Imperial College London Postgraduate Awards Ceremony 2004

Imperial College London today bestows its highest honours on figures from the worlds of engineering, surgery and education at its Postgraduate Awards Ceremony in the Royal Albert Hall.

Elected to the Fellowship of Imperial College is Sir Alec Broers, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.

In addition, Doctor of Science honoris causa have been awarded to Professor Murray Brennan of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, New York, and Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust.

Fellows are recognised by the Council as persons of distinction and persons who have rendered significant services to the College or to the community. They are permitted to use the letters FIC after their name.

Honorary DScs are awarded to persons whom the College wishes to honour for their achievements in their field.

Welcoming the new Fellow and honorary graduates along with 1,100 graduands, Imperial's Rector Sir Richard Sykes described the ceremony as "a celebration of talent, hard work and achievement." He added:

"It is universities like ours, ones that are world class, that actually drive innovation in industry. We do this in a number of ways. Firstly by producing highly qualified graduates attuned to the needs of industry; secondly by generating intellectual property; and thirdly by our ability to conduct multidisciplinary research that extends or removes existing borders between research diciplines.

"That is what happens when you bring the brightest and best together and give them the facilities they need to push the boundaries of knowledge forward."

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For further information contact:

Abigail Smith
Imperial College London Press Office
Tel: 020 7594 6701
Email: abigail.smith@imperial.ac.uk

Notes to editors:

1. Full details of this years Fellow and Honorary Graduates:

Fellow:
* Sir Alec Broers FRS, FREng, HonFIEE, HonFIMechE, FinstP, is one of the United Kingdoms leading and most distinguished engineers. He was educated at Melbourne University and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He then worked in the R&D laboratories of IBM in the USA for 19 years. In particular, he worked on the design of high resolution scanning electron microscopes, high brightness electron guns, and high resolution methods for fabricating nanometer-size devices. In 1977, he was appointed an IBM Fellow, IBMs most senior rank recognising sustained outstanding technical contributions.

In 1981 he moved to IBM's East Fishkill Development Laboratory, and when he returned to Cambridge in 1984 he built a new nanofabrication laboratory and continued his research on the ultimate limits of nanofabrication techniques and on their application to the fabrication of functional devices. He later became Master of Churchill College (1990-1996) and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University (1996-2003).

As well as being President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Institute of Physics and also a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Engineering. He was knighted in 1998.

Honorary Graduates:
*Professor Murray Brennan MB, ChB, DSc, MD, ChM, is one of the foremost academic surgeons in the world. In 1970 he began advanced laboratory and clinical work at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Joslin Research Laboratories. In 1981, Dr Brennan joined the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as Chief of Gastric and Mixed Tumor Service. In 1985, he became Chairman of the Department of Surgery and holds the Benno C Schmidt Chair in Clinical Oncology. He has become the leading cancer surgical specialist in the United States and his major contribution has been in the field of soft tissue sarcoma and hepatobiliary surgery.

In 1995 he became a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and in 2000 received the American College of Surgeons' highest award, The Distinguished Service Award. He has also been named an honorary fellow in all of the Royal Colleges.

*Sir Peter Lampl OBE, MSc, is founder and Chairman of the Sutton Trust, Sir Peter Lampl has used his entrepreneurial and business skills to remarkable effect in funding programmes and raising the level of debate over equality of opportunity for bright young people from non-privileged backgrounds.

The Sutton Trust is renowned for its active participation and generous funding of access initiatives for non-privileged children who may not otherwise aspire to the best universities. Imperial College London participates in the FEHE Summer School programme which is funded by the Sutton Trust.

Sir Peter has served as an independent advisor to the Secretary of State for Education since 2000. He is a member of both the Governments Endowments Task Force for Higher Education and its Admissions Task Force.

2. A full list of Fellows and honorary graduates of Imperial College London 

3. About Imperial College London

Consistently rated in the top three UK university institutions, Imperial College London is a world leading science-based university whose reputation for excellence in teaching and research attracts students (11,000) and staff (6,000) of the highest international quality.

Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and management and delivers practical solutions, which enhance the quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.

Website: www.imperial.ac.uk