There’s no doubt that Australian Engineering Week achieved its main objective of raising the awareness of engineering’s contribution to society.

Many events celebrated the fun side of the profession and also helped to position engineering as a career of choice for numerous youngsters. In fact, it was very encouraging to see so many students attending events and participating in the challenges, competitions and seminars.

A big thank you
The week simply wouldn’t be possible without the amazing support of our sponsors, staff and volunteers. We had 41 sponsors join us this year, who all did an outstanding job of promoting the wide variety of events across the country.
And with an incredible 13,000 people attending the 165 events, a big thank you to all the volunteers who helped organise and co-ordinate the week in each State. It was a huge effort by all involved and shows just how passionate we are about the engineering industry!

Highlights of the week
With so many great events throughout the week, it’s hard to single out individual highlights, but here are just a few…

• Dr Andrew Thomas, NASA Astronaut and the first Australian in Space, speaking at the Queensland Division’s launch.
• Victorian Division’s Breakfast launch at Federation Square, featuring an interactive discussion on how engineers can contribute to the future of road safety.
• Discover Engineering event in Newcastle, which saw 200 students and teachers participate in the SunChase solar car and boat challenge.
• South Australian Division Careers Seminar, which involved professional engineers speaking to students about the exciting career opportunities within the engineering industry.

Share your experiences
If you missed any of the action from Australian Engineering Week, check out some of the blogs from our State Divisions, or jump on Engineers Australia’s Flickr channel to see photos from the events. Plus, if you’ve got any photos you’d like to share from the week, feel free to reply to this blog.

And of course, we’d love to hear any feedback you may have so that we can make the 2011 Australian Engineering Week even bigger and better.

Bye for now!

For the first time, we had a luncheon launch with Mark McCrindle, who is recognised as one of Australia’s foremost social researchers; speak on the topic ‘Social Impact of Stereotypes and Role Models’.  With the launch later this year of Barbie’s 126th career as a Computer Engineer and the Make It So campaign where one of the themes was ‘I can be an Engineer’ the topic ‘Social Impact of Stereotypes and Role Models’ seemed ideal.  What would be the impact of this Barbie on a new generation of girls and boys?

We hosted the ‘Engineers Without Borders 2010 Challenge’, showing just what can be achieved by our 1st year engineering students.

Our ‘Living Sustainably in Cities’ forum attracted a large and very interested audience and the questions just wouldn’t stop.  With both presentations and a panel discussion, we got insights into some of the ingenuity and thinking that is out there and an appreciation of the considerations that go into sustainable building design and development.

We supported the Rotary Careers Market which is specifically for senior students and our thanks must go to our volunteers from Women in Engineering, Engineers Without Borders and the Young Engineers for giving up their working time over these two days, supported by National Office staff.  If just one student walks away thinking ‘I can be an Engineer’ and that’s what I want to do – it will have been a great success.

Our second forum ‘Reach for the Stars’ highlighted the engineering challenges with the Square Kilometre Array and the Giant Magellan Telescope projects – with plenty of opportunities for Australia.  The interest and questions were running hot that evening.

Our stalwart activity, the Engineering Games was once again held at Questacon, with over 300 students from primary, secondary, college and Institute of Technology (CIT) – vying for some great prizes for the different games.  It was great fun and there is some real ingenuity out there – and some very serious straw tower builders.

A fitting end to week was the presentation and unveiling of a National Engineering Heritage Landmark for Antenna DSS-46 at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, Tidbinbilla.  It was Antenna DSS-46 that brought the pictures of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as they took their historic first steps on the moon back in 1969, into homes around the world.  It was also recognition of the tremendous contributions made by Australians in the various NASA space programs over the years.

Engineering Week is a team effort, and I’d like to thank all the Committee members who put our program together as well as the volunteers, who helped at the various activities during AEW.  But it is you and your participation that has made this year’s Australian Engineering Week a resounding success.

Jennifer Murray
Chair, AEW Committee

We would like to thank our Sponsors for their continuous support of Engineering Week, all the volunteers and manpower received at events all over NSW, our hardworking committee that helped to co ordinate the entire week and lastly we would like to thank all those that registered and got involved with the different events that were offered throughout the week. We look forward to having everyone on board for what will be a fantastic Engineering Week in 2011!

