John Maher

I am in the top three of my class with an average of 80%. I am a hard worker and determined to complete my studies to the best of my ability as I have given up work to further my overall career prospects. I am as determined in the workplace as I am with my studies and have always carried out my duties and given 110% of myself. I work well as part of a team, be it leading the team or taking instructions from others. I am currently in my final year of study for a Degree in Electrical Engineering in Cork Institute of Technology. This degree will give me a broad-based knowledge of power electrical engineering. I am an electrician and have worked in the trade since August 1999. I qualified in 2003 and continued to work as an electrician until I returned from a year’s travelling. I chose to return to college to study Electrical Engineering to further my skills and develop my career prospects. As I was a qualified electrician this was the next step for me. During the course of my studies I have undertaken 2 projects. In 2008 the project was to outline the electrical layout and installation of a building. The building had to have a load of 30kW or more and have the ability to host a range of different activities. I selected a local building – The Fermoy Youth Centre. I designed the electrical wiring, fire alarms, communication systems and distribution boards for the building using Autocad, Dialux Lighting Package, Microsoft Word and Excel. All health and safety regulations had to be taken into account throughout the project as well as projected costs for my design. My overall result was 85% and gave me the understanding of what goes into developing and managing a project of this size. I am in the process of completing my 3rd Year Project; to research and design hydroelectric generation for the domestic market and build a scaled model of a micro hydroelectric system. Through this project I wanted to design a hydroelectric system that would generate electricity from the Blackwater River in Fermoy for domestic usage. This involved carrying out a detailed study on the river flow rates and behaviour to see if it was feasible. I researched the different types of turbines; electrical equipment such as motors and generators that are available and chose the ones that I felt best suited the requirements of this project. The transmission of power and possible connection to the grid network also have to be considered together with the economics, environmental impact and legal obligations that are associated with such a system. The local councilors have contacted me in relation to my project as they feel that it may be feasible in Fermoy to install such a system. Should you have any further queries in relation to the above or need more information on the projects I have undertaken please do not hesitate to contact me.