Award-Winning Engineer and graduate of UL, Dr Pio Fitzgerald returned to Ireland from the US to deliver the first of the 2012 ULAA Alumni Public Lectures.

The title of Dr Fitzgerald’s Lecture was ‘On The Shoulders of Giants - Being Part of the Team Which Designed the Next Generation 747’. An Honours Graduate of Aeronautical Engineering since 1999, Kerry man Dr Fitzgerald (34) was named Boeing Commercial Airplane’s Engineer of the Year for 2010 for his work leading an engineering team through the development of a solution to a subtle vibration discovered while flight testing the 747-8 Freighter.

Speaking about the 747-8 Freighter Dr. Fitzgerald said: "Our aim was to design an aircraft with 16% more efficiency than its predecessors, but within the existing infrastructure. There were no necessary modifications required in terms of altering the runways, taxiways, and so on.” Dr. Fitzgerald has worked on Boeing’s 747 programme for the past six years as the Lead Engineer responsible for the design and development of control laws and was also recently a nominee for Flightglobal’s Innovator of the Year Award for 2012."

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Mr Bobby O’Connor, Chairperson of the UL Alumni Association (ULAA) said: "Boeing Engineer of the Year is an astonishing achievement for a young person and we are delighted to welcome Pio back to his alma mater to deliver what promises to be a fascinating lecture appealing to a wide audience, from students to academics to aviation enthusiasts."

Dr. Fitzgerald spoke to UL Aeronautical Engineering students about their future as engineers. He said: "Your value is in your ability to make a situation work. Engineers find solutions to problems. Have a vision, but change your vision when facts and data change. When you fly you develop an intuitive understanding to flying and I believe all Engineers should also be pilots."

(PM/GK)