We’re pleased to report that Australian Engineering Week was a great success in Queensland, with engineering professionals, young students and the general public attending in big numbers.

Off and racing

The week got off to an exhilarating start on Monday with a site tour to the Triple Eight Racing headquarters in Banyo. The group was treated to an exclusive tour of the entire V8 set-up, including the garages and sub-assembly and fabrication areas.

It was quite a thrill to get up close and personal with these magnificent V8 racing cars, and it was particularly interesting to see the role engineering plays in getting the cars on the track.

Dr Andrew Thomas – NASA Astronaut

On Tuesday, we were privileged to have the first Australian in Space, Dr Andrew Thomas, speak at an Engineering Eclipse forum at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

The President of Engineers Australia, Professor Doug Hargreaves, joined Dr Thomas on the panel as they discussed the role of engineers in innovation and thought-leadership.

A dream tour to Dreamworld

Our site tour to Dreamworld was also a popular event for engineering professionals and the public. Conducted by engineers who build and maintain the park’s rides, the tour provided an intriguing insight into how these rides are designed and operated.

For example, the group learnt how the “Giant Drop” is able to come to an abrupt stop, plus how the “Tower of Terror” reaches a speed of 160km/h in less than 7 seconds. Amazing stuff and certainly not for the faint-hearted!

Young Engineers Gala Ball

We also held the Young Engineers Gala Ball at Brisbane’s Customs House on Friday night, which was a great opportunity for everyone to get together and celebrate Australian Engineering Week.

The Ball also served to recognise some of the industry’s most talented young engineers, with the following people receiving awards:

•    Dale Young (GHD) – Young Professional Engineer of the Year
•    Cameron Ives (Toowoomba Regional Council) – Young Engineering Technologist of the Year
•    Kelly Manning (Worley Parsons) – Young Engineering Officer of the Year

Overall, a big thank you to everyone who participated in Australian Engineering Week.

Please feel free to share your stories or comments on the week by replying to this blog

Bye for now!

Kristy Hall
Marketing & Customer Service Officer
Queensland Division

Wow, what a week! Australian Engineering Week has been a huge success in Victoria, with so many exciting events happening around the State. We certainly achieved our goal of increasing the public’s awareness of the crucial role engineering plays in society.

Road safety initiatives

The week got off to a great start on Monday with a breakfast launch at Federation Square. The breakfast featured an interactive discussion on the future of road safety, and included representatives from VicRoads, Victorian Police Superintendant, Neville Taylor, plus a panel of engineering experts.

A number of innovative solutions to improve road safety were analysed, including facial recognition systems, new drug and alcohol testing procedures, and intelligent speed assist.

Attended by over 180 people, the session highlighted the ability of engineers to work closely with road safety experts in tackling the problem of road fatalities.

Stadium site tours

When it comes to impressive stadiums, Melbourne is without peer! That’s why the level of interest in our site tours to Etihad Stadium and Melbourne’s newest sporting showpiece, AAMI Park, was enormous.

Each tour was completely booked out, and gave participants a unique behind-the-scenes look at how these magnificent amphitheatres are designed and constructed. In particular, it was fascinating to learn about AAMI Park’s visually stunning bio-frame roof. The roof was inspired by shells and requires 50% less steel than stadium roofs of a similar size.

Job hunting insights

Students and overseas professionals also benefitted from our job hunting seminar on Monday, which presented valuable tips and insights into finding engineering jobs in Australia.

Given that around 70% of new jobs aren’t advertised, the seminar examined ways to identify and secure opportunities within the engineering industry.

We also ran a resume building workshop on Tuesday to help candidates fine-tune their CVs before applying for jobs in the industry. It’s clear that engineering in Australia has a strong future given the talented individuals who attended these two events.

Thank you to everyone who participated in what was a fantastic week. If you’d like to share your experiences of the week, we’d love to hear from you – reply to this blog now

Regards,
Stacey Rocco
Event Coordinator
Victoria Division