Engineering
Why Pembroke?
Pembroke has a tight-knit engineering community, which you will be instantly welcomed into upon arrival. In addition to teaching, our friendly and approachable tutors are also actively engaged in advancing their own research in areas ranging from artificial intelligence and autonomous robots, to the behaviour of materials. All of your tuition is provided within the College, aside from specialised subjects later in the course.
What extra activities are on offer?
In addition to the plethora of department initiatives such as Formula Student, Team ORIon, OxRam and the Women in Engineering Society, Pembroke organises events thorough the year which bring together engineering students across all years.
At the start of the year, final year students present their “lessons learnt”, an informal yet informative ice-breaker, and at the end of the year they present their research projects, giving you an insight into what lies ahead.
Could you be a Pembroke Engineer?
Successful engineers need an enthusiasm for the subject, coupled with a strong academic record in maths and physics. It is also helpful to have had practical experience in solving real-life engineering problems. We look for applicants who have creative ability, and who will ultimately contribute to and influence society.
If you are considering this course, please attend an open day where you can meet our tutors and students and find out more. This is the best way to get a feel for whether you should make an application. We look forward to meeting you!
The Rokos Internship Scheme provides full funding for academic summer internships.
Pembroke non-finalist STEM students are eligible for up to £1,000 funding for summer internships, allowing them to gain hands-on research experience. The award covers all academic and living expenses, including accommodation.
Below are some reports from Engineering students who used this award in the last few years:
Jianhao Yuan
Supported by the Rokos Scheme, Jianhao took part in a summer internship with the Torr Vision Group in the Engineering Department. His project focused on exploring a novel method to improve the generalizability of the current computer vision model.
He shares: "This research experience has been very enjoyable for me. Although it was not that smooth and we had to make some pivots in the project direction during the process, we finally got on the right track. We get a paper to submit to the conference just by the end of the project. As my first paper output in my life, I am super excited about it. It gives me a more concrete idea of how the research would look like and makes me more determined to have a DPhil to continue to investigate the area."
Janina Branke (2019, MEng Engineering Science)
Janina used the Rokos Award to complete an internship as a Technology Innovation Engineer at BP, a British multinational oil and gas company. She worked on projects to develop a robotic arm for electric vehicle charging and to determine methods of improving the circularity of offshore windfarms.
Janina shares: "Our sustainable energy sources, electric vehicle infrastructure and logistics must be improved to reduce the damage being done on our planet. I’m extremely grateful that the Rokos Award enabled me to make progress in the renewable energy space through my internship at BP. The internship allowed me to meet inspiring people in the industry and to learn about many current offshore start-ups. The offshore wind project has strengthened by expertise on data processing and will give guidance for my upcoming master's project."
Harry Mead (2019, MEng Engineering Science)
With the Rokos Award, Harry had the opportunity to help in the development of a reinforcement learning agent that would be designed to play Angry Birds.
Harry shares: "Reinforcement learning is a subset of machine learning, where agents are designed to interact with an unknown environment and improve on their behaviours based on the quality of their previous actions... Overall, I felt that over the course of my internship, I learnt a lot about the basics of reinforcement learning. As I go into my third and fourth year of engineering, this foundation should be helpful if I choose to do any machine learning courses/projects. I also had the opportunity to improve my skills at coding in Java and javascript."
Read more here.
Lauren Gargan (2020, MEng Engineering Science)
Lauren was able to experience working as a biomedical engineer, splitting her time over the summer vacation between the Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) and OxVent, a start-up originating in the response to the UK ventilator challenge and the Covid 19 pandemic.
She writes: "The work I did at both the IBME and OxVent looked at the effects of respiratory diseases, particularly coronavirus, and how these diseases can be identified and treated.
At IBME I was tasked with designing and building a lung model in which the values of these two things could be set to a range of appropriate data and then the method used to measure this and prove the theory. At OxVent, not only did my knowledge of 3D CAD software and using a 3D printer develop, I also got to experience first-hand the manufacturing process for a medical grade device. It was definitely very rewarding being able to experience the full process from design through to 3D printing and sterilising and then assembling the components and into the ventilator being tested."
