CECS - Engineering News

Student thinks locally to act globally

2012-02-06 09:00:00

ANU College of Engineering and Science student, Michael Mazengarb, who is studying a combined Engineering and Science degree, will apply his passion for preserving the environment at the worlds largest round of climate change negotiations.

Read the article in On Campus

Steady as she goes
By Heather McEwen

2012-02-01 09:00:00

Professor John Hosking, the new Dean and Director of the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, had his first opportunity to address the College as a whole at the College Staff Forum on 31 January 2012.

He took the opportunity to thank Alistair Rendell, Interim Dean, on a personal and professional level for the difficult task of steering the College during what was a fairly lengthy captaincy, and the College joined him in a vote of thanks.

Professor Hosking remarked that he felt welcomed into a vibrant College with committed staff and students, thanking three graduate students for their outstanding contribution to outreach to develop a high school tool to demonstrate the role of IT in the environment. Torben Sko, James Sheridan and Ben Swift were presented with certificates and gifts to acknowledge their achievements.

The way forward: Smart modules and smart inverters

2012-02-01 09:00:00

PhD candidate, Arnold McKinley, from the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems in the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, discusses how many of the modules and inverters currently available on the market lack the 'smarts' that would make solar systems more efficient, in the February 2012 edition of Solar Australia.

Read the article, The way forward: Smart modules and smart inverters

Video star

2012-01-20 09:00:00

In recent video competition, Chris Arnold, a 2nd Year Engineering student won the Information Services Video Contest launched by the Division of Information for his video, "What is Wattle?"

You can view the clip on the contest page here.

Chris chose the topic of Wattle as it is a common service he uses. Hes created a pretty sophisticated clip that shows the different features in Wattle and reinforces how important Wattle is to a students academic life.

Congratulations on winning, Chris!

Engineers & IT students are a creative lot!

2012-01-10 09:00:00

No less than seven of the 14 winning images that feature in the ANU Community Calendar for 2012 were captured by undergraduate engineering and IT students from CECS!

Congratulations to Ka-Jin Chan, Cecil Li, Angie To and Kellie Ly.

The calendar is a project of the Dean of Students. Copies are available by contacting Dinah Withey in the Office of the Dean of Students.

Higher Degree by Research Student poster day 2011
by Heather McEwen

2012-01-09 09:00:00

For a snapshot of the innovative research and creative ability of our research students go to our HDR Student Poster Day 2011 site.

We would like to thank our sponsors for this event: The Canberra Business Council and the Office of Commercialisation.

If you are interested in supporting Poster Day, contact:
Project Manager
T 02 6125 6601
E Heather McEwen

A human touch

2011-12-05 09:00:00

CECS undergraduate students are engineering solutions to provide humanitarian assistance in the developing world.

Read the article in ANU Reporter, Summer 2011 edition

Grant wins
by Heather McEwen

2011-11-04 09:00:00

The Interim Dean of the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, Professor Alistair Rendell, congratulated CECS academic staff on their successful grant wins today, saying that "staff from CECS are primary leads on 6 successful ARC grant applications and participants in 3 externally led grants." In October Dr David Nisbet won an NH&MRC grant for his research in bioengineering, and Dr Brad Yu won a Group of 8 Australia - Germany Joint Research Co-operation Scheme grant.

Congratulations to everyone.

Professor Marcus Hutter and Professor John Lloyd, ARC Discovery Project name: Feature reinforcement learning
Dr Rajeev Gore, ARC Discovery Project name: Mechanised foundations of proof calculi

Less talk, more code!

2011-09-22 09:00:00

Google Maps Challenge on Thursday, 29 September at 5:30pm

Google Engineers are visiting the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science. All interested staff and students are invited to attend their hands-on interactive tour of the Google Maps API.

They will take you inside the API and the solutions used to build a fast, feature-full, flexible API beginning with the basics by completing small exercises of increasing complexity.

Free pizza and Google prizes are also on offer.

The Techno Expo
by Heather McEwen

2011-08-17 09:00:00

On 15 August 2011 more than seventy research students from the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science presented their research in an illustrated poster, and talked with visitors from business and academia.

