A student from Stornoway who “never saw himself as academic” has developed an engine concept for supersonic jets – and had his idea published in a prestigious scientific journal.
Matthew Murray carried out the research into scramjet engines – which could potentially power an ordinary fixed-wing aircraft into space or shorten journey times between Britain and Australia to two hours – during the final year of his degree in Mechanical and Energy Engineering at Lews Castle College UHI.
His project was about how to control complex air flow through the engine and his ideas have been so well received that his paper was published in The Journal of the British Interplanetary Society.
Mr Murray said he was “very happy and very surprised at the same time” to have had his paper published.
He added: “It was a year of work and when I first started it was quite daunting. I thought I did a good job so I’m happy about that.”
Mr Murray left school without qualifications and began his academic journey with an access course to the National Certificate in Mechanical Engineering.
He said: “At first I just wanted a basic degree to get a job offshore but that changed with things like the gas industry laying off people. My thoughts changed.
“I thought, ‘right, I need to open my horizons’, so to speak, and that’s when I got into the research and development side of engineering.
“When I left school, I did not see that happening. I did not see myself as being academic. It’s been a bit of a turnaround, the past few year. It’s probably quite an unconventional journey for engineering.
“Most of the people I talk to went straight from school to their degrees. It’s interesting because I never would have seen myself here, especially when I left school. I had no interest in maths or physics.”
The Innovation Centre at the college supports research and development in a range of areas, from supersonic jet engines to disability aids, hydroponics, cosmetics and other products.