LINKS |
| Young Engineers Australia |
| Engineers Australia |
| YEA Events |
| Engineers Media |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Leadership conference a success  The Engineering Leadership Conference (ELC) was held earlier this month in Brisbane. Young Engineers Australia (YEA) partnered with the Centre for Engineering Leadership and Management (CELM) for the first time to hold this conference between the two groups. The conference was a huge success: it brought together the leaders of today in the engineering sector, with the leaders of the future. Sir John Monash, one of Australia’s most prominent engineers and one of Australia’s eminent leaders, was mentioned several times throughout the conference. His role in Australian engineering and his strategy and leadership in WW I is inspirational. If you do not know of his leadership or achievements, I strongly encourage you to look him up. There were a number of key messages that came out of the conference, for young and old alike. The most common was “Communication, communication, communication!” Communication is very important in whatever you do, whether you are a leader, aspire to be one or just want to become a good engineer. Other points made by a number of presenters centred on the importance of networking with both peers and those more senior and experienced than ourselves, learning from example, as well as seizing opportunities. These points were exemplified by those young engineers who were named as Australia’s Most Inspiring Young Engineers at the conference dinner – Kim Axworthy, Andrew Bagnall, Dr Andrew Botros, Dr Kimberley Clayfield, Michael D'Onofrio, Steven Lindsay and Darren Lomman. There is a Young Engineer group in each of the nine Divisions around Australia. Many of these groups will be holding committee elections soon, so why not nominate for a position? If you want to find out more about the Young Engineer group in your Division before diving into a committee position, take the opportunity to attend a few events, network with other young engineers, and you never know where it might take you. Further details about each of Australia’s Most Inspiring Young Engineers and information about how to get involved in the Young Engineers group in your Division can be found at the Young Engineers Australia website. Carla Cher is chair of the Young Engineers Australia National Committee. |
YOUNG ENGINEERS ONLINE COMMUNITY Victoria Division: |
Award in memory of student First-year bachelor of engineering student Kelson Lee has received the inaugural Monique Cramer Memorial Award at a ceremony at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The award was established by QUT engineering students in memory of fellow student and friend Monique Cramer, who was part-way through her degree in civil engineering when she was killed in a road accident last year. Her dream was to go to developing countries and offer her engineering skills to charity organisations. QUT awarded Cramer a posthumous bachelor of technology (civil engineering) last year. QUT students have raised enough money to offer the Monique Cramer Memorial Award for five years, and wish to raise enough to make the award perpetual. The award, which was presented to Lee by Monique's father, Fred Cramer, added an extra $500 to Lee's $6000 women in engineering bursary. Lee said she was very happy to receive the award, which would help with costs associated with university study. "I've always really liked maths and science and I'm interested in engineering," she said.  Kelson Lee … “Next year, I hope to get into aerospace avionics.” |
Geospatial engineers in high demand Technologies such as GPS, airborne & terrestrial laser scanning, satellites and 3D imaging are now in huge demand, but numbers of qualified professionals are dangerously low, according to the head of the UNSW school of surveying and spatial information systems, professor Chris Rizos. He said companies such as Google and Microsoft, or industries concerned with environmental monitoring, climate change adaptation, security and disaster response are creating demand for spatial information professionals, but Australian geospatial schools are struggling to keep up and attract new students. "Technology has revolutionised the world of surveying and spatial information in general but we can no longer meet the needs of industry and government," Rizos said. "Australia’s pool of surveyors is also ageing, with only 20% of the profession being in their twenties, the lowest proportion ever." According to Rizos, the failure to provide the industry with enough graduates to meet demand may result in a crisis for both the economy and higher education. |
Training seminars for computational software MathWorks is hosting free seminars in West Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide for engineering students who are using or planning to use Matlab during coursework or in their future workplace. The seminars will run from 9am to 12:30pm on the 25 May, 27 May and 1 Jun in West Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane respectively. Students interested in attending the seminars should register at the MathWorks website at www.mathworks.com.au. |
