Issue 2 April to June ‐ 2013
Message from the Dean
Welcome to the Engineering newsletter for 2013 Featured in this issue: Editorial Accolades For One of Our Own IESL Excellence Award Future Stars of Mining Spotlight on Dzenisa Beglerovic AusIMM EEF Scholarship Mining Graduate Data 2013 Prize Night 2013 Engineering Promotions ICMST2013 This newsletter is published by the Faculty of Engineering. For further information about items in this newsletter, email jcurcio@uow.edu.au or telephone ext 5364
We recently held our Engineering prize evening for 2013 where our most outstanding students receive awards for high academic achievement. Awards vary from $100 to $1,000 and most of the awards are given by our many Industry partners or by Professional Associations. Some are given by our Faculty and by Research Centres associated with our Faculty. Companies giving awards range from Laser suppliers (Lastek), manufacturers (BlueScope‐who give several different prizes, Metal Manufactures, Orica), Consulting Engineering firms (Coffey ‐who also give several prizes, Cove Engineering, PPM Project Management), Patent Attorneys Spruson and Ferguson and software suppliers Leap Australia. The Professional Associations awarding prizes include Engineers Australia, the Railway Technical Society of Australasia, Australian Institute of Physics, Institute of Materials Engineering Australasia, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Welding Technology Institute of Australia, Steel Reinforcement Institute of Australia, and a number of Societies in areas such as Concrete, Concrete Pipes, Iron and Steel. Nearly 60 students enrolled across all of our engineering and physics disciplines were commended by being placed on the ‘Deans Merit List’, which requires a student to be in the top 5%. Many prizes are for high performance in individual subjects of particular interest to the donor, such as the Spruson and Ferguson Intellectual Property Prize for best performance in ENGG461 ‘Management and Human Factors in Engineering’. There are also prizes for best performance over a whole year in various degrees. One of these is for best performance in the final year which includes the final year thesis. In an engineering degree the thesis is where a student works individually on a major project supervised by an academic staff member and so this provides each student with the opportunity to bring together all the skills he or she has developed over the rest of the degree program to produce a major engineering outcome. It is quite an accomplishment to win this prize. Since the engineering profession is concerned with producing benefits for the community, and about 50% of the community are women, one would expect the engineering profession to be made up of 50% women. Unfortunately in most parts of the world this is far from the case and so to encourage change in our Faculty we have some prizes allocated specifically to high performance by our female students, in addition to all the other prizes which are available for everyone. Over 40 of the prizes and awards for the evening were won by our talented women, which is a much higher percentage (about 20%) than in the overall student body, but still not yet enough for the good of the profession and Continued next page
From Page 1 society in general since we would like to see engineering aim for about 50% women to be truly representative and effective. Though most of the prizes are for undergraduate students, there are also some for postgraduates, particularly for those from the University’s research Institute of Superconducting and Electronic Materials. These prizes are based on the excellence of papers they have had accepted for international journals, and also in some cases for their research work submitted for their PhD degrees. It was quite inspirational to see so many talented young people receive well deserved awards, and we have no doubt they will make worthy contributions to the world during their professional lives and we wish them all the best for their futures.
Accolades For One of our Own The Australian Geomechanics Society has awarded Dr Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn, from the Faculty of Engineering, with the prestigious Trollope Medal for the most outstanding contribution to geomechanics through recent research and publication of outcomes by a young professional for the year 2012. It is awarded biannually, and the awardee is selected based on many nominations received by the Australian Geomechanics Society(AGS). The 2012 Trollope award particularly acknowledges Cholachat’s contributions to the stabilisation of soft clay, and his leadership in producing innovative and user‐friendly design charts which can now be used by industry. In other news, Cholachat has also been announced as the winner of the Young Member Award of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), our parent society in Geomechanics that has over 20,000 members from over 130 countries. The award is given every four years during the ISSMGE Conference (forthcoming one in Paris in September 2013) and attracts strong entrants internationally. Cholachat was nominated by AGS for this ISSMGE Young Member award, which is based on academic achievements and outstanding contributions to the field of geotechnical engineering by a young member less than 36 years of age. This is great news for the reputation of Geomechanics, the ARC Centre, CME, Faculty and UOW.