Bence Tanko-Bartalis (2020, MEng Engineering Science)
With funding from the Rokos Award, Bence had the opportunity to participate in research work at the Wigner Research Centre for Physics, which is part of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. Bence was part of a theoretical physics research group which used Artificial Intelligence to replicate hadronization.
He shares: "Other than learning the direct skills that are needed to do the research, I have gained experience in using AI and many other tasks that are part of a research in general. I have learned to summarise and present all my week's achievements in a short presentation. I have learned how important documentation is. I also had a chance to use Linux and a powerful computer inside a GPU laboratory provided by the institute."
Read more here.
Hedges Prize
-
The Hedges Prize was founded in memory of John Hedges of Westcliffe-on-Sea an, Engineering Science undergraduate of the College.
- It is awarded on the Tutors’ recommendation to the Engineering Science undergraduate judged to have contributed most to the corporate life of the College.
The Paul Martins BP Prize
-
This scholarship will be awarded on the Tutors’ recommendation to an Engineering student achieving the best result in Part I Engineering Final
Faaria Khan
The original reasons why I chose Pembroke have regularly stood out to me throughout my time here, such as the architecture, the engineering tutors, the halal food and the accommodation. Moreover, I hail from a small, homely town in Surrey so truthfully the life and community at Pembroke didn’t feel a world away from home.
The original reasons why I chose Pembroke have regularly stood out to me throughout my time here, such as the architecture, the engineering tutors, the halal food and the accommodation. Moreover, I hail from a small, homely town in Surrey so truthfully the life and community at Pembroke didn’t feel a world away from home.
This certainly made the daunting transition to University much easier and I felt settled at Pembroke almost immediately.The engineering course has been challenging and repeatedly pushed me to new limits, but I feel richer and more grateful for this opportunity with each passing year. In addition to the academic demands of my third year, I was elected as the President of the Oxford University Islamic Society, one of the University’s most active communities. In my final year project, I will be working to optimise a breathing-powered prosthetic which I am very much looking forward to.
Meet Our Academics
Engineering
Why Pembroke?
Pembroke has a tight-knit engineering community, which you will be instantly welcomed into upon arrival. In addition to teaching, our friendly and approachable tutors are also actively engaged in advancing their own research in areas ranging from artificial intelligence and autonomous robots, to the behaviour of materials. All of your tuition is provided within the College, aside from specialised subjects later in the course.
What extra activities are on offer?
In addition to the plethora of department initiatives such as Formula Student, Team ORIon, OxRam and the Women in Engineering Society, Pembroke organises events thorough the year which bring together engineering students across all years.
At the start of the year, final year students present their “lessons learnt”, an informal yet informative ice-breaker, and at the end of the year they present their research projects, giving you an insight into what lies ahead.
Could you be a Pembroke Engineer?
Successful engineers need an enthusiasm for the subject, coupled with a strong academic record in maths and physics. It is also helpful to have had practical experience in solving real-life engineering problems. We look for applicants who have creative ability, and who will ultimately contribute to and influence society.
If you are considering this course, please attend an open day where you can meet our tutors and students and find out more. This is the best way to get a feel for whether you should make an application. We look forward to meeting you!
The Rokos Internship Scheme provides full funding for academic summer internships.
Pembroke non-finalist STEM students are eligible for up to £1,000 funding for summer internships, allowing them to gain hands-on research experience. The award covers all academic and living expenses, including accommodation.
Below are some reports from Engineering students who used this award in the last few years:
Jianhao Yuan
Supported by the Rokos Scheme, Jianhao took part in a summer internship with the Torr Vision Group in the Engineering Department. His project focused on exploring a novel method to improve the generalizability of the current computer vision model.
He shares: "This research experience has been very enjoyable for me. Although it was not that smooth and we had to make some pivots in the project direction during the process, we finally got on the right track. We get a paper to submit to the conference just by the end of the project. As my first paper output in my life, I am super excited about it. It gives me a more concrete idea of how the research would look like and makes me more determined to have a DPhil to continue to investigate the area."
