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 Tom Offord, winner of the Airbus award for 'Best Aeronautical Engineering Student' to talk about his interest in IT, his winning project and his future plans...

"As a youngster I was fascinated by stuff like cars and planes; I think I got that from my Dad.  Then at school I was good at maths and science, and always preferred to solve a problem than write an essay. I can't remember when I first thought about engineering as a career, but I did something called the Engineering Education Scheme in sixth form (which involved solving a real industrial problem in a small team), and from then on I knew I wanted to be an engineer. It was really satisfying to play a part in designing something, to look at a product or a drawing and see your work behind it; and that's still my main motivation today."

"I'm a graduate from the University of Cambridge, and my winning project was on 'Pulse combustion for gas turbines'. It's about a new type of combustor, designed to reduce the fuel consumption of a gas turbine. There's a small research group at Cambridge University, sponsored by Rolls-Royce, developing this combustor and studying the physics behind it. I joined the group for my final-year project, to investigate a new method for delivering fuel to the combustor."

"There were two areas of work: experimental and computational. The experiments were done on a 100kW combustor rig; it was hard work and often frustrating when things broke, but very good fun nonetheless. The computational work aimed to simulate gas flow inside the combustor. Overall the results were excellent - the new method of fuel delivery made the combustor 160 per cent more efficient."
 
"I graduated from university this summer, and I've joined Rolls-Royce as a graduate trainee now. At the moment I'm cutting my teeth on some real problems and trying to work out where I belong in such a big company. In the future, I want to contribute something really significant to the design of a gas turbine - whether this involves working as a designer or doing research, I'm not sure yet."

"The most important benefits to becoming a member of a professional organisation is that it's an important step towards Chartership, it demonstrates your commitment to the profession, plus it's great being associated with Britain's best engineers."