Prestigious bursaries for twin brothers

Sam and Ed Wilson, 20, were selected from 678 competitive applications for the Nuffield Foundation bursary scheme, which supports undergraduates who are considering research as a career. The bursary enables the award winners to work in a research laboratory during the summer vacation before their final year.

The brothers from Willenhall are studying for BSc (Hons) Computer Science degrees at the University’s School of Computing and Information Technology.

Ed is researching the next generation of hardware to create a network of sensors to collect data from soil samples. He will then co-ordinate and convert the data transmitted from each sample.

Ed hopes to join the RAF as Communications Engineering officer. He said: “Working with Professor Robert Newman and Dr Chris Dennett will steer me in the direction of research in a field applicable to my career aspirations. It will provide me with the opportunity to use and implement the findings, giving me hands-on experience instead of my previous experience of reading about research.”

Sam hopes to become an academic and is working on software power Local Area Network (LAN) systems, which supply networking capability to a group of computers in close proximity to each other such as in an office building, a school, or a home. He is working on how to write code to understand the variation in transmitting data and how to most efficiently collate the data being transmitted as the networks increase in size.

“I’m hoping to learn from my peers in research and to develop my knowledge which I hope will open doors for my career as an academic. I also aim to base my final year dissertation on this area of research. It will be a challenge to develop a communication protocol for the LAN systems,” Sam added.

Both students are continuing their research through voluntary placements during the third year of a sandwich degree where they will be continuing the School’s research group’s work into LAN System and network sensors.

For further information about Nuffield Foundation Science Bursaries, visit www.nuffieldfoundation.org

Further information

Picture: Twin brothers Sam (left) and Ed (right) Wilson, from the University of Wolverhampton, who have been awarded Nuffield Foundation bursaries

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