University News

The Engineering Foundation will be hosting the 2009 Research and Innovation Showcase on Wednesday, 11 November 2009 from 5:30 - 7:30pm.

UWA engineering students are leading the way in finding environmentally sustainable technologies for future transportation.

The beam centrifuge, located at the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems (COFS) at the School of Civil & Resource Engineering (CRE), UWA, turns 20 years old this year.

Professor Caroline Baillie has been appointed as UWA's first Chair of Engineering Education.

First year indigenous engineering students, Samantha Shepherd and Ezra Jacobs-Smith, were thrilled when both received a laptop from Les May, Managing Director of ACS Global to help them in their engineering studies.

Thanks to the contribution of leading Australian engineering firm Clough Limited, the student experience for first year engineering students at UWA will be elevated to a new level with the establishment of the Clough First Year Centre. The UWA-Clough partnership agreement provides dedicated student space for first years in the crucial transition from school to university with the establishment of this 24/7 home base.

Alexander Wyatt (BE/BSc, 2005) was awarded one of two 2009 Fulbright Western Australia Scholarships to undertake research in the United States.

The UWA Graduates Association (UWAGA) Malaysia organised a trip down memory lane in May this year for members.

At the Autumn 2009 Graduation Ceremonies, two prominent UWA engineering graduates were honoured for their achievements and services to UWA.

Complete article listing of the May 2009 edition of The Engineering Essential.

UWA mechanical engineering graduate, Sir Rod Eddington, will become the next Chair of ANZ in the second half of 2009. He is the chair of Infrastructure Australia and a director on the board of News Corporation.

Peter Smith who travelled with his wife, Nerissa from Sydney for the 50th Engineering Reunion of the Class of 1957 said “we saw this as a once in a lifetime event. An opportunity to renew friendships with fellow students, many of whom we had not seen for 50 years. We shared our experiences since graduating. The diversity of work and experience was amazing and underscores the quality of education we received at UWA.”

It appears that Rhodes Scholars must have more hours in each day than the rest of us. This year’s winner, John McAnearney, at the age of 22 has a double degree in Science and Engineering; he plays keyboard and guitar in a band; plays squash, tennis and golf; is setting up a children’s charity with his brother; and has worked as a volunteer for the Lions Eye Institute and Siemens Healthcare in Sydney.

Western Australia dominated the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) 2008 Challenge, with first-year engineering students from The University of Western Australia taking the majority of prizes including

The inaugural Monadelphous Integrated Learning Centre student industry project was a success. Three excellent students in Mechanical Engineering did a 12 week project with Monadelphous related to the efficiency of structural connectors.

Late last year 200 industry guests and UWA Engineering staff met for the UWA Engineering Research and Innovation Showcase, the first ever to be held at The University Club. The Showcase gave attendees the chance to network and view over 50 different research projects from all areas of the Faculty.

Vaughn Grey, mechanical engineering and chemistry graduate (2007), has won the Engineers Australia 2008 National Young Professional Engineer of the Year Award.

I am delighted to join the ‘winning team’ of the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics as Dean (there are so many success stories in this edition of The Engineering Essential).

The State Centre of Excellence for Ecohydrology, located at The University of Western Australia’s Crawley campus, is an extension of the original WA Agricultural Research Centre for Ecohydrology established in 2006.

The UWA Engineering Foundation is hosting an inaugural Research and Innovation Showcase for The Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

 Adrian Baddeley, Professor of Statistics at the University of Western Australia, has been named the 2008 Matheron Lecturer by the International Association for Mathematical Geology. This prize is named after one of the pioneers of geostatistics, Georges Matheron, from the Paris School of Mines. The award citation mentions Professor Baddeley’s contributions to stereology (quantitative microscopy), spatial statistics, and advanced statistical software. The award and lecture was presented at the 33rd International Geosciences Congress in Oslo, Norway, in August 2008.

Cheryl Praeger, Federation Fellow in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, is Australia’s most highly cited pure mathematician within the top 200 most highly cited mathematicians worldwide. Her exceptional support for her students and colleagues has not only benefited their careers but has also attracted numerous mathematicians to Praeger’s research area.

Christina Rogerson graduated from the University of Western Australia with an Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2006. Towards the end of her degree she took up a few elective units in languages, which led her to

This year the Australian Power Institute (API) has called for submissions from universities to propose innovative ideas or projects that promote sustainability and excellence in Australia's power engineering sector.

Engineers Australia magazine has announced the Top 100 Engineers for 2008. We are proud that these distinguished professionals started their careers at UWA.

UWA mechanical engineering graduate, Mr Darren Lomman, whose not-for-profit company builds special equipment to help people with disabilities water ski, surf, ride motorbikes and climb cliff faces has been awarded a Churchill Fellowship.

The UWA Centre for Software Practice (CSP) was launched in 2006 and focuses on providing web based solutions to both the private and public sector. Currently, the CSP develops and licenses software for the tertiary education sector, in the areas of research management and university administration, and for the health sector, in the field of e-Medicine.

Complete article listing of the Febraury 2009 edition of The Engineering Essential.

Complete article listing of the October 2008 edition of The Engineering Essential.

Complete article listing of the June 2008 edition of The Engineering Essential.

My service as Dean of this Faculty concludes at the end of May, after nearly 6 years. This has been a period of very substantial change for the Faculty and the University, with some very pleasing outcomes.

What can be done against Global Warming, atmospheric pollution and fuel prices at record highs? In January 2008, the Renewable Energy Vehicle (REV) project was re-started under the leadership of Associate Professor Thomas Bräunl and Dr Kamy Cheng.