IESL Excellence Award Congratulations to Nayoma Tennakoon on winning the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL) NSW Chapter for Best Paper Published. The Engineering Excellence Awards recognise the contribution of the engineers of Sri Lankan background living in NSW to ecologically sustainable development, the wellbeing of the community and, the cost effective, innovative and excellent levels of engineering solutions they deliver. Nayoma’s paper was titled, “The Role of Ballast‐Fouling Characteristics on the Drainage Capacity of Rail Substructure”, and was published in the Geotechnical Testing Journal in ASTM in 2012. The paper was co‐authored by Professor Buddhima Indraratna, Dr Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn, Dr Sanjay Nimbalkar and Mr Tim Neville. The award was presented at the IESL Engineers Gala Dinner on 1st June in Castle Hill. Nayoma and her husband Waruna Abeysinghe
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Future Stars of Mining Fourth year Mining Engineering student, Alix Thornhill, has taken out the Aspiring Star Award at the recent 2013 NSW Minerals Council Women in Mining Awards. These awards celebrate the achievements of women in the mining industry. Vacation employer, Xstrata Coal, nominated Alix for her work with the ‘Women in Engineering’ program that helps teach high school girls about engineering opportunities, and in particular for the Scholar’s Research Project where Alix and others visited rural schools promoting women in engineering back in 2011. She was also nominated for her work during vacation placement when Alix was Acting Drill and Blast engineer for the month of January; not exactly something vacation students get the opportunity to do! Alix said to Rodney Vickers, Sub Dean of Engineering, “I am extremely proud to say that I won the ‘Aspiring Star’ award which I am still trying very hard to comprehend. I can honestly say that this win has jumpstarted my career tenfold (I’ve already been offered 3 graduate programs without applying for them) and I would like to thank you for allowing us to take on the Scholars Research Program. It has also come to my attention that I could use this win to further the work that we did in regards to reaching out to young women to help them consider engineering”. The award recognises a woman who has undertaken vacation or short term work in the industry and has the potential to become a future industry innovator. Runner up for the award was Karlee Barford another Mining Engineering student from UOW. Congratulations to both Alix and Karlee.
Spotlight on Dzenisa Beglerovic The AusIMM Women’s Network Newsletter features a profile on Dzenisa Beglerovic, a final year UOW mining/ commerce student who came from Bosnia as a mid‐teenager and has been doing six subjects a semester to complete the double degree in four years. In the article Dzenisa describes what it was like to study six subjects a session: “....at times it felt like I barely had time to breathe, however with a few adjustments and improved time management the past three years turned out to be rather exciting”. Growing up in the mining and industrial city of Kakanj in Bosnia and Herzegovina influenced her decision to study engineering at university. “This industry (mining) plays a vital role in Australia’s economic performance and that is one of the reasons I decided to also undertake a commerce degree majoring in finance” Whilst at UOW Dzenisa has completed a 12 week vacation program with Appin Coal Mine. There she worked with the Development Department planning and organising work for six panels and also the Technical Services Department working on projects involving ventilation, surveying and geotechnics. The vacation program gave her the opportunity to gain experience in underground mining opportunities including mine operations and safety requirements. The future looks bright for Dzenisa – she would like to eventually move into management after completing her degree and gaining more experience working on mine sites both here in Australia and abroad. She also has words of wisdom for young women interested in mining as a career. “The opportunities really are endless and the type of work can be very diverse. You will definitely work with some great people and make good friends, be able to achieve a good work/life balance with attractive work rotations and also travel with the job, which I think is absolutely fantastic. For the full stories on both Dzenisa and Alix visit: http://www.ausimm.com.au/content/docs/societies/ wimnet_news_vol1_2013.pdf 3
AusIMM EEF Scholarships Congratulations to our Engineering students for once again achieving outstanding results with this year’s AusIMM Education Endowment Fund (EEF) Scholarships. UOW students Lachlan Cumming, Gavin Shaw, and Ruslan Simpson were selected from a pool of applicants enrolled in 17 Australian eligible universities (James Cook, Queensland, New England, Newcastle, Sydney, UNSW, ANU, Ballarat, Melbourne, Monash, RMIT, Tasmania, Adelaide, Curtin, Murdoch, Western Australia as well as Wollongong), across three disciplines (geology, mining, metallurgy, materials and environmental engineering. Lachlan Cumming studying a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) Bachelor of Commerce (Finance/Economics of Asia) was announced as winner of the Sir Frank Espie/Rio Tinto Leadership Award for the most outstanding candidate in AusIMM’s annual EEF awards. Note that this is the third year running a UOW student has won the top award. Gaetano Venticinque (Mining) won the award in 2012, and Jae Dawes (Mining) received the award in 2011. Gavin Shaw (Mining/Environmental) (sponsored by Alcoa) and Ruslan Simpson (Geology) (sponsored by BHP Billiton) have both been awarded Education Endowment Funds Scholarships for 2013. As well as receiving scholarships’ for two years, valued between $10,000 ‐ $15,000 per year, the students will also receive the invaluable benefits of mentoring and networking opportunities with a major minerals company. That is, companies that have made major donations are allocated scholarship holders, and are encouraged to engage the student with industry through vacation work and other initiatives. The students will receive their awards at the annual AusIMM award evening in June 2013.
