Faculty highlights

Monash awarded $89.9m funding for New Horizons project

Monash University has received $89.9 million from the Federal Government's Education Investment Fund (EIF) to create a new platform for excellence in Future Manufacturing research and teaching.

This initiative, known as New Horizons, will co-locate and integrate around 300 staff from Monash with about 150 from CSIRO, supported by platforms for global research and teaching collaboration through state-of-the-art ICT. It will be located at the northern edge of the Clayton campus of Monash, immediately adjacent to CSIRO.

The co-location of Monash, Australia's largest University, and CSIRO, Australia's largest publicly funded research organisation, will create globally significant scale, scope and connectedness in an interactive space with an entrepreneurial culture that will facilitate greater linkages with business and the community. It also allows for the efficient use of major facilities already located in the Precinct such as the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy, the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication, the Australian Synchrotron, and the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute.

This investment of Government funds, together with a substantial matching contribution from Monash University and CSIRO, will establish the Clayton Innovation Precinct as the most significant technology innovation hub in the southern hemisphere, at the heart of Victoria's primary high-technology (light) manufacturing region.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Richard Larkins welcomed the announcement saying it was an important step towards establishing a new multi-discipline research themed model at Monash University.

"New Horizons will unite dispersed science and engineering expertise in a new, world-class research facility," Professor Larkins said.

"It will produce a new generation of leaders ready to make an impact in the workplace. It will harness new paradigms for learning and research across Monash sites in Australia, Malaysia and India, and its collaboration partners around the world."

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Edwina Cornish said the centre would focus on the research challenges facing future generations.

"New Horizons will act as a platform for future manufacturing by scaling-up skills and infrastructure in science and engineering, with a specific focus on computational and physical modeling of manufactured products and services in the fields of bio-medicine, aerospace and renewable energy," Professor Cornish said.

"Expected outcomes will include smarter and cleaner manufacturing, streamlined commercialisation, international e-learning linkages and highly skilled graduates prepared for a multi-disciplinary innovative workplace.

"The new generation of leaders that will graduate from New Horizons will be unique in receiving an undergraduate and/or postgraduate education that is multidisciplinary, globally connected, enabled by the latest ICT facilities, steeped in innovation and entrepreneurship, and underpinned by a productive engagement with industry," Professor Cornish said.

Construction for the five year projects is expected to start in late 2010, with buildings ready for occupation in late 2012.

Award-winning researcher joins Engineering

Indonesian biochemical engineer Dr Penia Kresnowati will spend two years conducting stem-cell related research in Monash University's Department of Chemical Engineering after winning a prestigious UNESCO-L'oreal Fellowship for Women in Science.

Dr Kresnowati was one of 15 young women from around the world awarded a fellowship, which are worth up to $40,000 and permit the winners to conduct research at a host organisation of their choice outside their home country.

During her time at Monash, Dr Kresnowati, 31, will conduct research into the design of bioreactors for creating health products from stem cells. She will be under the supervision of Monash researchers Dr Gareth Forde and Professor Dong Chen, in cooperation with the Australian Stem Cell Centre.

Dr Kresnowati has been lecturing at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia, and has recently finished research into optimising the production of bio-based products.

"In Monash I found a research group that conducts research in biotechnology from the engineering aspect, which matches my interests very well," Dr Kresnowati said.
"Monash University also provides an atmosphere that welcomes international researchers."

Alan Finkel Scholarships

Eighty final year high achieving Monash engineering students were invited to attend the launch of the Monash Engineering Finkel Scholarships and to celebrate their academic success.

Dr Alan and Dr Elizabeth Finkel wish to support PhD research by providing financial support in addition to a University funded scholarship stipend to enable three outstanding graduate scholars to pursue research in the Faculty of Engineering. Funding for the award is provided by the Finkel Foundation and Dr Alan and Dr Elizabeth Finkel.

Monash University Chancellor, Dr Alan Finkel, is an engineering alumnus. Dr Finkel received his Bachelor of Engineering in 1976 and Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Monash University in 1981, following which he served for two years as a neuroscience research fellow at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, located at the Australian National University.

In 1983, Dr Finkel founded the Californian Company, Axon Instruments, to commercially produce amplifiers that measured nerve activity in mammalian neurons with one electrode. His science and technology based company lead the world in the design of equipment used for cellular research and drug discovery. Dr Finkel has contributed significantly to Australian scientific endeavour and communications.

Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Professor Tam Sridhar, addressed the group of distinguished Monash guests, staff and students, "Dr Finkel’s story blends cutting edge research with entrepreneurship and value creation from research. The Engineering faculty is proud of Dr Finkel’s achievements and is grateful to Dr Alan Finkel and Dr Elizabeth Finkel for establishing the Finkel Scholarship to make it possible for you to pursue your research dreams."

"In your undergraduate course you are taught the current state of knowledge in your discipline. The lecturer essentially teaches and tests you on material they already know. The PhD program is more of a partnership between the student and the supervisor – a journey into the unknown. The answers are often surprising."

The Chancellor, Dr Alan Finkel, provided an inspiring speech to students about why he chose research and his passion for supporting research in engineering and at Monash, "As Engineering graduates, you will soon be in the next generation of leaders of this country. As a PhD student you will have the capacity to be not only a researcher but have the potential to be a part of the next generation of leadership will make a difference."

Young Australian of the Year Finalist and Engineering student Daniel Adams

Daniel Adams, currently studying a double degree in Commerce and Aerospace Engineering at Monash, is a social justice advocate, educator, innovator, and project director. As a 2008 Young Australian of the Year Finalist he was the mastermind and event co-ordinator of the 2006 concert for the Make Poverty History campaign, the largest youth-run event ever held in Australia.

The concert united 24,000 people at live sites across Australia and reached an audience of 500,000. It is remarkable that someone who started out with no music industry contacts, events management experience, or financial backers could make an event of this magnitude happen let alone sign up 50,000 young Australians to a commitment to fight poverty. Since the concert Dan has continued as a passionate advocate for social justice, channelling his energy into a new project, Schools 4 Schools, facilitating a direct link between schools and students in Victoria and Natal in a peer-to-peer leadership program. He has inspired thousands of young people to actively engage in seeking solutions to world poverty.

Feature article

Monash helps Aussie cyclist go for gold

Cadel Evans used the wind tunnel earlier in mid-2008 in his Olympic preparation as part of a new partnership between Monash and the Australian Institute of Sport's (AIS) elite cycling program. In a two-hour session, twin five-metre tall fans blew winds of up to 70kmh at Evans while he pedalled furiously on a stationary bicycle held in a specially-designed rig.

Monash's mechanical and aerospace engineering experts used sensitive equipment located in the wind tunnel's floor to measure the aerodynamic efficiency of various riding positions, as well as the amount of force placed on various types of wheels, handle bars, helmets, pedals, and even shoes and suits.

"In a short period of time, we got a lot of accurate information, which is most important," Evans said after the testing session. "It's invaluable information in my profession, because if we can save one minute it might be the difference between winning a gold medal and winning nothing at the Olympics."

The AIS had a detailed computer model of the circuit Evans would tackle during the 245km road race at the Olympics and Evans' work in the wind tunnel was focused on maximising his aerodynamics over the circuit.

The AIS estimates a 10 per cent improvement in Evans' aerodynamics would shave up to a minute off his time.

Monash wind tunnel manager David Burton said the aim of the work with Evans was to find the options that attracted the least wind force but still allowed Evans to produce optimum power.

"It's important for us and the AIS to work together so you can combine expertise on aerodynamics and biomechanics -- the two really need to come together," Mr Burton said.

Monash's partnership with the AIS cycling program continues a long association between the Engineering faculty tunnel, located at Monash's Clayton campus, and elite Australian sports teams. Skiers, the Winter Olympic female skeleton team (the sport involves sliding down a track head-first on a small sled), V8 super cars and sailing teams have all used the wind tunnel to boost their sporting chances.

The tunnel has a working section four metres high and 12 metres wide, making it the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere and large enough to fit a small truck. It can produce winds of up to 180kmh.

AIS physiologist David Martin said working with the Monash experts had been terrific because their professionalism was matched by their enthusiasm to get the best result for the Australian cyclists.

Alumni news

The Faculty of Engineering Alumni Awards were presented at a cocktail event on Tuesday 21 October in the Banquet Rooms at the Clayton Campus. There was a variety of alumni in attendance, spanning the generations from alumni who graduated in 1952 right up to last year’s graduates.

The Dean, Professor Tam Sridhar, commented that, "It was pleasing to see so many alumni taking advantage of the opportunity to reconnect with former classmates and staff members. We were honoured to have in attendance our Chancellor, Dr Alan Finkel, one of our own engineering alumni and our Vice Chancellor, Professor Richard Larkins."