It is no surprise that China’s demand for raw materials such as iron ore has fuelled Western Australia’s economic growth. China is now WA’s number one trading partner accounting for 21.45% of WA exports in 2007. Given the overall strength of the Chinese economy, the WA mining boom is set to continue with the Sino-Australian trade relationship currently worth billions. WA’s sister state in China is Zhejiang Province, a major recipient of iron ore. In order to take advantage of the trade partnership, engineers need to be well versed in Chinese business, language and culture. The Confucius Institute at The University of Western Australia exists to promote Chinese language, culture and business and to strengthen Sino-Australian ties.

The Class of 1981 held their 25th Year Engineering Reunion on Saturday 10 November 2007. Forty-one engineering graduates returned to UWA to celebrate their year’s reunion with some returning from interstates. The reunion, a cocktail party was held in the UWA Boat Shed.

Addressing the engineering skill shortage and creating opportunities to train our future engineers to take them to a new level of professional job readiness has lead to a strategic industry partnership between UWA and Lycopodium.
Lycopodium General Manager of Operations, Mr Peter De Leo and the Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Robson signed a sponsorship agreement on 14 December 2007 to secure the Lycopodium Design Studio within the Monadelphous Integrated Learning Centre (ILC).

The Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics would like to congratulate Mr Rahul Khubchandani on recently being awarded the Engineers Australia 2008 Russell Dumas Medal.

2008 is proving to be a bumper year for the School of Civil & Resource Engineering. The UWA Civil Engineering Futures Foundation welcomed SKM, Theiss, VDM Consulting, Monadelphous and McConnell Dowell, bringing the total number of members to 21.

A major initiative of the Foundation, through which laptop computers are supplied to all second year students enrolled in the Civil Engineering program, continued this year: 150 future Civil Engineers were presented with laptops at a sundowner on 8 April.

• Class of 1983 – Mechanical Engineering 25th Year Reunion Dinner – Friday 24 October 2008
• Class of 1998 – 10th Year Engineering Reunion Cocktail – Saturday 8 November 2008
• Class of 1957 – 50th Year Engineering Reunion Dinner – Friday 21 November 2008
• UEC’s Past-Committee Reunion
  Enjoy a casual evening with other alumni in early August 2008. A light dinner included. To register your interest please email Aisha at or visit the website.

The Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics would like to congratulate Mr David Hng on recently being awarded the Peter Fillery Award for the best student project at the 17th Annual WA Information Technology and Telecommunications (WAITTA) Awards on 14 March 2008.

We are very pleased to be able to report that global energy company, Chevron, has selected The University of Western Australia to join its prestigious worldwide University Partnership Program (UPP).

Complete article listing of the February 2008 edition of The Engineering Essential.

A UWA team has been named by internet giant Google the Champions of the Earth after their win in Google SketchUp Build your Campus in 3D competition.
The eight-member Team UWA, shortlisted for the award in December along with two teams from The University of Melbourne, were named the winner for its 3D virtual UWA at a ceremony in Sydney.

The Engineering Class of ’78 celebrated their 30th anniversary with a dinner at The University Club on Friday 12 October 2007. An excellent response to the reunion invitation resulted in 27 attendees, including Tom Krapeshlis from Sydney and Kit Wignall from Melbourne.

The Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics hosted a special cocktail party on Friday 26 October 2007 to celebrate the achievements of women engineering graduates as part of Engineers Australia – The Year of Women in Engineering.
120 graduates returned to UWA, along with industry guests and University staff to listen to former engineering graduate, Sue Murphy (General Manager – Water Corporation).

26-27th February 2008
UWA Claremont Campus, Princess Road, Claremont
Industry and academic researchers present their observations on engineering practice. For the conference brochure visit the website or contact Sabbia Tilli on (61-8) 6488 3058.

Kirsty Kuo (née Newton) was one of eight Australian citizens awarded the prestigious General Sir John Monash Award in 2007. This award is Australia’s equivalent of the Rhodes scholarship and the American Fulbright Program and is awarded for outstanding academic achievement, community consciousness, service and leadership potential in their field and the community. It comprises AUD150,000 over three years for postgraduate study at any of the world’s best universities overseas.

In my research I noticed engineers doing lots of coordination in which technical knowledge is inextricably bound up with “soft skills” and understanding of human behaviour. It is time-consuming and most don’t see it as engineering work. After countless phone calls chasing up suppliers, contractors, colleagues and clients an engineer would often say something like “now I can get down to some real engineering work at last!” Yet this coordination is essential to get results.

The Class of 1956 UWA Engineering Graduates held a very successful week long Reunion in November 2007, centred around the Sunday Convocation Luncheon for Graduates of fifty years standing.

The Graduate Networking Dinner (GND) is an annual event organised by the University Engineers’ Club (UEC). In 2008 the event is being supported by Chevron (Platinum UEC Sponsor), UWA Young Engineers (UWAYE) and the UWA Office of Development. The purpose of the event is to facilitate networking between final and penultimate year engineering and computing students and prospective employers. This is achieved by allocating a table to an employer for the event. Over the course of the evening three different groups of five students from disciplines relevant to the employer share a table and dine with company representatives (one group per course). Students have an opportunity

From 13-16 December 2007 UWA Motorsport (UWAM) competed in the 7th annual Formula SAE Australasia event held in Werribee, Victoria. UWAM won the title in 2005 and having narrowly lost out in 2006 to RMIT University was eager to put in a good showing. After four tense days of competition the result was decided after the last event with UWA Motorsport finishing 1st overall with 895.6 points out of 1000. RMIT University finished second 15 points behind with Monash University in third place. Another close result with RMIT cements a healthy rivalry that no doubt drives both teams to greater heights. In achieving overall event victory, UWAM finished with eight podium places out of a possible nine, amongst them the overall dynamic award for having the fastest car at the competition.