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Asphalt graduates on the road to success

THE University of Derby’s pivotal role in supporting the road and pavement industry is being celebrated at a flagship conference in Ireland this week.

Last night, a dozen Derby graduates from the Diploma in Asphalt Technology course received prizes for their academic achievements as part of the IAT National Conference 2010, which is being held at the Grand Hotel Malahide, in Dublin, from 9–10 June.

Industry leaders who have sponsored awards to recognize the achievements of outstanding students on the Derby course include Shell, The Worshipful Company of Paviors and Aggregate Industries. The students themselves work for a range of industry employers including Tarmac, CEMEX and Hanson.

This year, to mark their 20th anniversary, Derbyshire-based Cooper Technology, specialists in the design and manufacture of high-performance testing equipment for asphaltic materials, presented their first student prize. Director of research Andrew Cooper presented the Cooper Asphalt Engineering Prize 2010 to Robin Hall, who was an outstanding student on the course when he studied at Derby from 2007–2009.

Mr Cooper said: ‘We at Cooper Technology have first-hand knowledge of the benefits of the course…I would recommend it, and certainly wish that it had been available when I was starting my career.’

As part of his prize, Mr Hall, a technician working for Aggregate Industries in Halton East, Skipton, will get to visit a state-of-the art continental asphalt testing laboratory in France. Commenting on the course, he said: ‘The course covered a wide range of topics and has given me an excellent overview of the industry, and many different aspects outside of my day-to-day role, to provide a deeper understanding of the sector.’

Another prizewinner is Jon Harper, who was a pavement engineer for the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) when he studied part time at Derby, but is now TRL’s SHE manager. He will pick up a runner-up Shell Bitumen Award for Excellence in Asphalt Technology.

Mr Harper said: ‘I learnt a lot from the course at Derby about issues related to strategy, business, contracts and other aspects of the industry, as well as important trade and engineering knowledge. I think this broad knowledge base has helped me to secure this promotion at work to a role which will span all of these areas and more.’

Dr Tony Stock, programme leader for the University of Derby’s Asphalt Technology course, said: ‘More than 50 students working in industry have now successfully completed the course since it was launched in 2007. We are delighted the efforts of many of them are being celebrated this week at the IAT conference.’

 
 

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