Engineering Alumni News
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Engineering Alumni News June 2012 | A Newsletter for Engineering Alumni | Number 27 Defence’s Integration Authority Industrial Message from the Dean Advisory Board. Immediately prior to his As many of you will be aware the Faculty of joining the Faculty he was the Royal Academy Engineering has long been in need of of Engineering Visiting Professor at University refurbishment. The faculty has grown College London. substantially since its current buildings were constructed, mainly in the late 1960’s, and In March, The Institution of Professional many of the current facilities are outdated and Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) recognised inadequate. It was also hoped that if several of our academics and students. refurbishment took place the Faculty would be Supreme Technical Awards were presented to reunited - with the Departments of Electrical Distinguished Professor Debes Bhattacharyya and Computer Engineering and Engineering and Professor Bruce Melville. The awards Science, who have for a number of years been recognise those who have demonstrated housed in other buildings around the campus, excellence and leadership in engineering University of Alberta and the University of relocated into 20 Symonds Street. practice over their careers to benefit the California, Davis. Both institutions have engineering profession. It was also very engineering faculties very similar to ours and After a lot of hard work by a dedicated team of pleasing to see former engineering students are keen to form closer research links. I also academic and professional staff we were able, Heath Vinicombe and Andrew Li, from the attended the Group of Eight (GO8) Engineering in early April, to present a robust business case Department of Electrical and Computer Dean’s meeting in Sydney, which was an to the University Council, the University’s Engineering, who were supervised by Dr opportunity to update my Australian governing body, who went on to approve a Bernard Guillemin, awarded IPENZ’s Ray colleagues on what is happening within the $216 million dollar redevelopment and Meyer Medal for Excellence in Student Design. faculty and to share ideas. upgrade of our buildings and facilities. The Faculty awarded 31 top first year The Faculty continues to perform well at an The upgrade includes the creation of high-tech engineering students Kick Start Scholarships international level. We continue to be the only laboratories, a new engineering research this year. It was a pleasure to meet the New Zealand university invited to be an facility at the Tāmaki Innovation Campus and recipients and some of their families. Two of our associate member of the GO8 Dean of the redevelopment of our Symonds Street PhD graduates also recently received the Engineering Group and we have also buildings. Work has already started on the four Vice-Chancellor’s Prize for Best Doctoral Thesis. performed strongly in the QS World University year building project, which will transform our Rankings with the Faculty ranked 62nd in the teaching and research facilities and benefit the Only five prizes are awarded each year across world and the only New Zealand engineering entire University. The changes also allow the the University so I was delighted that Dr Jie faculty to make the top 100. Departments of Electrical and Computer Han from the Department of Chemical and Engineering and Engineering Science to be Materials Engineering, and Dr Peng Du from I am anticipating an even busier second relocated back to Symonds Street. the Department of Engineering Science and semester at the University as our building the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, were project gets underway and various events fill This year we have had an increase in first year recipients. the diary. As always I am looking forward very enrolments, the students are of an much to our Alumni Dinner on Saturday 22 exceptionally high calibre, and we have had an The first event in my Deans Lecture series, which September. It is an excellent opportunity to unprecedented number of postgraduate focused on our energy research theme, was a reconnect with alumni from around the globe, enquiries from New Zealand and abroad. We great success with more than a hundred and and to showcase recent innovations in the have also launched two new masters fifty people in attendance. A panel of experts, Faculty. In line with this, I am endeavouring to programmes; Engineering Studies in Yacht including Dr George Hooper, a senior consultant host as many overseas Alumni events as Engineering and Food Process Engineering. The with Transfield Worley, debated the Government possible this year and was delighted at the yacht engineering masters was launched to mandated target of producing a minimum of 90 warm feedback I received following an event coincide with the High Performance Yacht percent of New Zealand’s electricity from held in Sydney on 2 May. Next month I will Design conference and the Volvo Ocean Race, renewable resources by 2025. Prior to and after hosting events