School of EEE supports ICT Careers Week 2008
29 July 2008: Australia's first National Information and Communications Technology Careers Week was held at the end of July. ICT Week has been developed by the Australian Computer Society (ACS), the peak body for the ICT sector, aimed at helping students, teachers and parents appreciate the potential an ICT career can offer.
The School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering took an active interest in this event, and 'The Advertiser' ran a half-page article in their Saturday edition featuring extensive comments from Senior Lecturer Dr Wen Soong and ACS Chairman and School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Emeritus Professor Prof. Reg. Coutts on the event. A photograph was also included featuring Dr. Soong and digital electronics support technician Mr Greg Pullman with some of the robots to be used during ICT week.
The participants in ICT Week took part in the 'Robot Orienteering' exercise, where they programmed electronic robots to navigate a maze, simulating the Mars rover robot navigating obstacles on the surface of Mars.
Women In Technology Challenge
15-16 July, 2008: The 2008 Women In Technology Challenge is aimed to encourage more female students into technology-related degrees such as Electrical & Electronic Engineering.
Over this two-day event, female high school students discovered some of the fundamental principles of Electrical Engineering as they assembled a fully operational electric motor from very basic raw materials. After a brief introduction to the principles of electromagnetics, the girls set about making their own motor using just a length of wire, a magnet and two AA batteries as well as some basic fixing hardware to hold it all together. Within 30 minutes, the girls were able to get their motor coil to spin above the magnet, thereby creating one of the simplest electric motors in the world!
The simple nature of the experiment meant the girls could see fundamental electrical principles at work with no 'black box' adding any mystery to the experiment. These principles are the same ones that underpin many aspects of Electrical Engineering, including power engineering, power generation and sustainable energy, and a clear understanding of the simplicity but importance of these principles is fundamentally important to a successful career in Electrical Engineering. The exercise greatly helped to demystify the field of Electrical Engineering, and the manner of the participants demonstrated they learnt a lot from the exercise - and enjoyed every moment!
Mr Withawat Withayachumnankul wins IEEE Fellowship
July, 2008: Mr Withawat Withayachumnankul, a postgraduate student of Prof. Derek Abbott in the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, was awarded the IEEE LEOS Graduate Student Fellowship for 2008.
The IEEE is the world's leading professional association
for the advancement of technology. We congratulate Mr Withayachumnankul on this achievement from such a prestigious and well-respected organisation.
Dr Tamath Rainsford wins multiple teaching awards
July, 2008: We congratulate School of
Electrical & Electronic Engineering lecturer Dr Tamath Rainsford who was awarded the following teaching awards for the 2007 academic year:
- The University of Adelaide Stephen Cole the Elder Award for Excellence in Teaching
- ECMS Faculty Prize for Excellence in Teaching
- ECMS Executive Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
The Stephen Cole the Elder Award is a University-wide award presented to educators who represent
some of the most talented and dedicated individuals working at the
University. In 2007 the Teaching award was presented to just three academic staff throughout the whole University, one of which was Dr Rainsford. The ECMS Faculty Prize and Executive Dean's Awards are teaching recognitions awarded at Faculty level, where Dr Rainsford was again recognised amongst her peers for her efforts.
These awards recognise the outstanding effort Dr Rainsford has made to ensure her students are constantly encouraged, challenged and rewarded as their studies in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering pave the way for their future career. They also recognise the ongoing committment of the School to recruit only the best teaching and research staff to ensure our students receive the most up-to-date information, presented in the most engaging manner, by experts who are passionate about their field.
Dr Rainsford currently lectures classes in Electronics II (pdf 29kB) (pdf 29kB) and Engineering Electromagnetics (pdf 30kB) (pdf 30kB) in the School.
Aim For Adelaide Interactive Student Day
26 June, 2008: During "Aim for Adelaide Day" held on the 26th June 2008, groups of Year
9 and Year 10 students from SA Fairway schools visited the University of
Adelaide. The Fairway Scheme provides an extra opportunity to study at
the University of Adelaide to students from schools under-represented in
higher education. These schools involved in this year's event were
Mannum Community College, Seaford School, Charles Campbell Secondary School, Peterborough
High School, LeFevre High School, Christies Beach High School,
Smithfield Plains High School, Eudunda Area School, Heathfield High
School and Birdwood High School.
During the 'Robot Orienteering' exercise, students worked in teams of two or three to program a robot to
move through a maze of blocks, simulating the Mars Rovers moving
through the landscape on the surface of Mars. The students involved in this exercise put a lot of work into measuring the maze, converting this into a program for the robots and then fine-tuning the program as the robot got closer and closer to the finish line. They had a lot of
fun competing with rival teams and gained a great deal of satisfaction in seeing the robot follow their instructions and successfully complete the maze!
The students went away with an understanding of the nature of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and why it can be such a rewarding and enjoyable discipline to study.
Smart Sensors, Smart Packages
31 May 2008: A research collaboration between the School of Electrical &
Electronic Engineering and Collotype Labels Pty Ltd has been awarded
$300,000 to develop a new generation of product packages. Electronic
sensors and control circuits embedded within these smart packages will
make it easier to identify package contents, protect them during
shipping and storage, and market them to consumers.
The project is led
by Dr Said Al-Sarawi and Dr Braden Phillips of the School of Electrical
& Electronic Engineering and is supported by the South Australian
Government through the Premier’s Science and Research Council.
