Huddersfield Chemistry student gains top marks in country
Mon, 27 Jan 2014 12:31:00 GMT
Ben wins Royal Society of Chemistry Shalgosky Award for highest mark in UK
BEN Armitage (pictured above) started his working life patrolling the motorways of West Yorkshire for Highways Agency before realising that his real career destination was in scientific research. Now, as he nears the completion of his first degree at the University of Huddersfield, he has been awarded a prize which marks him down as one of the country’s most promising, young analytical chemists.
Ben, aged 29, is in the third year of his Master of Chemistry course at the University. High marks during his second year have earned him the 2013 Shalgosky Award, bestowed by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). The prize is a certificate, plus £800.
When he took his year-two exams in analytical chemistry, Ben was the best of his cohort, with a mark of 94 per cent. His exceptional results were forwarded to the RSC and he was judged to be the top-performing second-year undergraduate in the country. The award he receives is in memory of the late Harry Shalgosky, who was a highly-respected member of the RSC’s Analytical Division.
Ben, who is from Slaithwaite near Huddersfield, is delighted by the prize and his choice of course. “I just enjoy chemistry so much and it seems I am quite good at it!” he said.
But after attending Mirfield Free Grammar School and Greenhead College in Huddersfield, he went to work for the Highways Agency, based in Wakefield, covering stretches of the M1 and M62.
Needing fresh horizons, he decided to study science and enrolled first for a Foundation Year at the University, before embarking on his four-year MChem degree. He is currently carrying out research during a third-year internal placement.
His goal is to continue as a researcher in inorganic chemistry and synthesis and once his Master’s degree is completed he aims to move on to doctoral study.
His course leader, Dr Karl Hemming, commented: “It’s great to see our students getting recognition in this way. Ben is one of a very talented current cohort of students and we offer him our congratulations and our best wishes for his future in chemistry.”
