Honorary Doctorate conferred on UCD's Dean of Engineering
Professor Gerald Byrne, Dean of Engineering, was conferred with an honorary Doctorate from the Dublin Institute of Technology (Saturday, 3rd December, 2005).
Professor Brian Norton, President, Dublin Institute of Technology
pictured with Professer Gerald Byrne
Professor Byrne, who qualified as a mechanical engineer in 1975 from DIT, was honoured by the Institute for his outstanding contribution to engineering in Ireland and was conferred with the award at the Institute’s Annual Faculty of Engineering Graduation held in St Patrick’s Cathedral.
With over twenty years of professional and academic experience, Professor Byrne is renowned throughout Ireland and internationally as one of Ireland’s most distinguished engineers. A Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering, he is also the only Irish engineer to be elected as an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK). His reputation is reinforced by his extensive list of publications, his teaching and mentoring of young engineers, his energetic involvement in the Institute of Engineers of which he is a former President, and his participation in conferences and research seminars.
According to the President of DIT, Professor Brian Norton, “DIT was privileged in awarding Professor Byrne a Doctorate of Philosophy, honoris causa in recognition of his outstanding contribution to engineering and technological innovation.” Describing Byrne as “an engineer by instinct, by qualification and by accolade”, Professor Norton made the point that, “Gerry Byrne’s trajectory from apprentice to internationally celebrated Professor of Engineering provides a clear illustration of why our education system must strive to ensure that each rung of the ladder leads our students to another opportunity.”
Professor Norton added that “ as a graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology, and as an academic colleague, Gerry Byrne is without doubt a standard bearer for our graduates here today who are setting out on their own careers.”
Citation
Conferring of Doctorate of Philosophy honoris causa on
Gerald Byrne – Engineer and Innovator
Education in the Ireland of the 1960’s was stratified and segregated in very many ways. Routes between levels of education were not easily identified while routes to the highest levels of academia were only open to the very few. Engineers, however, are problem-solvers by disposition and when confronted with any obstacle, their instinct is to develop a route through or around the problem. Gerry Byrne is an engineer by instinct, by qualification and by accolade.
As a 17 year old, Gerry Byrne was not in a financial position to support himself through college. His entry into the engineering profession started with an apprenticeship in structural engineering draughtsmanship. From there he secured a scholarship from the ESB and enrolled in what was then the College of Technology in Bolton Street where he qualified as a Mechanical Engineering Technician. Demonstrating a clear aptitude for his subject, he transferred to the degree programme and graduated in 1975 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
For the next five years, he worked in public and private sector industry, accumulating considerable experience and developing an appetite for further research. He returned to his alma mater as a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, while also undertaking his Masters’ Degree in Trinity College in ‘thermal behaviour and surface integrity in material removal processes’. Having completed his Masters, he took leave of absence from DIT to go to Germany where the most significant developments in engineering were taking place. Working as a Research Scientist at the prestigious Technical University of Berlin, he distinguished himself by developing an original theoretical model and simulation package in the field of material removal processes which became the basis of his doctoral thesis. He completed his ‘Doktor Ingenieur’ degree with distinction, having submitted in the German language, and was immediately invited to take over the development and management of the Department of Manufacturing Technology at the University.
Throughout his ten years in Germany, Gerry Byrne established an enormous reputation as an innovator and received many plaudits and awards. Exceptionally, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Science and Technology, the German Institution of Engineers awarded him the ‘Ehrenring’ – the Honorary Gold Ring – and made him an Honorary Life Member of the Institution.
Moving between academia and industry has been a pattern of Gerry’s career, and each experience has enhanced the next. Leaving the Technical University Berlin, he once again returned to the private sector – this time to work at Daimler Benz in Southern Germany, where he established a revolutionary industrial research department to investigate the impact of manufacturing processes on the environment.
In 1993 he returned to Ireland and also to academia, but this time as Professor and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College Dublin. With responsibility for research as well as curriculum development for undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes, he has drawn on his wide experience in industry and academia in Ireland and internationally and continues to raise the profile of engineering and innovation. Among his many significant achievements has been the establishment of the Advanced Manufacturing Sciences Research Group. Working with indigenous Irish industry as well as with multi-national companies the Group aims to develop processes that meet the requirements of future products and components, not only functionally but also economically. He was also responsible for the establishment of the Council of Professors of Mechanical Engineering in Irish Universities, north and south – a further example of his collegial and collaborative approach to developing and sharing knowledge.
Gerry Byrne is renowned throughout Ireland and internationally as one of Ireland’s most distinguished engineers. A Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering, he is also the only Irish engineer to be elected as an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK). His reputation is reinforced by his extensive list of publications, his teaching and mentoring of young engineers, his energetic involvement in the Institute of Engineers of which he is a former President, and his participation in conferences and research seminars. Once met, he is not easily forgotten – not only for his academic distinction but also for his gregarious company and the spontaneous musical performances with which he has enlivened many a serious conference and spanned many a cultural divide.
Gerry Byrne’s trajectory from apprentice to internationally celebrated Professor of Engineering provides a clear illustration of why our education system must strive to ensure that each rung of the ladder leads our students to another opportunity. As a graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology, and as an academic colleague, Gerry Byrne is without doubt a standard bearer for our graduates here today who are setting out on their own careers. In recognition of the example he has set, and for his outstanding contribution to engineering and technological innovation, Dublin Institute of Technology is privileged to award him this Doctorate of Philosophy, honoris causa.