The helpfulness and enthusiasm of all staff members within the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, both technical staff within the laboratory, as well as the lecturing staff, have aided me to grow fond of the material and metallurgical subjects within the engineering world. The subjects taught at an undergraduate level within DMME enabled me to grasp a good knowledge of different material characteristics and properties.
After having read about several intriguing subjects in material engineering, I decided to conduct my undergraduate dissertation within this remit. Although, the topic of the dissertation - stone consolidation - was a relatively alien subject to me, with extreme dedication and patience, my dissertation supervisor, Dr Daniel Vella, gave me a solid background on which I could build my study. Dr Vella was always available to answer any queries I had and to guide me in the right direction. He also recommended literature sources and even provided me with literature material to consult from his own collection, in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the dissertation. Moreover, the technical personnel within the laboratories were always very helpful to provide me with the necessary tips in conducting the tests related to the dissertation.
While reading for my B.Eng Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Malta, I quickly grew fond of materials and metallurgy, in which I prepared my end of year thesis. My studies and lab work for my thesis with DMME has helped me understand better and appreciate materials. The dedicated staff at the lab, especially my final year tutor Dr. Ing. Ann Zammit who truly aided me through her hard work, patience and continuous support on completing my course. Apart from their educational aid, the DMME staff were also my friends, who helped me both on a personal level as well as in preparation for my life long career as an engineer.
I graduated in the year of 2015 and soon after started my first job as a process engineer. Both the theory and practice have enabled me to integrate rapidly in my new challenging career. This is reflected through dealing with day to day problems such as setting-up the required machinery and equipment, understanding and implementing policies and procedures and recommending updates of processes as deemed necessary from time to time.
All in all, the aid and experience I received from the Faculty of Engineering and DMME is one that helped me kick start my career and for which I again express my gratitude. Joining this faculty is strongly recommended.
I have always been interested in the field of material science. Nonetheless, my enrolment for a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Malta has made me more aware of the importance of this area of study, especially given the diversity of subjects offered by the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering (DMME) within the Faculty of Engineering. In light of this, choosing to carry out my final year project within the DMME was a straightforward decision. My work for this project dealt with improving the suitability of titanium for its use in the aerospace industry, whose development is almost entirely dictated by the material’s performance.
The DMME is characterised by a state of the art laboratory, equipped with instruments of cutting edge technology, as well as a dynamic and organised team of professional academic and technical staff, who are very competent in their job and are always on the edge to offer students any help they may require. On a personal note, my project supervisors Dr Ing. Glenn Cassar and Dr Ing. Ann Zammit were extremely supportive and encouraging throughout the whole journey, including my decision to enter the Master’s programme and take further my studies within the DMME.
During my Master’s Degree, I was humbly given the opportunity to work within the DMME laboratory. This experience made me conscious of how much industries in Malta rely on knowledge in material science to better ensure the highest degree of quality within its manufacture products. Moreover, the careers available within the Maltese and even foreign industry are closely related to the studies carried out within the DMME, given their relevance and contemporary significance.
Admittedly, studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Malta was no stroll in the park. It has to classify as one of the most challenging experiences I have ever faced in life so far. But I am very thankful to having spent a major part of it working in the DMME department, with an irreplaceable team who day-in day-out are committed to carry out sterling work and give their all to see the students learn and flourish academically and professionally.
Materials Engineering has appealed to me since the very first day, and I always knew that upon reaching my third year, the DMME laboratory was going to be my main home for the second and last sector of the course. Biomaterials and Nanomaterials study units were two of my most favourite. They impeccably describe where the world of materials engineering is heading at in the present day, where what we perceive as impossible today, is declared a norm tomorrow!
My final year project was my last official venture with DMME, and I must say it managed to impact my life rather heftily, where both the good and bad senses of the meaning are elegantly merged together in the experience. The thesis project is the cherry on the cake, the one-way ticket out of Uni, which for many, comes with an additional return-pass right back into a masters-degree. It was the most stressful period of the entire 4-year engineering chronicle. Nonetheless, I am gratified to having had the opportunity to work with all the DMME staff, lecturers, engineers, lab technicians, and last but not least, for the amazing bond which blossomed among us students. The unparalleled support was what kept me “sanely” running, at times, even on empty tanks!
