Undergraduate Final Year Projects Commended

We celebrate the achievements of several notable undergraduates as they embark on their next steps.

As four years of intense study come to a close for another cohort of Civil Engineers, a number of top-performing students have been awarded special commendations for their outstanding final year research projects.

The students were presented with certificates, and cash prizes of varying sums, in a virtual ceremony to commemorate their posters as part of their final project work.

Meet our award-winners:

Fiya Shah

Winner of the EWRE Final Year Research Project Award, and winner of the Departmental Prize for Best Project

Project Title: Characterisation of an Activated Sludge System with Classical and Hybrid-Quantum Machine Learning

Supervised by Dr Henry Lee

Jiali Ma

Winner of the Geotechnics Final Year Research Project Award

Project Title: Interpretation of Cone Penetration Tests (CPT) in a Study of Tailings Materials

Supervised by Professor Lidija Zdravkovic

"I will start my PhD in Geotechnics in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial."

Maxwell Omondi

Winner of the Materials Final Year Research Project Award

Project Title: Analysing the Thermal Induced Structural Behaviour of the First 3D Metal Printed Bridge

Supervised by Dr Craig Buchanan

"I was very honoured and delighted to receive the Materials award for my final year project. Overall, I have fond memories of my time at Imperial and I enjoyed learning the art of Civil Engineering alongside my like-minded peers. The future remains exciting as I embark on my professional career starting as a Structural Engineer at Arup."

Jad Maqdah

Winner of the Structures Final Year Research Project Award

Project Title: AI-Based Structural Design of Extra-Terrestrial Outposts

Supervised by Dr Christian Malaga-Chuquitaype

"I am so grateful to be finishing my time at Imperial and starting a new chapter on such a high note!"

Hamish Thomas

Winner of the Fluid Mechanics Final Year Research Project Award

Project Title: Simulating the Effect of Droplet Size on COVID-19 Particle Dispersion

Supervised by Dr Maarten van Reeuwijk

Dhruv Bhatt

Joint Winner of the Transport Final Year Research Project Award, and Winner of the Student Award for the Best Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

Project Title: Determining the Underlying Factors that Affect Helicopter Safety within the UK Offshore Industry

Supervised by Professor Arnab Majumdar

"Receiving these awards is a great honour. I am grateful that I was able to help students with a subject that is often new and challenging for many. Similarly, working towards a project that will be used to make a positive impact in the real world feels extremely rewarding, I am thankful to Professor Majumdar for giving me this fourth-year project and supporting me along the way."

Olivier Doustaly

Joint Winner of the Transport Final Year Research Project Award

Project Title: Training Autononmous Vehicles using Reinforcement Learning and Collision Prediction: Safe Merging

Supervised by Dr Panagiotis Angeloudis  

“I am very proud for this award and it is a great way to close my years at Imperial. I am also thankful to Eduardo Candela and Dr Angeloudis for their help during this project, without forgetting the entire department staff for an incredible experience from day one of my degree.” 

Jonathan Sanz Carcelén

Joint Winner of the Transport Final Year Research Project Award

Project Title: Implementing Double Auction in the Taxi System. A Bangkok Case Study

Supervised by Dr Panagiotis Angeloudis, Dr Marc Stettler, He-in Cheong

"After spending a year at Imperial as part of an Erasmus program from Barcelona, I wanted to thank Imperial for allowing me to be part of this community. Not only the people I met and the places I visited made this Erasmus so unique but also discovering what Imperial really is about. Being granted the chance to develop my ideas in the fields of transport, economics, and environment, with the collaboration of an extremely talented team from all around the world, boosted my methodology to pursue ambitious projects. Perhaps the Erasmus is over, but the motivation Imperial transmitted me to continue exploring and evaluating proposals to enhance the world around us will follow me everywhere."

Karim Serhal

Joint Winner of the Transport Final Year Research Project Award

Project Title: Demand Modelling and Optimal Vertiport Placement for Airport-Purposed eVTOL Services

Supervised by Dr Panagiotis Angeloudis  

"I believe this award is the cherry on top after four challenging, but very rewarding years at Imperial. This degree and especially this research have prepared me to tackle the most intriguing projects to come."

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering wishes the very best of luck to all those who have completed their undergraduate degree this summer.