Máire O'Neill facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Máire O'Neill
O'Neill speaks at the Real World Crypto conference in 2018
Born	Máire McLoone Glenties
Alma mater	Queen's University Belfast
Known for	Encryption Data security
Awards	Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Medal Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists
Scientific career
Institutions	Queen's University Belfast
Doctoral advisor	John McCanny

Máire O'Neill (born in 1978) is a brilliant Irish professor and inventor. She works at Queen's University Belfast in a special center called the Centre for Secure Information Technologies. Her job is to make sure our digital information stays safe. In 2007, she was even named the Female Inventor of the Year in Britain! She was also the youngest person to become an engineering professor at Queen's University Belfast and the youngest to join the Irish Academy of Engineering.

Máire O'Neill's Early Life and Schooling

Máire O'Neill grew up in a place called Glenties in Ireland. Her dad, John McLoone, built a special system on a river near their house. This system used water to make electricity, called hydroelectric power, which gave their family free electricity! Her dad was also a maths teacher.

Máire moved to Belfast when she was a teenager. At Strathearn School, she loved studying maths, physics, and technology. Later, she went to Queen's University Belfast to study electronic engineering. A company helped pay for her studies because they wanted her to work on keeping computer information safe.

Studying Data Security

Máire decided to continue her studies and get a PhD. Her research was about how to make data encryption faster. Encryption is like putting a secret code on information so only the right people can read it. She worked with her professor, John McCanny.

During her PhD, she helped a company design electronic parts. Her project on a fast encryption method, called Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), was so good that an American company used it in their products. This made the encryption process much more efficient. Máire finished her PhD in 2002.

Máire O'Neill's Research and Career

In 2004, Máire O'Neill became a teacher at Queen's University Belfast. She focused on creating security systems to protect people from online dangers. She became the leader of the Cryptography Research Team, which studies secret codes.

Protecting Digital Information

Máire works on making computer hardware more secure. She also worked with a research group in Korea to create a new security system for electric vehicle charging stations. This system was used by a big company called LG CNS.

She received grants to develop new ways to keep data safe for the future. Her research looks at how to protect information when we use mobile devices. She also worked on a special circuit design technique that uses less power.

Máire also invented something called PicoPUF. This device helps make sure that computer chips are real and haven't been copied. It won an award in 2015! In 2013, she wrote a textbook about designing these special computer systems.

Securing Everyday Objects

Máire O'Neill also found a way to tell if a pearl is real or fake. She thought about putting tiny RFID tags inside pearls. These tags could hold information about the pearl and prove it's real. This helps pearl farmers who lose money because of fake pearls.

Just like fake pearls can cause problems, hacked devices on the internet can be dangerous. Máire is also working on how to make sure all our connected devices, like smart home gadgets, are safe from hackers. This is called the internet of things. In 2017, she became the director of a big research center in Belfast that focuses on secure hardware.

Currently, Máire O'Neill is researching post-quantum cryptography. This is about creating new ways to encrypt information that will be safe even from very powerful future computers.

Máire O'Neill's Academic Work

When Máire O'Neill was 32, she became the youngest engineering professor at Queen's University Belfast. In 2018, she became the main researcher at the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT). She gave a TED talk in 2019 about how to keep the internet of things safe. She has also appeared on BBC World Service. In 2019, she joined the UK Artificial Intelligence council.

In August 2019, Máire O'Neill became the acting director of ECIT, which is a big institute at Queen's University Belfast that studies electronics and communications.

Encouraging Girls in Engineering

Máire O'Neill cares a lot about getting more girls and women involved in engineering. In 2006, she gave talks to many school children about her work on data encryption. She also helped Queen's University Belfast win an award for supporting women in science. She looks up to Wendy Hall, another famous computer scientist.

Awards and Recognitions

Máire O'Neill has received many important awards:

• 2003 Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship
• 2004 Vodafone Award at Britain's Younger Engineers Event
• 2006 Women's Engineering Society prize at the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year
• 2007 British Female Inventors & Innovators Network Female Inventor of the Year
• 2007 European Union Women Inventors & Innovators Innovator of the Year
• 2014 Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Medal
• 2015 Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering
• 2015 INVENT 2015
• 2017 Elected to Royal Irish Academy
• 2019 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists
• 2019 Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
• 2020 Regius Professorship

Máire O'Neill's Family Life

Máire O'Neill is married to an electronic engineer, just like her! They have three children. Her two brothers are also electronic engineers, and her two sisters are medical doctors. It sounds like a very smart family!