Colin Chapman Scholarship Inspires A New Generation Of Engineers

The UCL Colin Chapman Lotus Engineering Masters Scholarship has been awarded to Nicholas Mak, a Mechanical Engineering student on the Postgraduate MSc degree course at University College London.

Nicholas displayed an outstanding technical knowledge of engineering, the automotive industry and Lotus Cars throughout the tough selection process for this hotly contested award. The prize for his efforts is a one year scholarship of 10,000 and an internship at Lotus Engineering in his chosen subject. The internship will form part of the study for Nicholas MSc research project dissertation, and provides valuable industrial experience and an insight into the workings of modern automotive consultancy.

The scholarship was presented on the 27th January 2011 in the Provosts office at UCL by Dr Robert Hentschel (Director of Lotus Engineering) at a ceremony attended by Clive Chapman (Colin Chapmans son), UCL President and Provost Professor Malcolm Grant, Professor Stephen Caddick (UCL Vice-Provost, Enterprise), Professor Nicos Ladommatos (UCL Kennedy Professor of Mechanical Engineering) and Dr Anna Clark, (Director of UCL Business Partnerships).

In 1948, Colin Chapman modified an Austin 7 to produce a competition car while at UCL studying Civil Engineering and thus the Lotus Mk 1 was born. The Chapman family has strong links with UCL as Colin Chapman and Clive Chapman are alumni of the university. The UCL Colin Chapman Lotus Engineering Masters Scholarship was created after a spectacular event held at UCL in 2007 celebrating Colin Chapmans contribution to automotive design.

Dr Robert Hentschel, Director of Lotus Engineering commented, Colin Chapman was one of the greatest and most innovative engineers the world has seen and it is fitting that this scholarship was created to inspire talented engineering students. Lotus Engineering is a world renowned engineering consultancy undergoing a large expansion as part of our five year plan we are looking to recruit around 400 engineers and to attract brilliant graduates like Nicholas Mak.

Adding, In line with our continual improvement programme, I am keen to develop additional links with leading academic institutions such as UCL to further our technical capability and maintain our world leading reputation.

Clive Chapman, Managing Director of Classic Team Lotus said, I am delighted that Dr Robert Hentschel has presented the UCL Colin Chapman Lotus Engineering Scholarship. Group Lotus values and respects my fathers legacy and it is nice to see this appreciation being represented by such an admirable initiative. University College is a leading university worldwide and Nicholas Mak is a young engineer with great potential; together with Lotus Engineering they make a great combination.

Professor Malcolm Grant, President and Provost of UCL, stated, UCL has an outstanding Department of Mechanical Engineering, and I am delighted with this collaboration with Lotus Engineering and the award of this Engineering Scholarship to Nicholas Mak. We need to develop many further such positive university-industry partnerships.