Congratulations to our prize-winners who each won financial assistance for conference travel, plus a cash prize to help them to celebrate:

CECS sweeps ResearchFest poster exhibition

2011-07-11 09:00:00

Congratulations to three higher degree by research students who swept the board at the ANU ResearchFest poster exhibition on 6 July, said Professor Alistair Rendell, Acting Dean of the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science.

ResearchFest is a celebration of research students at ANU and brings students together to participate in talks, training and events to enrich their student experience, and help them to gain better skills along the way.

Ready, GetSet, Go!

2011-06-08 09:00:00

Sixty Year 11 and 12 girls visited the College of Engineering and Computer Science on Friday 13 May for the annual GetSet (Girls in Engineering and Technology) event. Students participated in a full day of fun, hands-on activities covering artificial intelligence and computer vision, engineering in developing countries, biomaterials for human health, as well as solar energy and sustainability - all delivered by some of our enthusiastic early career researchers, and other volunteers, within the College.

PM visits ASI laboratories at ANU

2011-03-22 09:00:00

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard visited the solar laboratories of theAustralian Solar Institute at ANU ahead of Professor Ross Garnaut'slaunch of his paper on low emissions technology on 23 March. His paperwill focus on solar and other sustainable energy solutions in relationto low emissions technologies.

The Prime Minister's visit highlighted the leading research anddevelopment role that Australia, ANU and ASI have in finding new ways tofind sustainable energy solutions to the world's reliance on mineralresources for its energy needs.

Read the article, Here comes the high-cost sun, The Australian, 22 March2011.

Women in Technology

2011-03-22 09:00:00

More than 80 female staff and students gathered on 17 March at the first networking event organised to introduce new undergraduate students to staff and fellow students at the start of the new semester.

We welcomed back four alumni who gave brief talks about their ANU experiences before talking about where they are now, said Heather McEwen, CECS Marketing Manager.

Each had an impressive bragalogue of their achievements following graduation, and were full of praise for the female academic staff that they felt were aspirational. All spoke about the quality of the ANU degree programs and how valuable these are out in the workforce, or in academia, said Ms McEwen.

The alumni work in government, in SMEs, and one is a PhD candidate. They all took the time to mix with students, sharing ideas and views on what to do while at Uni, and gave a few ideas on what to do afterwards.

None felt that being in a male dominated environment at university had disadvantaged them, and some had a few positives to emphasise.

And their over-riding messages to commencing and current students?

Take every opportunity to become involved in extra curricula activities; do your best to gain industry experience while studying; and network, network, network. Linda Postniece pointed out that this is something that women usually do very well, and with ease.

Our thanks to Bethel Sendaba and Bridget Lally (engineering) and Linda Postniece and Nandita Sharma (computing) for coming along to talk to us.

Thanks also to Professor John Richards, Master of University House, for donating the Lucky Door Prize of dinner for two at Boffins Restaurant.

2011 Fulbright Scholar
by Heather McEwen

2011-03-17 09:00:00

One of the newest academics in the College, Dr David Nisbet, now Research Fellow in the Materials and Manufacturing Group in the Research School of Engineering has won a prestigious Fulbright Victorian Scholarship.

David will spend five months at the University of California, Berkeley, extending his current research into materials to help damaged brain and spinal cord tissues to regenerate.

"There is currently no effective treatment for repair of the central nervous system damaged by disease or injury, with the physical and psychological consequences to the patients and their families being devastating," said Dr Nisbet.

Student ambassador program launched
By Heather McEwen

2011-03-07 09:00:00

The Engineering and Computer Science Student Ambassador Program is an exciting opportunity for current students to be actively involved in promoting the College to prospective students while also gaining valuable professional skills and training that will help them after graduation.

"Seventeen enthusiastic and motivated students in engineering and computing have joined the Student Services Team for outreach activities," said Mr Paul Melloy, Manager of Student Services.

Selected to represent the College for various recruitment events and activities around Australia, our Ambassadors share knowledge with prospective students based on their own experience at ANU and talk to prospective students about living in Canberra. They discuss accommodation issues (on and off campus), pathways to university, what it's like to be a university student, and of course the subjects they are studying.