The 2013 Sir Frank Espie/Rio Tinto Leadership Award Lachlan Cumming, was first awarded an EEF Scholarship in 2012 and has been recognised as an outstanding ambassador for The AusIMM and the EEF. Lachlan has had the opportunity to work across multiple projects in the course of his employment at BHP, contributing to his well‐rounded understanding of the industry. He is currently the President of the AusIMM Illawarra Student Chapter and has been a dedicated and key contributor of the AusIMM since 2010. Lachlan Cumming
Mining Graduate Data The following results from the Commonwealth Government's "My University" website have been widely publicised. It shows data for graduates in 2009‐2011, outlining that of all Australian universities running courses in resource engineering, (mining, metallurgy, petroleum and materials), the University of Wollongong has the highest percentage of graduates in employment and the highest median starting salaries, which demonstrates the high regard that industry has for these programs.
Graduate Median Starting Salary ‐ UOW $83,200 ‐ Curtin $79,100 ‐ UWA $75,000 ‐ Adelaide $72,000 ‐ UNSW $69,000 ‐ Queensland $68,200 ‐ Ballarat and Murdoch, numbers too small to be significant
% of Graduates in full‐time employment: ‐ UOW 93.67% ‐ Queensland 88.9% ‐ Adelaide 85.5% ‐ Uni of WA 84.7% ‐ UNSW 82.4% ‐ Curtin 79.7% ‐ Ballarat and Murdoch, numbers too small to be significant
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2013 Prize Night
On 1st May the Faculty of Engineering held its annual Prize Night in the McKinnon Building. The Prize Night celebrates the achievements and successes of the undergraduate and postgraduate students from the Faculty of Engineering and from the Institute of Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM). Students from all the Engineering disciplines in the Faculty, including Physics, Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronics, Civil, Mining, and Environmental Engineering were awarded various prizes and awards worth over $30,000, including cash, scholarships and subscriptions. The prizes are mostly sponsored by Industries and Industry associations, often to reward students’ performance in a certain area. This contribution from industry demonstrates the importance that the Engineering Industry places on University training, and of the recognition of the quality of UOW’s Faculty of Engineering programs, and hard working students. Professor Chris Cook opened the proceedings by welcoming past and current students, friends and family, sponsors and academic staff. Master of Ceremonies for the evening was performed by Associate Professor Rodney Vickers, who kept the evening running smoothly.
