Kathleen Grennan, PhD, awarded Chancellor's medal
13 November 2003

Dr Tony Killard, School of Chemical Sciences, Dr Kathleen Grennan and Professor Malcolm Smyth, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Health

The Chancellor's medal is presented each year to a student who has shown not only academic excellence, but who has contributed to the social life of the university, has involved themselves in recreational activities both within and outside the university and is held in high esteem by his or her fellow students and staff. This year's recipient, Kathleen Grennan, was considered to have fulfilled all of the above and judging by the response of the university community and visitors at graduation, was unanimously acknowledged as a most worthy recipient.

Kathleen Grennan graduated with a first class honours degree in Analytical Science in 1999, and was awarded her PhD in Chemistry this autumn. She is the first student of any discipline in the university to submit her thesis in both English and Irish, and to be examined orally through the medium of Irish. In doing so, she introduced a vocabulary of several hundred new words into the Irish language using the correct grammatical rules, which have now been registered through 'An Gum', the national authority for the Irish language.

She is now embarking on a new Irish language project - on ornithology. With a colleague, she is naming and registering with An Gum some of the 200 or more bird species in Ireland who do not possess Irish names.

Kathleen's other outstanding academic achievements are numerous. She received the Colin Barnes award earlier this year for her exceptional contribution to the life of the School of Chemical Sciences. Her research has also led to the development of several research areas, some of which received funding by Enterprise Ireland, through their commercialisation fund, to a value of 290,000 Euros.

Her contribution to university life in general involved the organisation of fund-raising events such as table quizzes, rounders tournaments and indoor soccer competitions, as well as organising scientific speakers and trips away with the Chemical Research Society, which Kathleen co-founded. Aside from this social aspect of her activities within the School of Chemical Sciences, Kathleen has been a mentor for a succession of undergraduate, postgraduate and visiting research students and is generally considered to have played a strong ambassadorial role with visiting academics, funding agencies and dignitaries.

Kathleen has communicated her love of science to the outside community in a number of interesting ways. She translated scientific research topics into Irish, in a language that is accessible to secondary school children. She has also appeared on TG4's "Sinn e" programme, promoting scientific research in the National Centre for Sensor Research at DCU.

The sincere esteem in which she is held by both postgraduate students and academic staff is reflected here in the words of her postgraduate colleague, Blanaid White: "Kathleen isn't loud or ostentatious; she doesn't make her presence felt whenever she enters the room, but she is, and for as long as I can remember has been, essential to the workings of the chemistry department. As postgraduate students, we are here in DCU to learn, to expand our knowledge and to challenge our limits. It's all too easy to forget that academic achievement in DCU is just one aspect of our time here. Personal growth and development, learning to work through differences and forging friendships are just as important. Kathleen never viewed DCU solely as an academic establishment. She endeavoured and succeeded in making it a more rounded environment in which to grow and learn and work".

And in the words of her industrial supervisor, Dr Tony Killard, "While many concentrate on their academic success alone, Kathleen still finds time and energy for others. She has made so many contributions to the DCU community, it is difficult to recount them all, let alone their impact".