New Zealand Engineering 1999 September

People News

New Crop of Green Engineers

Worms, old tyres and mudcrete have all been the subject of study by Auckland University’s first crop of Resource Engineers who will graduate this November. Among other things students have been looking at are techniques which take as inputs the outputs of other industrial processes in order to find ways of reducing their impact on the environment.

Sandra Brash has been focusing on ways of turning the growing mountains of waste tyres into a form of bitumen for roading. Neil Cook has been looking at ways of disposing of electroplating sludges inside construction concrete to avoid contamination by heavy metals, while Nadine Wakim has been looking at the "outputs" of worms in worm farms in an effort to process biosolids and toxic wastes.

Civil and Resource Engineering senior tutor, Hugh Morris, says the degree emerged from the requirements of the Resource Management Act. The course does not include the structural components of the traditional Civil degree but highlights the infrastructural aspects of engineering. Many students have been employed by District Councils during their holidays.

WON: Dr Robert Raine of Auckland University’s school of engineering has won the ImechE Crompton Lancaster Medal for his paper "Combustion Analysis and Cycle by Cycle Variations in Spark Ignition Engines" written in conjunction with two Oxford University researchers. The award recognises special influence on the advancement of automobile engineering. Presenting the award ImechE president, James McKnight, said the research substantially added to the existing knowledge base and would be of particular use to engineers working in this field.

WON: Darius Singh, an Auckland University PhD student, has won a Foundation for Research, Science and Technology "FiRST" award for his Graduates in Industry Fellowships (GRIF) work with the Ford Motor Company developing a casting die design methodology for alloy wheels. Mr Singh has participated three times in the highly sought-after summer internship at the Ford Scientific Research Laboratory in Detroit.

WON: Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner added five "Engineering in Society" prizes to its annual Engineering Prize for Auckland University engineering students. The five Engineering in Society prizes were awarded to five top performing first-year engineering students. They were: Michael Howden; Mitchell Mulder; Juan Pretorious; Carolyn Simpson; and Annalise Swan. The Engineering Prizes, this year, went to Ruth Brown (Engineering Science), Simone French (Civil and Resource Engineering) and Thomas Henley (Electrical and Electronic Engineering).

WON: Lin Yin Chua, a BE honours student at Canterbury University, who worked last summer as a trainee network engineer for Sarawak Information Systems Ltd, won the ACENZ best practical award for 1999. Ms Lin Yin won the award for her work investigating whether an IP telephony system would benefit her employer.

APPOINTED: Mike Underhill has been appointed chief executive of WEL Energy Group Ltd. His appointment took effect from 27 August 1999. Mr Underhill was chief executive of TransAlta New Zealand and EnergyDirect Corporation. He has a long history as a design and planning engineer in the electricity industry.

APPOINTED: Peter Geddes, a partner of the Whangarei company Hawthorn Geddes Engineers and Architects Ltd, has been appointed to the New Zealand Conservation Authority by the Minister of Conservation, Nick Smith. The Authority is the chief advisory board to the Minister of Conservation. Mr Geddes has strong links through his company’s work in wetlands developments and effluent disposal schemes, and has spent several years on the New Zealand Fish and Game Council.b>

APPOINTED: Raymond Cheng has joined Alstom New Zealand as engineering manager. Mr Cheng worked for Vector (the company formerly known as Mercury Energy) for ten years. Prior to joining the Auckland Electric Power Board (which became Mercury) he was an independent consultant. Mr Cheng holds a degree in electrical engineering and a diploma in business from Auckland University.

APPOINTED : Associate Professor Alex Sutherland has been appointed Dean of Engineering at Canterbury University for a three-year term commencing 1 July 1999.

RETIRED: Emeritus Professor Bob Park, OBE, after 38 years at the University of Canterbury. Professor Park is known internationally for his work on the design of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures for seismic resistance.

DIED: William (Bill) Waters (77), the last in-house naval architect of the Union Steamship Company. Born in 1922 Mr Waters started as an apprentice in 1938 at the Vickers Armstrong yard in Barrow. He won a scholarship to Durham University and worked on warship design during World War Two. After the war he lectured in design at Kings College, Newcastle, but emigrated to New Zealand in 1951 following one of his designs, the Hinemoa. He designed more than twenty ships including the Maori, the Union Rotorua, Union Rotoiti and the Wahine. Mr Waters remained actively interested in marine heritage matters until well after his retirement.

DIED: John Pollard (75), chemical engineer and "character". A graduate of Canterbury University Mr Pollard was instrumental in the founding of the Society of Chemical Engineers New Zealand, and was a long-serving member of IPENZ. His professional career began at the DSIR in Wellington designing tobacco kilns but in 1950 he joined the Christchurch Gas, Coal and Coke Company where he could indulge his contrary character and love for the dirty, smelly and pyrotechnic. In 1959 he joined British Pavements Ltd as technical services engineer. Retiring in 1983 he took over the Consumers’ Institute Laboratory which was sold in 1988. He was an associate member of the Canterbury engineering faculty for more than twenty years. A full obituary by Professor Miles Kennedy is available in PDF format by clicking here.