Listed below are some of the 2013 award recipients. For more photos and information on the 2013 Engineering Prize Night , please refer to the Engineering website. Engineering Postgraduate Thesis Award This award is open to all candidates for the degree of Master of Engineering Research or PhD. Supervisors nominate their students for consideration. A decision on the recipient is made at the Head of Postgraduate Studies Meeting after assessing each applicants thesis and examiner comments. This year Kong Sih Ying was awarded the prize for his thesis titled “Development of a high performance protective barrier utilising non‐composite steel concrete steel panels. Kong’s PhD thesis received two excellent reviews and two commendations. From his PhD thesis, Kong has published five Journal papers in A and A* journals and eight Conference papers presented at the international conferences and symposiums. In his work, Kong investigated an innovative design of high performance protective barrier structures for applications in such hot spots as Iraq and Afghanistan where protection of Australian troops from terrorist attacks is of utmost importance. Kong carried out a very meticulously planned
experimental program of testing designs of new barrier panels under severe impact loads, performed calibration of high‐fidelity physics based models of the protective barrier structures that allowed him to extend the research findings from the experimental program to prediction of dynamic inelastic response of new types of barrier structures under full scale loads from high‐speed impacting vehicles and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
Kong was unable to attend the Prize Night as he is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer with Department of Civil Engineering at Unniversiti Tenaga Nasional Malaysia. Lastek Prize for Spectroscopy John Mabon was awarded the Lastek Prize for Spectroscopy for the best thesis performance involving visible, infrared or terahertz spectroscopy. The award was presented by Dr Carola Thoni on behalf of Lastek. CMRP Undergraduate Prize For best performance in the 3rd Year of Bachelor of Medical Radiation Physics student Lauren Bell was presented the award by Professor Anatoly Rozenfeld. ISEM Excellence Award Professor Hua Kun Liu presented Kuok Hau Seng with the ISEM Excellence Award. 2013 RTSA Postgraduate Thesis Runner‐Up Award Associate Professor Philip Laird presented Ngoc Trung Ngo for runner‐ up in the best postgraduate thesis award as selected by RTSA. Engineers Australia Award, Illawarra/Sutherland Regional Group Prize The Engineers Australia Award for the highest weighted average mark in an Engineering Course was presented to William Alexander by Trevor Wilkinson, ISRG Chair. 5
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Materials Engineering Poster Prize Professor Gursel Alici presented Erica D’Silva with her award for Best Final Year Poster.
Physics Discipline 2nd Year Prize The prize for best performance in second year Physics subjects was presented to Sabine Bellstedt by Associate Professor Michael Lerch. Alexander Mundey was also joint winner of the 2nd year prize. Coffey Geotechnics ‐ UOW Award Jon Thompson presented Ana Ribeiro Heitor with her award for the best postgraduate performance in geotechnical research sponsored by Coffey. Orica Australia Award Presented to Benjamin Lawrence for the best performance in ENVE311 ‐ Pollution Prevention and Cleaner Production. Associate Professor Alex Remennikov presented the award on behalf of sponsor Orica. BlueScope Steel Inspired Solutions Prize Craig Nealon from BlueScope Steel presented Andrew Short with the award for the highest average mark for a Mechatronics student in MECH311 ‐ Mechanical Engineering Design and ECTE350 ‐ Engineering Design and Management 3. 2013 Engineering Undergraduate Scholarships Jessica Kiekebosch‐Fitt, Jessica Laubscher and Siobhan O’Brien were presented 1st year Engineering Scholarships by Professor Chris Cook.
Spruson & Ferguson Intellectual Property Prize The prize for the highest mark in ENGG461 ‐ Management and Human Factors in Engineering was presented to Daniel Bogovac by Lee Pippard from Spruson & Ferguson. Orica Australia Award Associate Professor with the winning group for the best performance in MINE422 ‐ Mine Planning Project. From left Gavin Shaw, Christopher Brunero, Aimee Bennet and Luke Fahey.
2013 Engineering Promotions Congratulations to all our successful candidates who have been promoted to Associate Professor:
Dr Cheng Lu (MMM) Dr Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn (CME) Dr Michael Lerch (Physics) Dr Jiazhao Wang (ISEM) Dr Jung Ho Kim (ISEM)
ICMST 2013 Professor Zhengyi Jiang has been awarded the ‘Distinguished Achievements Award in Manufacturing Science and Technology’ from the Committee of the 4th International Conference on Manufacturing Science and Technology (ICST).
ICMST was created to provide a premier international forum for both researchers, industry practitioners and environment experts to exchange the latest fundamental advances in the fields of theoretical, experimental, and applied Manufacturing Science and Technology. 6