An inspiring speech was delivered by Madeleine McManus, a double degree alumnus who qualified with a Mechanical Engineering and Commerce degree from Monash. Madeline spent a number of years in the commercial and project engineering environment working in industries such as chemical, oil and gas and industrial both in Australia and overseas. Madeline is currently a Director for an executive search business, specialising in Engineering and is currently the Vice Chairman of Engineers Australia Victorian Division.

Madeleine is passionate about working with engineers of the future, raising the profile of engineers in the wider community and ensuring the long term success of the profession.

Thanks and appreciation is extended to the Monash Engineering Foundation who so graciously funded the event.

This year was the inaugural year of presenting departmental Alumni of the Year awards. There were many well deserving alumni nominated for the awards.

The winners in each department were:

Chemical Engineering
Early Career Alumni of the Year Dr Michael Danquah		Alumni of the Year Dr Roy Armfield
Civil Engineering
Alumni of the Year Stephen Blanch
Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering
Early Career Alumni of the Year Doran Ben-Meir		Alumni of the Year Stephen Blanch
Materials Engineering
Early Career Alumni of the Year Andrew Micallef		Alumni of the Year Dr Mark Hodge
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Early Career Alumni of the Year Dr Richard Mills		Alumni of the Year Tam Hup Foi

International news

Recycling energy offers huge potential savings

Each day, energy worth millions is literally blown away as cool air vented out from building air conditioning systems.

Monash researcher Associate Professor Dr Ong Kok Seng and his team are working with one of the world's leading producers of air conditioners to produce a system that will harvest some of this energy back into the air conditioning system, saving money and the environment over the long term.

Dr Ong, an expert on heat pipes, says the system could translate into huge savings for corporations with large air conditioning bills.

It uses a very efficient heat pipe to harvest the colder temperature from air being let out of the air conditioning system to reduce the temperature of air going into the air intake outlet.

Heat pipes are highly efficient heat exchangers. This consists of a metal pipe vacuumed and filled with conducting liquid or gas. They are also used in laptops and satellites for cooling electrical components.

Recycling energy offers huge potential savings

Dr Ong says the experimental heat pipe assisted air conditioning system has been fabricated with the assistance from OYL Research and Development Centre and is currently undergoing testing at Monash University’s Sunway campus.

Aside from the project developed by Associate Professor Ong, other uses and technologies related to heat pipes were showcased at the 9th International Heat Pipe Symposium hosted by the School of Engineering in late 2008 at the Sunway campus.

The international symposium, scheduled from the 17th to 20th November 2008, was an international event that brought together academics and industry people involved in heat pipe development and use to discuss current issues and applications of the field.

It will brought together engineers, scientists and industry working in the field of Heat and Mass Transfer especially in heat pipes, heat pipe heat exchangers and semi-conductor cooling.

Participants of the symposium had the opportunity to exchange the latest in scientific R & D information as well as the technologies developed for commercial development of heat pipes.

Jasbir Singh

Alumni profile

Marc Colella

BE(CIV) 1995

At the age of just 35, Monash engineering graduate Marc Colella is playing a key role in the huge rebuilding project at the World Trade Centre site in New York.

Mr Colella is the structural engineer in charge of building the Freedom Tower, a 105-storey building with a 120m spire that will be the biggest of the four towers being built on the World Trade Centre site.

During a brief trip to Melbourne in August Mr Colella visited Monash to speak to staff and students in the Faculty of Engineering about some of the project's complex considerations -- both technical and emotional.

"As designers you have to divorce yourself from the emotional side of a project, otherwise you'll get nothing accomplished," he said.

"You really just have to treat it like any other project. It just happens to be on a complicated and highly-emotional site."

Mr Colella graduated from Monash in 1995 with a Bachelor of Engineering and worked in Melbourne, his home town, for five years on projects including the 28-storey Clarendon Towers Apartments and the 23-storey Grand Russell building. He became a Chartered Member of the Institute of Engineers Australia during this time.

Marc, who is playing a key role in the rebuilding project at the World Trade Centre site, caught up with his former lecturer Associate Professor Riadh Al-Mahaidi at Monash while he was in Melbourne.

Mr Colella travelled to London in 1999 to work for British firm WSP Group and when that company acquired US firm Cantor Seinuk, to form the WSP Cantor Seinuk Group, he jumped at the opportunity to transfer to New York to work in the city's high-rise building sector. The move came shortly after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

In 2002 WSP Cantor Seinuk Group won the contract to build three of the four new buildings currently under construction on the World Trade Centre site and Mr Colella was asked to lead a team of engineers on the Freedom Tower also known as Tower One.

