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Tomorrow, five undergraduates will compete in the final of the "Best electronics engineer" competition.
All five reached the shortlist as a result of electronic engineering projects that they completed during the summer with host companies identified by business development agencies working with the Step programme.
The five finalists are: Thomas Mudryk and Andrew Tham, who are both students at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Lay Guan Tan who is studying at the University of Sheffield, Cambridge University student James Uren, and Martin Warby, an undergraduate at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.
All five presented details of their work to a judging panel at the competition semifinals held on 2nd October in London.
Working for host company AT Electronic embedded control Consultants (ATEEC), Mudryck developed a central heating control system reference design based on a Motorola MC68HC908LJ12.
Tham developed electronics for a new generation of ozone generators for Eclipse Technical Solutions.
Tan undertook work on "X-by-wire" technology for Dependable Real Time Systems (DRTS).
And Uren worked on a laser autofocus system for optics for biosciences company Genapta.
Warby made it to the finals as a result of a project for Aros Developments that involved the development of a Bluetooth-based wireless data logger prototype.
Announcing the finalists, Philip Donnelly, the Managing Director of Step Enterprise, commented: "This year we have seen many high-calibre students and projects and whittling the finalists down to just five candidates was an incredibly difficulty task.
In addition to demonstrable competence in the field of electronic engineering, the judges at the semifinal considered a variety of other criteria including task management, personal organisation, problem-solving capabilities, self-motivation and teamwork".
He added: "As a result of the work that they have done, at least two of the students have been instrumental in allowing their host companies to file new patent applications".
The "Best electronics engineer" finals will take place on 29th October 2003 as part of the UK Step finals being held at 1 Whitehall Place, London.
 

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