Mentorship Program 2022 – Meet some of our Mentees

ASHRAE Ireland in collaboration with CIBSE Ireland have launched our inaugural mentorship programme, sponsored by CIM. The purpose of this programme is to assist younger engineers in the early stages of their career and provide them with guidance, advice, and tips from industry leaders. The program was launched in 2021 and has 10 successful mentee and mentor pairings to date. Pairings were matched based on specific interests and industry backgrounds. We are pleased to say that the program is going from strength to strength, we have held three online workshops based on specific topics to develop personal and professional lives.

For many of our mentees, engineering is just one aspect of their of day to day lives. The below section focuses on two of our mentees and our mentorship program coordinator. For these three young engineers, sport plays a pivotal role function in live outside engineering.

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Mike Ahern – PHD Engineering Student UCC

Outside the world of engineering I enjoy playing hurling and football with my local GAA club. We are currently gearing up for, what we hope to be, a long summer of championship action. We are a small community that relies on the valiant efforts of some committed people to keep the club running. This year, I was fortunately in a position to extend my involvement beyond the playing pitch to take up the roles of PRO and Registrar. The seanfhocail (old, Irish proverb) \”Ní Paróiste gan Foireann\”, which translates to \”There\’s no parish or community without a team\”, is often mentioned in our club as we plan to grow and cater for future generations.\”

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Alex Frant – Mechanical Engineer Varmings

Alex\’s interests in science stretch far outside the engineering realm and into the \”sweet science\” of boxing. Alex has competed in amateur boxing since the young age of 13 until his late teens having won numerous championships including Dublin League, Dublin Championships and came very close to winning an all Ireland Medal.

As he progressed his engineering career, Alex ceased to compete in boxing, however he acknowledged the benefits of boxing to the local community and subsequently turned to coaching in his local boxing club, Corinthians Boxing Club. Corinthians Boxing Club is shaping grounds for young boys and girls where cheekiness gets you ten press-ups, cursing gets you ten burpees and fighting outside of the boxing ring gets you thrown out of the boxing club.

Discipline and respect is built into the club\’s members from a young age. Alongside other volunteer coaches, Alex now trains boxers of all levels from complete beginners to Dublin Champions, National Champions and even European Champions. The mixture of levels in the boxing club creates an environment where young kids have the established boxers as role models which motivates them 

to become their best version from an early age.

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Conor Deane – ASHRAE Program Leader – JV Tierney & Co. Consulting Engineering

Our program lead, Conor Deane works as a Project Sustainable Engineer with JV Tierney and Consulting Engineers (Sustainable & Environmental Department). His day-to-day work focuses on all aspects of sustainable building design and operation including.  Outside the world of sustainable engineering, Conor is a middle-distance runner with Brothers Pearse Athletic Club and ran with the National University of Ireland Galway Athletics (NUIG) team. He competes at regional and national events, 5km and 10km track and road racing. Conor has won medals at regional & national level and most recently was a part of the of the NUIG All Ireland Cross-Country winning team 2021 and 2022.

A special shout out to Conor as he was the first 10K runner over the finish line in the 2022 Calcutta Run on Saturday 28^th May. He ran with the J.V. Tierney team and all for a great cause – the funds raised will helped The Hope Foundation and the Peter McVerry Trust in their fight against homelessness. Congratulations to all involved!!

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