The SET Awards (Science, Engineering & Technology Student of the Year) are Britain's most important awards for science and technology undergraduates, and can really help your CV shine out in a crowd.

Supported by British Industry and Britain's leading scientific and technical institutions, they provide a showcase for educational excellence by publicly recognising the exceptional achievements of both students and universities. They are presented at a spectacular ceremony bringing together hundreds of technology students and academics, as well as senior figures from industry, government, science and the media.

We caught up with Jack Naylon, winner of the Filtronic award for 'Best Electronic Engineering Student' to talk about his engineering interests, his winning project and his future plans...

"I hadn't always planned to go into engineering; at school I was generally interested in science, especially Biology and thought my education and eventually career would take me into that field. All that changed however when I met my design technology teacher, Martin Hancock. He was such an inspiration that I ended up doing an A level in design technology - specifically focusing on systems and control technology, so my focus moved in that direction."

"I thought maybe engineering was what I should do as I liked physics etc, so I originally applied to do Integrated Engineering at Cardiff University, which was a newfangled course covering a wide range of topics, and was well marketed as course suitable for a career in project management - which at the time I thought would suit me. After a while I worked out that the focus of this course wasn't in line with what I wanted to do, and so I changed to an Electronics course and haven't looked back." 

"My submission to the competition was my third year dissertation and it was a bit of a wacky project really, and mainly to do with physics. The idea came about due to a crossover in the physics and high frequency engineering departments, as the physics department was specialising in superconducting photon detectors for astronomy and other applications and they asked for input from an engineering student; preferably one like myself with an interest in high frequency engineering because a new detector concept had recently been developed which used microwave resonators - the Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKID).  I was asked to help out with the team working on the new detectors, which was initially just a PhD student Simon Doyle, his supervisor Dr Philip Mauskopf, and my supervisor Dr Adrian Porch."

"To explain the work; the supercurrent in superconductors is carried by paired electrons, called Cooper pairs. At microwave frequencies the inertia of these pairs increases the inductance of a circuit made from superconducting material. This extra inductance is called 'Kinetic Inductance'. Incident photons can break up Cooper pairs, changing this inductance. MKIDs work by measuring the change in the resonant frequency of a superconducting resonant circuit caused by the change in inductance. These devices have extremely high theoretical sensitivities down into the far-infrared and microwave frequencies, making them ideal for studying the microwave cosmic background radiation, as well as for applications including quantum computing, particle detection and high-resolution high-sensitivity imaging."

"My project contained a theoretical study of this detection method, and introduced a computer model to aid design of future MKID devices. Curve fitting software was written for devices and to allow extraction of resonator parameters from real measurement data. A simple device was designed, fabricated and tested, which didn't work particularly well (at all), but proved the basic detector concept and demonstrated our existing fabrication and experimental test setup. The concept of a microwave lumped element resonator was also introduced and analysed theoretically and in simulation, and these devices are now the subject of continued research at Cardiff University."

"The work really appealed to me, and it was a really enjoyable project, and I loved developing over the two semester period."

"Looking forward, I'm in my final year now, working towards my Masters degree. I'm working on a group project this time, but it's similar to my work on the MKIDs so that's great!"

"After I graduate I've got a PhD pretty much lined up with my project supervisor, in a similar field again. I've enjoyed the work so much that I think I've found my niche, and I think career-wise I will continue to focus on this specific area. I find solid state physics and microwave engineering really interesting, and combining knowledge of both and bringing the two fields together to achieve a better understand from an engineering point of view appeals to me quite a lot."

"I'm hoping I can do a four year long PhD including some teaching experience as eventually I'd like to work as a lecturer - at Cardiff University if at all possible, but definitely following the academic path whatever happens."

"I always wanted to be a lecturer really; be a teacher at that high level, and to be involved in research etc. I'm afraid the real world doesn't appeal to me very much, and I quite like the 'cushy world of academia'; I think I would be more of a fan of the sheltered academic world at university with long holidays and conferences all over the world than working in industry!"