Janina Branke (2019, MEng Engineering Science)
Janina used the Rokos Award to complete an internship as a Technology Innovation Engineer at BP, a British multinational oil and gas company. She worked on projects to develop a robotic arm for electric vehicle charging and to determine methods of improving the circularity of offshore windfarms.
Janina shares: "Our sustainable energy sources, electric vehicle infrastructure and logistics must be improved to reduce the damage being done on our planet. I’m extremely grateful that the Rokos Award enabled me to make progress in the renewable energy space through my internship at BP. The internship allowed me to meet inspiring people in the industry and to learn about many current offshore start-ups. The offshore wind project has strengthened by expertise on data processing and will give guidance for my upcoming master's project."
Harry Mead (2019, MEng Engineering Science)
With the Rokos Award, Harry had the opportunity to help in the development of a reinforcement learning agent that would be designed to play Angry Birds.
Harry shares: "Reinforcement learning is a subset of machine learning, where agents are designed to interact with an unknown environment and improve on their behaviours based on the quality of their previous actions... Overall, I felt that over the course of my internship, I learnt a lot about the basics of reinforcement learning. As I go into my third and fourth year of engineering, this foundation should be helpful if I choose to do any machine learning courses/projects. I also had the opportunity to improve my skills at coding in Java and javascript."
Read more here.
Lauren Gargan (2020, MEng Engineering Science)
Lauren was able to experience working as a biomedical engineer, splitting her time over the summer vacation between the Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) and OxVent, a start-up originating in the response to the UK ventilator challenge and the Covid 19 pandemic.
She writes: "The work I did at both the IBME and OxVent looked at the effects of respiratory diseases, particularly coronavirus, and how these diseases can be identified and treated.
At IBME I was tasked with designing and building a lung model in which the values of these two things could be set to a range of appropriate data and then the method used to measure this and prove the theory. At OxVent, not only did my knowledge of 3D CAD software and using a 3D printer develop, I also got to experience first-hand the manufacturing process for a medical grade device. It was definitely very rewarding being able to experience the full process from design through to 3D printing and sterilising and then assembling the components and into the ventilator being tested."
Bence Tanko-Bartalis (2020, MEng Engineering Science)
With funding from the Rokos Award, Bence had the opportunity to participate in research work at the Wigner Research Centre for Physics, which is part of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. Bence was part of a theoretical physics research group which used Artificial Intelligence to replicate hadronization.
He shares: "Other than learning the direct skills that are needed to do the research, I have gained experience in using AI and many other tasks that are part of a research in general. I have learned to summarise and present all my week's achievements in a short presentation. I have learned how important documentation is. I also had a chance to use Linux and a powerful computer inside a GPU laboratory provided by the institute."
Read more here.
Hedges Prize
-
The Hedges Prize was founded in memory of John Hedges of Westcliffe-on-Sea an, Engineering Science undergraduate of the College.
- It is awarded on the Tutors’ recommendation to the Engineering Science undergraduate judged to have contributed most to the corporate life of the College.
The Paul Martins BP Prize
-
This scholarship will be awarded on the Tutors’ recommendation to an Engineering student achieving the best result in Part I Engineering Final
Faaria Khan
The original reasons why I chose Pembroke have regularly stood out to me throughout my time here, such as the architecture, the engineering tutors, the halal food and the accommodation. Moreover, I hail from a small, homely town in Surrey so truthfully the life and community at Pembroke didn’t feel a world away from home.
The original reasons why I chose Pembroke have regularly stood out to me throughout my time here, such as the architecture, the engineering tutors, the halal food and the accommodation. Moreover, I hail from a small, homely town in Surrey so truthfully the life and community at Pembroke didn’t feel a world away from home.
This certainly made the daunting transition to University much easier and I felt settled at Pembroke almost immediately.The engineering course has been challenging and repeatedly pushed me to new limits, but I feel richer and more grateful for this opportunity with each passing year. In addition to the academic demands of my third year, I was elected as the President of the Oxford University Islamic Society, one of the University’s most active communities. In my final year project, I will be working to optimise a breathing-powered prosthetic which I am very much looking forward to.