I would describe the DMME as professional, dynamic and interdisciplinary. Studying and working with DMME helped me to give an orientation of what I wanted to do and become. The modules are taught by experienced, helpful academics whilst assignments involve both theoretical and practical aspects. The DMME gave me the opportunity to study in an interesting engineering field, work on a number of different equipment and provided me with a very hands-on experience.
Studying and working at DMME helped me shape several skills both professionally and personally. The DMME gave me the opportunity to focus mostly on biomaterials in my final year of studying and this led me to embark on an exciting career in the Medical Devices sector. The theoretical background and the hands-on laboratory experience received through the B.Eng allowed me to offer a technical perceptive, whilst the DMME helped me to take on an interdisciplinary route in the medical field.
I started my experience as an engineering undergraduate in 2005. Of course the first couple of years where full of subjects from every kind of field, an aspect which can frustrate at the beginning but is something that in reality is very important to prepare students for the extremely diverse Maltese industry. Part of these introductory subjects involved those in materials engineering and I can remember as if it was yesterday Prof. Maurice Grech explaining to us how materials were fundamental in any engineering design. At that point we learnt that indeed material properties are many times the limiting factor when it comes to technological advancements, and a lot of research was being done to improve such properties.
That led me to choose more and more subjects from DMME and I also ended up doing my thesis with the department. All this led me to meet and work in close proximity with the extremely dedicated lecturers and staff at the Department. I got my B.Eng (hons) degree in 2009, it was not easy, but it was definitely rewarding so I decided to start immediately a Ph.D. within the DMME that spanned another 4 years. Through those doctoral years the supervisors, lecturers and staff at the department didn’t just give me academic support but also became friends that helped me with my personal development through life.
Now I’m working in industry which is a completely different scene than academia, however, the concepts and methodologies learnt at University changed the way I think and that was invaluable at the place of work. In addition, since materials are always at the basis of any design, my direct knowledge of how materials behave and interact was an important asset which became useful in design, problem solving and in general, even in areas where it was least expected.
The field of engineering is highly varied and the initial years of the University of Malta course provides insight on different areas. I found the initial two years of the course quite challenging with limited optional study units. In the third year of the engineering course students had the opportunity to select a number of study units. Although most of my selections were subjects offered by the DMME department I still was not convinced of the engineering field that I will be following.
The completion of my mechanical engineering course and a study on waste management engineering led to me to broaden my knowledge in the field of environmental engineering with the Dual Master’s Degree Sustainable Environmental Resources Management (SERM) offered by University of Malta in collaboration with James Madison University. The thesis within this course focussed on the environmental impacts of the Maltese waste management scenario.
Following I continued to specialise in the field of island waste management engineering at the RWTH Aachen University where in 2016 I obtained my PhD as an extern student. In parallel with this I started working with a local waste management operator and today I work in waste management strategy.
My passion for material science has always been strong, especially since enrolling in the B.Sc. Chemistry with Materials course. After graduating as a chemist, I immediately knew I wanted to purse a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering. In a nutshell, my work involved the enhancement of tribocorrosion resistance of biomedical grade stainless steel to be used in orthopaedic implants by depositing thin ceramic PVD coatings. The chemistry background obtained from my undergraduate course has helped me a lot vis-à-vis understanding various chemical processes taking place during my experimental work, such as the coatings’ response to the corrosive media as well as during the interpretation of the electrochemical data.
Undoubtedly, this has been both a demanding and challenging period. However, it has also been an intellectually stimulating and rewarding experience, indisputably making it the best experience I have ever been through. As such, I am grateful to all the academic staff at the DMME, not only for their extreme patience but also for their intellectual contributions to my development as a scientist. I also felt that the technical staff at the DMME were like a second family to me. They enhanced my experience in the lab and made sure they were always there to support me along the way.