Memorial plaque unveiled in Engineering
By Heather McEwen

2011-03-07 09:00:00

Patricia Brown (L), David Brown (C), Caroline Hohnen (R)
Photo: Ian Loiterton

Friends, family and colleagues of the late Professor David Brown, founding Professor of the Department of Geology at ANU, gathered informally on 4 March for the unveiling of a memorial plaque in the foyer of the Engineering Building.

The Engineering Building was once the Geology Building, and the entrance is still entered via a small grove of Chinese Elms (Ulmus parviflora) that were planted by Professor Brown.

Professor Ken Campbell, who succeeded Professor Brown as Head of the Geology Department in 1983, welcomed all guests and introduced Dr Neil Williams, former CEO of Geoscience Australia, to say a few words in Professor Browns honour.

In a thoughtful and amusing speech Dr Williams recalled his time as an undergraduate and then an honours student at ANU, and recounted one of many stories of enjoyable times with Professor Brown out in the field. He remembered how impressed he was, as a new undergraduate student, to see the wall of different stones on which the memorial plaque rests, when first entering the building.

The wall was designed by Professor Brown and, together with the beautiful Chinese Elms at the entrance, is a permanent reminder of his achievements, and of a man who was passionate and enthusiastic about his work and his students.

Professor Brown was also a former Dean of the Faculty of Science, and the Universitys first Dean of Students, said Professor Campbell. He had an aura of awesomeness about him and did a magnificent job as Dean of Students. So much so that his successor in this post, Professor Hanna Neumann, said that it made her job much easier, he said.

The plaque was commissioned by Professor Campbell, a paleontologist, and is mounted on fossiliferous Devonian limestone from Taemas at Wee Jasper where Professor Brown spent many of his field trips with colleagues and students.

Alumni welcome

2011-03-07 09:00:00

The ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science has launched a new web page for its alumni.

"This has largely been in response to a grass-roots increase in interest from our alumni," said Heather McEwen, Marketing Manager.

The College Dean has agreed to provide a small amount of seed funding to help fledgling Alumni Chapters to meet and discuss how they would like to connect with the College, and what activities they would like to undertake.

"At this stage we will have joint engineering/computing Chapters," said Ms McEwen. "So please contact me if you would like more information on how to join your local CECS Alumni Chapter, or if you are interested in starting one up!" she said.

Prime Minister visits Big Dish

2011-03-01 09:00:00

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, visited the solar Big Dish before announcing the government's policy on carbon pricing on Friday 25 February 2011.

20th birthday celebrations in engineering
By Heather McEwen

2011-02-17 09:00:00

We celebrated the 20th birthday of the engineering program at ANU recently. Professors Brian Anderson and Robin Stanton, and Dr Darrell Williamson accepted invitations to speak at our special networking event on Friday 10 December. They were joined by four of our alumni, including Dr Glenn Dickins, one of our first engineering graduands and the first to win a coveted University Medal in 1994.

More details and photos

CECS - Engineering News

Student thinks locally to act globally

Steady as she goes By Heather McEwen

The way forward: Smart modules and smart inverters

Video star

Engineers & IT students are a creative lot!

Higher Degree by Research Student poster day 2011 by Heather McEwen

A human touch

Grant wins by Heather McEwen

Less talk, more code!

The Techno Expo by Heather McEwen

CECS sweeps ResearchFest poster exhibition

Ready, GetSet, Go!

PM visits ASI laboratories at ANU

Women in Technology

2011 Fulbright Scholar by Heather McEwen

Student ambassador program launched By Heather McEwen

Memorial plaque unveiled in Engineering By Heather McEwen

Alumni welcome

Prime Minister visits Big Dish

20th birthday celebrations in engineering By Heather McEwen

Steady as she goes
By Heather McEwen

Higher Degree by Research Student poster day 2011
by Heather McEwen

Grant wins
by Heather McEwen

The Techno Expo
by Heather McEwen

2011 Fulbright Scholar
by Heather McEwen

Student ambassador program launched
By Heather McEwen

Memorial plaque unveiled in Engineering
By Heather McEwen

20th birthday celebrations in engineering
By Heather McEwen