Kaede Sugano, a year-12 student from Rugby School has been crowned GSK UK Young Engineer of the Year for her project, ‘RIHLA’. Inspired by her grandparents trying to find a perfect holiday for their 50th wedding anniversary, Kaede developed a website, which compares package holidays and suggests the one that best meets a traveller’s needs, using an algorithm she created.
Users rate tourist spots using three different criteria – sentiment, novelty and physical ability - and the app takes the traveller’s preference and package holiday profile using the algorithm to measure the similarity between them. With this service, travellers would be able to easily find a tour with which they are satisfied without having to go through the complex details of comparing the tour by themselves.
Kaede’s project was one of 200 submitted to this year’s
Big Bang Competition, an annual contest designed to recognise and reward young people's achievements in all areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), as well as helping them build skills and confidence in project-based work.
The awards were announced at
Big Bang Digital: Redefine the future, a three-day, digital event aimed at 11- to 14-year-olds, packed full of inspiring and interactive sessions designed to open young people's eyes to future developments they could be part of.
Previous winners have gone on to enjoy a range of other achievements on the back of their successes – including, getting backing from businesses for their projects, setting up their own companies, taking part in conference presentations to industry professionals, as well as appearing on the television and radio shows to talk about their projects.
Dr Hilary Leevers, chief executive of EngineeringUK, which organises
The Big Bang Competition, said: “There is no denying that students have had to deal with a lot of disruption to their learning in recent months, and the quality of this year’s entries is a testament to their talent, dedication and creativity under these difficult circumstances.
“It is particularly exciting to offer huge congratulations to Kaede on
International Women in Engineering Day, whose innovative project has seen her crowned
GSK UK Young Engineer of the Year 2021.
“At a time when we could all use a big dose of optimism for the future, the inventiveness and skill we have seen t athis year’s Big Bang Competition has been a re-assuring and inspiring tonic for all those involved in the judging – so we would like to extend a huge congratulations and heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated.”
Kaede said: “Currently, people all over the world are unable to travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic but, hopefully soon, we will be free to travel again. My dream is that my website will be helpful for people when this happens.
“I am very happy to receive this award, and it gives me the courage to continue my efforts to solve social problems with technology. I would also like to thank my teachers at school for teaching me the fun of mathematics, physics and computing.”
Karen Mullen, VP, country medical director – UK & Ireland at GSK, said: “GSK is very proud to sponsor the
UK Young Engineer of the Year Award as an important part of our commitment to discovering and developing young people through every step of their journey in STEM.
“As a professional in the field of STEM myself, I am particularly excited to meet the incredible talent that is showcased in
The Big Bang Competition and to be involved with supporting the next generation of scientists in the UK.
“It was not easy to select the winners among so many incredible high-quality entries. They left me inspired and I wish all of them never-ending curiosity, to dream big and to lead the way in ongoing innovation and progress within the critically important field of STEM.”
Find out more about how you can explore Big Bang Digital by visiting
www.thebigbangfair.co.uk.