in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, making the occasion even more special. the event we had on show our research which Melbourne and Brisbane, and am hoping to generated a lot of interest and discussion. My travel to New York and Boston in September. I Our undergraduate programmes continue to next Deans Lecture event is scheduled for 2 look forward to catching up with as many of evolve, for example we are introducing more August and will be linked to the Faculty’s you as possible and have the opportunity to systems engineering elements into our technologies for health research theme. teaching programmes. Spearheading this bring you up to date with the exciting project is Professor Keith Robinson, who has University visits have been an important part developments in the Faculty. joined the Faculty following a distinguished of the first half of my year. Immediately after career in industry, which included being the getting the news that the engineering Managing Director for Lockheed Martin redevelopment had been approved, I travelled Professor Michael C. R. Davies UK and the Chairman of the UK Ministry of to North America for meetings with the Dean of Engineering Faculty News Professor Andrew Pullan Professor Andrew Pullan, Dr David Bullivant and Professor Mike O’Sullivan available…multiple configurations of cellular a champion of the Engineering Science degree. Andrew John Pullan activity can give rise to the same ECG signals”. I never thought to question him about this, but 1963 – 2012 I suspect that one reason was that he could The contribution of Andrew and his team was see the opportunity provided by the degree to Eulogy: Professor Andy Philpott made to use highly detailed mathematical students who are very clever but, like himself, Department of Engineering Science models of human anatomy to narrow down the come from less privileged backgrounds. possibilities. Presented at (University of As Head of Department from 2008-2010, Auckland) Senate. Andrew’s research began with the heart, but in Andrew committed himself to the task of later years focused on the stomach and promoting the Engineering Science degree Andrew Pullan was born in 1963. He was dux intestinal tract, winning him a James Cook throughout the country to maximise the of Aorere College in Mangere, won a University Fellowship in 2003, and a Fellowship of the potential for all students to benefit from the Scholarship, and completed a BSc at Auckland Royal Society of New Zealand in 2009 for his same opportunity that he had enjoyed. He with first class honours in mathematics. Andrew pioneering work in this area. It is clear that he created the “New Zealand’s Next Top joined the Engineering Science Department as was destined for even higher honours, and his Engineering Scientist” modelling competition, a PhD student of Ian Collins in 1985. After death is a great loss for the New Zealand which is carried out each year in over 100 New receiving his doctorate in 1988, he spent a brief scientific community. Zealand secondary schools. It offers period working for Winstones/Fletcher scholarships (now called the Pullan Prize) to the Andrew’s inaugural professorial lecture was a Challenge, before returning to the University as winners and serves to attract some of the tour-de-force. A large monitor displayed a lecturer in 1989. Andrew then moved quickly country’s brightest mathematical talents to our electrical body measurements of Andrew up the academic ranks culminating in a programme. Along with his research, I think himself, obtained in real time as he paced personal chair in 2006. that this will be remembered as one of around the lecture hall. I now regret that this Andrew’s great contributions to the University. Professor Mike O’Sullivan commented in his lecture was the only one of his that I saw in eulogy at Andrew’s memorial service that person, for he had a reputation with our Andrew was a fitness fanatic, and was Andrew never smoked cigarettes, nor drank students for being a fantastic teacher, extremely competitive. Way back in 1989, I alcohol, or coffee, or tea. Despite this virtuous engaging them with entertaining introduced Andrew to Ron Paterson from the existence, Andrew was an excellent demonstrations, often at his own expense. He Law Faculty, and the three of us used to run mathematician. He made many mathematical regularly appeared in the Engineering School’s together after work. We used to try and break contributions to bioengineering. In particular top 5 lecturer awards, and attracted the the record for a Hobson Bay pipeline run. After his research on inverse problems, “how can brightest graduates as PhD students. being told that Ron and I had done it in what one estimate values for the hidden electrical we thought was a spectacularly unbeatable 35 Andrew was an enthusiastic and generous PhD data inside the human body from minutes, Andrew went out the next evening on supervisor, and his students willingly repaid measurements taken on its surface?” This is not his own and proudly announced a time of 33 this generosity by helping him with his only a problem of instrumentation, but involved minutes, which was never bettered.