A “brainiac” former Perth Academy pupil has been shortlisted for a national invention award.
During a summer placement at Abertay University, Rachel Hutchinson created a computer programme to assist urban planners. She hopes the “augmented reality” tool, which allows people to see how a building would look in its real-world environment, will impress judges at the Big Bang National Science and Engineering Competition.
Rachel’s project went on display at the London ExCeL centre this week.
“The summer placement at Abertay was a great opportunity that I really enjoyed,” she said. “Hearing the news about being put through to the finals is the icing on the cake.”
Dr Ruth Falconer, an environmental sustainability lecturer at Abertay who supervised the project, said, “Running the Nuffield six-week research project was a real pleasure. It is fantastic to see young scientists and engineers developing interdisciplinary research skills and for their work to be recognised.
“We were delighted to hear we would be accompanying Rachel to present this work at the National Science and Engineering Competition in London.
“We hope the expected 25,000 visitors will enjoy learning about the project as much as we enjoyed the work, and this provides a valuable opportunity for us to promote our ongoing research on creative technologies and landscape visualisation.
“The project is part of the wider SAVE activities at Abertay which focus on sustainability assessment, visualisation and enhancement,” she added.
Sky 1’s Brainiac Live and the BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory TV shows will be broadcast live from Big Bang 2011.
Find out more at www.thebigbangfair.co.uk