Gold Medal Winner!
The James Watt International Gold Medal is a prize indeed! Awarded only once every two years to a single recipient, it is the highest honour that the Institution of Mechanical Engineers can bestow or that a mechanical engineer can receive.
Past recipients have included such illustrious names as Mr Henry Ford, Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, Sir Denis Rooke and Dr Igor Ivan Sikorsky. So Loughborough University, and especially this department, was thrilled to hear the news that one of our own Professors had been selected to join their ranks as “worthy to receive a medal struck in commemoration of one who was at one and the same time a scientist, an inventor and a producer, … an engineer who has achieved international recognition both by works as a mechanical engineer and by the ability with which science has been applied to the progress of mechanical engineering.”
Professor Roger Goodall’s international standing is beyond doubt and he is certainly seen as the world authority on several aspects of control of railway vehicles including active suspension and related control systems.
His citation for the award states: "His contribution to engineering research and application of new techniques and ongoing support and active involvement with the IMechE, and also encouraging young engineers, has been outstanding. His university research activities have always been strongly applications focussed and he has had a particular passion for bridging the gap between industry and universities. "
For his part, Roger adds, "I feel incredibly honoured to receive this medal. I have always had a passion for bridging the gap between universities and industry and am so fortunate to have been able to spend my career pursuing and researching some fascinating areas.”
Roger first came to Loughborough University in 1982 after working in industry developing a love of railways and control systems which was to form the basis for his academic career.
During the 1970s he developed the suspension control system for an experimental magnetically suspended “Maglev“ vehicle (i.e. no wheels), which led on to the world’s first operational Maglev system at Birmingham Airport. Some of his Maglev controller ideas were adapted for conventional rail vehicles, and in the early 1980s he was responsible for world-leading experimental projects to provide the first full-scale demonstrations of “active railway suspensions” , - incorporating computer control much as done in “fly-by-wire” aircraft and increasingly in modern cars. During his time at Loughborough, he has developed a portfolio of research activity that lays the foundations for a new way of designing railway vehicles using this “active suspension” technology, one which will result in less damage to both track and wheels and considerable savings on maintenance.
He was Chairman of the Institution’s Railway Division 2009-2010. He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and is also visiting Professor to Nihon University, Japan. He is also Vice President of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) for the period 2008 – 2014 and has been Chairman of the Council for a university railway research consortium known as Rail Research UK (2003-2010).
