Laser autofocus project wins title for Uren

Cambridge University student James Uren has beaten four other finalists to take the prize of "Best Electronics Engineer 2003".

Cambridge University student James Uren has beaten four other finalists in this year's Step Solutions: Electronic Engineering competition, to take the prize of "Best Electronics Engineer 2003", for his work on a laser autofocus system for optics for biosciences company, Genapta.

The announcement was made during the STEP Awards dinner, which took place on 29th October at One, Whitehall Place, London.

Genapta in Cambridge is a developer of next generation microarray reader technology, and Uren was brought in to help design and develop a new autofocus system for lasers used in the field of genomics.

Uren was tasked with creating a new and innovative hardware solution that would accurately identify when a laser was out of focus and automatically make the requisite corrections.

As a result of the project, a patent will be filed with Uren as first author.

The runner-up was Andrew Tham, a student at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for his development of electronics for a new generation of ozone generators for Eclipse Technical Solutions.

Tham was asked to design, prototype and implement new electronic circuitry for use across a range of different ozone generator models.

Tham's new design means that circuits can be built much faster, saving the company valuable time and money.

The five finalists reached the shortlist as a result of electronics engineering projects that they had completed during the summer with host companies identified by business development agencies working with the Step programme.

The winning student was selected after each finalist presented their projects to a panel of judges.

Each presentation was followed by a Q and A session.

Finding an overall winner was no easy task for the judges as the standards were extraordinarily high this year.

The projects that the finalists worked on ranged from the development of a central heating control system reference design based on a Motorola MC68HC908LJ12, to a Bluetooth-based wireless data logger prototype.

However, it was Uren who most impressed the judges.

Chair of the judges panel, Philip Ling, Deputy Editor, New Electronics says: "James Uren demonstrated an enlightened approach to solving a difficult engineering problem.

The ultimate solution was only arrived at after going beyond a point where most other engineers would have perhaps been tempted to stop, showing how the best solutions aren't always the most obvious".

The awards were presented by Nigel Griffiths MP, Minister for Enterprise and Small Business and Clive Mather, Chairman, Shell UK.

Uren, clearly delighted to win, is due to return to Genapta for another four weeks over the Christmas period.

After receiving his award, Uren said: "Having previously spent some time working at a much larger company, my experience with Genapta has made me rethink my career path.

I spent the summer working much more intensely and had some really great discussions with the people I worked with.

Now, I would prefer to work either within a small- to medium-sized company, or perhaps even start up on my own".

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