PResident's RePORt 2009/2010 - University College Cork

Foreword
UCC at a Glance
Academic Developments
Teaching and Learning
Research
College Reports:
Arts, Celtic
Studies and Social
Sciences
Business and Law
Medicine and Health
Science, Engineering and
Food Science
Events
Student Experience
Sports and Recreation
Buildings and Estates
Cork University Press
Finance
Governing Body
IRIS Appendix
51
of EIROSHELLTM a new chromatographic technology. Both
work in the Department of Chemistry and the SFI-sponsored,
Irish Separation Science Cluster.
• Professor John Sodeau was appointed as Interdisciplinary
Professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan for 2009/2010.
His duties included setting up a distance learning course on
Atmospheric Chemistry for graduate students
• Dr Dara Fitzpatrick was nominated for the ‘One to Watch Award’
as part of the Enterprise Ireland Big Ideas Showcase 2010. The
nomination was due to his development of a novel analytical
technique termed BARDS (Broadband Acoustic Resonance
Dissolution Spectroscopy which can accurately identify the
correct mixture ratio of a blend of different compounds in
solution.
Department of Computer Science
IT Experience Programme for transition year students from Cork
city and county took place in November. The course aims to give
work experience and information to students considering a career
in computer science.
Cork Constraint Computation Centre (4C)
George Boole School Computer Laboratory Project: items
of computer equipment that are no longer in use in UCC have
been deployed in a new outreach programme with local national
and secondary schools in Cork. The initiative, which is both an
outreach and recycling project, was established by Professor Barry
O’Sullivan (4C), in collaboration with the Parents’ Association of
Scoil Chlochair Mhuire Girls’ National School in Carrigtwohill. The
total cost of this project, which was sponsored by the school’s
parents’ association, was less than €1,000 - a fraction of the
costs that would have been incurred to build this infrastructure
from new equipment.
Professor Barry O’Sullivan (4C) delivered an invited talk to the
twenty-fourth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, held in
Atlanta, Georgia, US (2010). The Association for the Advancement
of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) is “a non-profit scientific society
devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the
mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behaviour and
their embodiment in machines. AAAI also aims to increase public
understanding of artificial intelligence, improve the teaching and
training of AI practitioners, and provide guidance for research
planners and funders concerning the importance and potential
of current AI developments and future directions.”
Two high-tech software startups – Thinksmart Technologies and
Keelvar Systems – have been incorporated at UCC arising from
research undertaken at 4C.
Department of Microbiology
Research Highlights
• Reconstructing Plague Pandemics: a multinational team of
scientists including Professor Mark Achtman (Microbiology and
ERI) has used genome sequencing to reconstruct past plague
pandemics from the time of the Black Death to the most recent
pandemic in the late 1800s. Their research was published online
in Nature Genetics (October 2010).
• New treatment for hospital-acquired superbug C difficile:
Scientists at the Microbiology department, UCC, Teagasc and
the University of Alberta have identified a new antibiotic, thuricin
CD, that is effective against the hospital-acquired superbug
Clostridium difficile. The research, funded by SFI, was published
in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
USA (June 2010).
• Fighting fungal infections with bacteria: Research suggesting
that bacterial pathogen can communicate with yeast to block
the development of drug-resistant yeast infections published in
Microbiology (May 2010). The research could be a step towards
new strategies to prevent hospital-acquired infections associated
with medical implants.
• Modified bacteria to replace oil derived products: Scientists
at University College Cork (UCC) and the University of Kent,
UK have shown that simple bacteria can be manipulated and
modified to produce biofuels and medicines and help reduce
our over-reliance on oil-derived products. The research, funded
by SFI, and the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council was published in Molecular Cell (April 2010).