"That was pretty exciting," Mr Colella said. "It was out of the blue - I expected that with something that emotional, that they would have asked an American."

"I feel very fortunate that at 35, I've been given the opportunity to work on one of the most exciting projects in the world."

Mr Colella said the skills he developed at Monash had given him a great grounding and the respect Monash's engineering degree had in the industry had helped progress his career.

"In the States your degree is everything - it's: 'Where did you go?' I do mention Monash and senior personnel in particular are familiar with it. I think it's fair to say that Monash's engineering degree is respected as the best in Australia."

Congratulations!

Monash 50th Anniversary Research Awards

The Monash 50th Anniversary Research awards were presented on Monday 18 August at Government House in Melbourne. The 50th Anniversary Research Awards recognise outstanding research achievement. The awards acknowledge and celebrate Monash researchers who have had significant success and impact in a broad range of areas over the past 50 years. Three well deserving recipients in the field of engineering were:

• Emeritus Professor Ian Polmear AO, Foundation Professor of Materials Engineering for his pioneering work in light metal alloys that has led to commercial innovations, including the development of an ultrahigh strength aluminium alloy used in the space shuttle program in the USA.
• Emeritus Professor Owen Potter, Foundation Professor of Chemical Engineering, for his path-breaking work in fluidised reactors and drying which continues to make an impact on the development of technology to reduce emissions from brown coal.
• Late Emeritus Professor Douglas Lampard, Foundation Professor of Electrical Engineering, for his seminal contributions to the field of biomedical engineering which led to significant developments in anaesthesia with widespread clinical and commercial application.

The inaugural Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Innovation and Collaboration in Research with Industry recognises research excellence. Highlights in the Faculty of Engineering were:

• The Best Research and Development Collaboration award went to Greg Crew and his team members Graham Tew, Beng Oh, Darrien Welsby, and Dr Dingyang Zheng. The team has significantly enhanced the maintenance of haulage operations at BHP Billiton Iron Ore through the development and installation of three permanently instrumented ore cars.
• The award for Best Collaboration Involving a Co-operative Research Centre went to Associate Professor Chris Davies, Dr Trevor Abbott, Dr Colleen Bettles, Dr Mark Easton, Dr Su-Ming Zhu and Dr Jian-Feng Nie. Over the past eight years this team has played a critical role in the development of four high-performance lightweight magnesium alloys, two of which have been patent-protected.

The Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Postgraduate Supervision is to demonstrate not only commitment to teaching or research student supervision, but, also innovative and exciting approaches that serve as a model for how research and education can be brought together. Two of our outstanding academics received a Special Commendation – Professor Xiao-Ling Zhao and Professor Kerry Hourigan.

The Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal is awarded to the doctoral candidate judged to have presented the best thesis of the year. The 2007 recipient for the Faculty of Engineering was Dr Himal Suraweera.

Australian Institute of Energy Postgraduate Student Awards

Two outstanding Engineering postgraduate students were recognised for their achievements at the Australian Institute of Energy Post-Graduate Student Awards presented on 4 September 2008.

Trent Harkin, a Chemical Engineering Masters student won the award for the "Best Carbon Capture and Storage Project", while Timothy Khoo, a Masters student in Materials Engineering won the award for the "Best Energy Systems and Efficiency Project".

Trent is working with Dr Andrew Hoadley and the CO2CRC on the integration of carbon capture and storage into brown coal fired power plants. He is using process integration techniques, in particular pinch analysis, to minimise the loss in efficiency of adding CCS plant to a coal fired power stations.

Timothy began his Masters on the 31st March 2008 working in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science with Professor Maria Forsyth. His project is on Advance Metal Batteries. He also completed his Bachelor of Engineering in Materials at Monash.

The postgraduate awards were organised by the Australian Institute of Energy Melbourne Branch and held at the Royal Society of Victoria. They were open to postgraduate students in Victoria working in the energy field. This year marked the 25th consecutive year of the Awards which were sponsored by leading organisations in the energy & resources sector and AIE Melbourne also offered all participants 1 year free student membership to the Australian Institute of Energy. The Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, Peter Batchelor MP attended and presented the awards in three different categories - Renewable Energy & Hydrogen, Energy Systems & Efficiency, and Carbon Capture & Storage. The winners have been invited to attend the AIE National Awards in Sydney on 18th November.