Engineering students receive Queensland awards

USQ Faculty of Engineering and Surveying students, David Mohr and Daniel Harrington, were recently honoured with awards from the Queensland Division of Engineers Australia.

Both David and Daniel presented their research topics during recent Undergraduate Project Presentation events, competing against students from other universities across the state to secure the awards.

David, a final year Agricultural Engineering student, won the 2011 Michael Woodhouse Memorial Award. His topic was Performance Characterisation of Pressure Regulator Devices used in Broad-Acre Irrigation and he is supervised by Dr Joseph Foley.

David said he was not expecting to receive this award.

'I was shocked and surprised when I found out, but also very honoured. My supervisor Dr Joseph Foley has been a great mentor, lecturer and supervisor to help me get where I needed to go,' he said.

'The award has opened some doors. I have started in a full-time position with an irrigation consultancy company, WaterBiz Pty Ltd based in Toowoomba and am looking forward to a change from the study.'

Daniel, a Civil Engineering student, won first prize in the Environmental Engineering Student Awards organized by the Society for Sustainability and Environmental Engineering (SSEE).

Daniel presented on Coal Seam Gas water as a medium to grow marine microalgae for biofuel production and is supervised by Dr Vasantha Aravinthan.

'I certainly wasn’t expecting to receive this award,' he said. 'It was great to win, the project had required many hours of lab work and research, so it was a good way to finish it all off.

'Much of the credit must go to my supervisor Dr Vasantha Aravinthan. Her enthusiastic and knowledgeable support throughout this year allowed me to get the most out of this project.

'Due to the intensive lab based nature of this research, it meant that I required continual assistance from my supervisor, the lab technician and other USQ staff. I’m unsure if this project could have been conducted at a larger university where staff access may be more limited.

'The awards will certainly booster my CV, and it may well lead to some interesting career opportunities in the near future.'

Contact Details:

Connie-Louise Rego, USQ Media, 07 46312977