 1973 in civil engineering, reviewed the remarkable development of North Sea Oil platforms - a technical challenge he described as "equivalent to sending men to the moon" - when he spoke at last year's Edinburgh International Science Festival. Bill's early experience in the design and construction of bridges for motorways was followed by work in Zambia and the Middle East on bridges, water towers and marine jetties before he joined Shell UK Exploration and Production in 1981. Since then he has been posted to Lowestoft, Copenhagen, London and Aberdeen on engineering projects for Shell's offshore oil and gas infrastructure - including most recently the Gannet and Kittiwake platforms.
Dr Les McQuire gained both his BSc and PhD in Chemistry at Dundee University in the 1980s and, now as a fellow in the Arthritis and Bone Metabolism group of Novartis Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey, has beaten off five other short-listed nominees to be awarded the 1999 Salters' Jerwood Prize. This award recognises past achievements and future potential to reach the top echelons of the chemical profession.
1993 graduate in constructed textiles, Carole Kane, has been working as a lecturer in Ballymena since leaving her own life as a student at Dundee behind. More recently, however, she hit the headlines when she orchestrated a large community art project involving the making of paper from flowers left after the bomb that shook the community of Omagh in August 1998, in which Dundee student Julia Hughes was among those killed. From the fragile "flower paper" came a series of art creations entitled "Petals of Hope, Rays of Light" described by Omagh Council as a "great source of healing".
From Biological Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to....naturally, short track speed skating. Since graduating from Dundee in 1998 with an MSc Ian Cavin has committed himself fully to his sporting career. From the dizzy heights of magnetic resonance in Dundee he has climbed to the even dizzier heights of the Calgary Olympic Oval in Canada - the best facilities in the world - where he spent ten months training. In September 1999 he returned to Britain to train with the GB squad in preparation for the European and World Championships in January and March this year.
Graduate of 1999, Jennifer Brown shocked herself, her tutors and her family when she was awarded a hefty cash prize of 10 million lira (£3,500 sterling) the month prior to her graduation ceremony. A student of printed textiles, Jennifer won the Master of Linen Award for the collection that best interprets the characteristics of linen and cotton in the Mittelmoda Premio 1999 awards. Jennifer was also invited to Gorizio, Italy where she could witness her collection opening the Mittelmoda Awards fashion show.
Law graduate of 1977, Joyce Powrie, became Sheriff Powrie when she was installed as a sheriff at Hamilton Sheriff Court in May last year. After graduating form Dundee Joyce went on to complete her apprenticeship with an Edinburgh firm of Solicitors and worked in the city until being first called to the Bar in 1988.
Johnny Black, who graduated in 1998 with first class honours in applied computing, went on to win a special award for his honours project - the Real Time Engineering Prize in the Young Software Engineers Award for 1998. Johnny's work, entitled "Black's Entity Relationship Tool for IBM's DB2 Database" was particularly commended at the awards ceremony for the quality of its software engineering.
Last year's graduate in drawing and painting, Julie Houston, received a pleasant surprise when she was awarded £400 for the Royal Scottish Academy Painting Prize plus the Maclaine-Waters Medal for her untitled canvas exploring quirky spaces with household paints and enamels. She was able to put the prize money toward materials for her degree show exhibited later that year.
Any graduates remaining in Dundee or surrounding areas after completing their degrees now need look no further than the University's neighbouring Morgan Tower Pharmacy to find that much needed physical and mental relaxation. Why? Because two of Dundee University's graduates in philosophy and American studies and English literature have tapped into their finer entrepreneurial skills and set up a business in clinical aromatherapy that promises to increase energy, improve sleep and alleviate stress. Jane Muir (graduate of 1991) and Jackie Meiklham (graduate of 1994) have managed to break down the divide between orthodox medicine and complementary methods by working side by side with qualified pharmacists in the Morgan Pharmacy. They are also now working closely with Nick Halpin of the University's counselling service to provide a stress management service to today's students at the University.
David Petrie 1975 MA graduate, lost his job and his marriage when a passionate fight for a cause turned into a three year battle. Ten days after starting at the University of Verona he found himself fired after speaking up about the apparent discrimination against foreign lecturers in Italy. He had very quickly noticed that his fellow non-Italian tutors were not receiving the same open-ended contracts or rates of pay as their Italian colleagues. Eventually David secured a victory - and won back his job, but only after he formed his own union, the Association of Foreign Lecturers to enable him to take on the Italian education establishment and government.
1999 graduate in mechanical engineering, Ian Kennedy, found himself in the limelight when he won the Scottish finals of the INA engineering student of the year competition. INA, an international engineering company based in Germany, run the national competition annually to publicly promote the engineering profession. Ian won the award based on the merit of his final year thesis carried out with supervisor, David Middleton when they looked into the complex and demanding engineering design applications in cash handling autoteller machines.
Since David Wilson graduated from the University with a public art and design MA he has been commissioned to work on a variety of public arts projects throughout Britain and has already received the Drystone Walling Association of Great Britain's Pinnacle Award for his works at Edinburgh Airport and Livingston New Town. Now his work has won him a commission to bring his art back to his University town. Beating entries from eleven other local artists, David is currently designing a series of facade panels that will feature outside Dundee's redeveloped Overgate Shopping Centre due to officially open in March this year.
Film-making twins, Louise and Jane Wilson were among those shortlisted for last year's Turner Prize along with Tracey Emin for her controversial piece The Bed. Although none of them were eventual winners, one half of the Wilson duo, Louise, had learnt and refined her talents at Dundee's Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. The Wilson twins' film - presented as an eerie video installation projected onto four giant screens - won rave reviews after its exhibition at the Lisson gallery earlier in the year.
