NUIG announces 5 Alumni Award winners
Galway Bay fm newsroom - NUI Galway has announced the winners of the 2014 Alumni Awards.
The 5 recipients will be presented with their awards at a gala banquet at the Bailey Allen Hall on campus on Saturday March 1st.
The Alumni Awards recognise individual excellence and achievements among the university's 80 thousand graduates worldwide.
The Award for Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies will be presented to Norah Gibbons, Chairperson of the Child and Family Agency.
Norah graduated from UCG with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973 and Higher Diploma in Education in 1974.
She worked for many years in social work in both statutory and voluntary sectors in the U.K and Ireland and also chaired the Roscommon Child Abuse Inquiry in 2009 and is a member of the Historical Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland.
The Alumni Award for Business, Public Policy and Law goes to Helen Ryan, Former CEO and Non-Executive Director of Creganna-Tactx (pron: TACT-EX) Medical.
In 2005, Helen was appointed Chief Executive of Creganna and steered the company through continued year-on-year growth.
A qualified civil engineer, Helen Ryan is a fellow of the Institute of Engineers of Ireland and has served as a Director of Molecular Medicine Ireland.
The NUIG Alumni Award for Engineering and Informatics goes to Michael McNicholas, CEO of Bord Gáis.
Michael graduated from UCG in 1982 with a BE in Civil Engineering and has 30 years experience in energy and in delivering major infrastructure projects in Ireland.
The Alumni Award for Medicine, Nursing and Health Science goes to Ray Dolan, Professor of Neuropsychology, University College London and Head of the Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience at the Institute of Neurology, London.
Ray obtained his primary medical degree from UCG in 1977 and then trained as a psychiatrist in London.
In his research career, he was one of the pioneers in using functional neuroimaging techniques to study human cognition and is the author of over 440 peer reviewed publications.
The Alumni Award for Science goes to Professor Gerald Jennings, Emeritus Professor, School of Physics NUIG and former Director of the Environmental Change Institute NUIG.
Professor Jennings has previously been a research council fellow at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Colorado in the United States.
All 5 Alumni Awards will be presented at a ceremony at the Bailey Allen Hall NUIG on March 1st.