Supply not meeting demand for engineers There is an increased demand for engineers, with organisations expecting to hire more in 2010, but Australia is not providing enough skilled workers, according to results from Randstad’s 2010 World of Work report. This year’s report shows that the demand for workers in the construction, engineering and resources industries is growing, yet Australia is not producing enough skilled workers to fulfil this demand. This is especially true of the construction, engineering and resources industry as 31% of respondents in this sector cited attracting top talent to match growth as the biggest human capital challenge compared to 24% of all industries. Positions that are in high demand for 2010 include contract administrators, project managers, and specialist engineers. The construction, engineering and resources industries have also changed the way they recruit workers. While online job boards or web advertising remains the preferred method of attracting potential employees, 59% of respondents in this sector said they use headhunting or search services to find candidates compared to 49% of all industries. |
Civil engineer builds a new scholarship Cardno deputy chairman and executive director Graham Tamblyn has personally sponsored an annual scholarship at the University of Sunshine Coast to help inspire engineering students majoring in environmental and water engineering. The Sunshine Coast civil engineer presented the first $5000 Graham Tamblyn Scholarship in Engineering to second-year bachelor of civil engineering student Liam Owen. Owen said it was a great honour to receive the scholarship. In his speech at the awards ceremony, Owen thanked Tamblyn for his generosity and he praised USC’s engineering teaching staff. Tamblyn said he believed the scholarship would help support USC’s efforts in providing engineering programs and lead to a stronger engineering industry in the region. “This scholarship is about giving back to the industry and putting greater focus on environmental and water engineering because these are important to help manage any impacts of climate change and the general management of the world,” he said. |
Engineering students turned away Students applying to study engineering at TAFE are being held on waiting lists or turned away as teachers are overwhelmed by increases in class sizes and workloads, according to the State of our TAFEs Survey Report, published by the Australian Education Union. 2691 people working at TAFEs completed the survey that ran over a three-week period ending 1 March. Of those surveyed, 93% were responsible for the delivery of programs. Respondents indicated that engineering was the industry most affected by waiting lists, followed shortly by education. The results show that this situation may worsen, with 56% of all respondents believing student demand in their industry was going to increase. Respondents also indicated that engineering was the industry they had to turn the most students away from, with 70% citing the main reason they turned away students was a lack of places. Despite turning away students, 89% of respondents reported that their class sizes had increased or stayed the same and 84% indicated that their workloads had increased since 2008. Respondents were also concerned with how to meet increased demands, with 70% believing there is not enough capacity to meet industry needs. |
Timber engineering conference Eight engineering students from around Australia have been selected to attend the four-day 11th World Conference on Timber Engineering in Italy on 20 June. The international conference will be attended by more than 500 engineers, architects, educators and manufacturers. Topics include wood in architecture and civil engineering, wood and multi-storey structures, resources and the global environment, wood engineered products, and advances in timber and earthquake and fire resistance. In a pilot program sponsored by Australia’s Wood Naturally Better program, students were required to submit a 500-word essay for independent review. The winning entries highlighted the structural properties of timber, its aesthetic qualities, and the importance of using a renewable resource to minimise construction impacts. Wood Naturally Better spokesperson Ric Sinclair said attendance at the conference offers students an opportunity to understand how engineers use wood in modern construction and engineering processes around the world. “We were struck by the very solid grasp students had on the benefits of wood as a construction material, from an engineering and environmental perspective,” he said. Students attending the conference are from the University of Tasmania, Curtin University of Technology, University of South Australia, University of Southern Queensland, University of Adelaide, University of Technology Sydney, RMIT University and Monash University. |
Scholarship to study in the UK The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Foundation is offering Australian engineering students the opportunity to complete a postgraduate scholarship in engineering at universities in the United Kingdom, commencing in the 2011 academic year. The foundation is awarding the scholarships in memory of Sir Robert Menzies, prime minister of Australia from 1939 to 1941 and from 1949 to 1966. The universities principally in mind are those of Imperial College, Oxford and Cambridge and the scholarship is for one to three academic years. The successful candidates will be expected to take up the scholarship in October 2011. Students can obtain further information and application forms from scholarship officers of universities or the foundation's website at www.menziesfoundation.org.au. Applications close 31 July. |