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School of Civil, Environmental
and Mining Engineering

Engineering North N136,
North Terrace Campus
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
SA 5005
AUSTRALIA
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Telephone: +61 8 8303 5451
Facsimile: +61 8 8303 4359


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News from the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering

Travelling Scholarship Awarded to Wenyan Wu

November 2008

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Recently, PhD student Ms Wnyan Wu from the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering has been awarded both the Research Abroad Scholarship and the D.R. Stranks Travelling Fellowship for a visit to the Technical University of Eindhoven, The Netherlands next year from April to July. The Research Abroad Scholarship is for supporting research travel overseas by enrolled research students. The D.R. Stranks Travelling Fellowship provides assistance for meritorious students enrolled in a research higher degree at the University of Adelaide to travel outside South Australia.

Ms Wenyan Wu is currently working on multi-objective optimisation of water distribution systems (WDSs) accounting for sustainability. Her supervisors are Professor Angus Simpson and Professor Holger Maier. In her research, a new paradigm for the design of WDSs, which takes into account sustainability objectives from three aspects of sustainability (economic, environmental and engineering or technical) is being developed. During her visit to the TU Eindhoven, Ms. Wenyan Wu will be working with Dr. Arris Tijsseling, Prof. Wil Schilders and Dr. Jan ter Marten. Prof. Wil Schilders and Dr. Arris Tijsseling both have extensive experience in mathematical modeling and numerical methods development for solving non-linear equations for determining flows and pressures in WDSs. Dr. Jan ter Marten has experience in multi-objective optimisation framework development. Both Prof. Wil Schilders and Dr. Jan ter Marten hold joint positions at the TU Eindhoven, as well as NXP (the mobile phone chip manufacturing unit that was spun-off in 2006 from Phillips Electronics whose world headquarters is in Eindhoven), where the performance of electronic chips is optimised accounting for multiple criteria. Ms. Wu's visit to the TU Eindhoven will promote the exchange of ideas from different multi-objective research areas and increase the prestige and involvement of University of Adelaide at an international level.

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Climate Change Research

31 October 2008

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Work carried out as a final year research project on climate change, urban heat islands and the coast caught the attention of the Advertiser environment writer, leading to an article in Friday October 31st's edition.

The article cited results derived by the group indicating the extent of the urban heat island effect and its effect on the coastal sea breeze which is occurring more frequently and is also strengthening. This, it is believed, will be important for future coastal management.

The students are Ross Mc Connell, Patrick Moody, Nick Byrne and Daniel Osborne. They have also been invited to present their work to a meeting at the Bureau of Meteorology in November.


New Engineering Textbook

October 2008

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A new textbook "Engineering Modelling and Analysis" has just been published by Taylor and Francis in the UK. It has been written by four academics from the faculty: David Walker, Michael Leonard and Martin Lambert from the School, and Andrew Metcalfe from mathematics.

The book is based on material developed over the years for the School's undergraduate computing courses but also brings together the research interests of the four authors - a mix they believe is important for a good university education.


Abigail Goodman wins Prize

September 2008

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Abigail Goodman, PhD student in the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, received the Student Prize (best presentation by a PhD or Masters student) at the Australian Society of Limnology conference, which was held in Madurah in WA from 29 September to 3 October. The title of Abby's presentation was "Investigating the impact of a pulsed salinity regime on four aquatic macrophytes".


Research Award for Safeguarding Public Buildings

August 2008

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Dr Chengqing Wu and Professor Deric Oehlers have been awarded a grant of $220k to help design buildings that can withstand terrorist attack from explosive devices. Chengqing and Deric will lead a national project to safeguard high-risk public buildings against terrorist attach by developing construction guidelines for new, ultra-strong concrete that is ten times stronger than conventional construction materials.

The University of Adelaide will partner with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), international company VSL Australia and the State University of New York on the three-year project.

Federal Defence Science and Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon said the program would evaluate and develop materials and engineering solutions to minimise the effects of terrorist explosions aimed at civilian and military facilities.


Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citations

August 2008

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This year's Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning 2008 include three members of staff from the Faculty: Assoc Prof David Walker (School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering) Dr Katrina Falkner and Prof Hemanta Sarma. The awards were presented by Tim Besley, AC, Chair of the ARC and Professor Richard Johnsone, Executive Director of the ALTC, at a ceremony in the National Wine Centre on 7 August.

Assoc Prof David Walker's citation was for providing a supportive learning environment while improving learning outcomes through the implementation of a self-paced learning program for engineering modelling and analysis.


Second Best Paper Award on Water Distribution Systems and Sustainability - WDSA Conference

August 2008

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Recently Professor Angus Simpson of the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering presented a paper at the 10th International Water Distribution Systems Analysis (WDSA) Conference of the American Society of Civil Engineers held in South Africa 17-20 August, 2008. There were 106 papers presented at the conference. A paper written by Wenyan Wu, Angus R Simpson and Holger R Maier entitled "Water distribution system optimisation accounting for a range of future possible carbon prices" won an award for the 2nd best paper at the conference. Criteria for the selection of the best papers included 20 points for the written paper (4 categories including 1. Knowledge Contribution and 2. Innovation and Originality) and 20 points for the presentation (4 categories including 1. Communication and Clarity and 2. Preparation and Organization). The paper is based on Ms. Wenyan Wu's PhD work on Multi-objective Optimisation of Water Distribution Systems Accounting for Sustainability that she commenced in February 2007. Professor Simpson and Professor Maier are joint supervisors of Wenyan's PhD work.

Considerable research has been carried out on the optimisation of water distribution systems at the University of Adelaide over the last 18 years. In previous research genetic algorithm optimisation has been used given to minimise the cost of water distribution system networks. There has been a recent increase in the awareness of climate change, especially in relation to global warming, that has led to consideration of accounting for sustainability in the optimisation of the design of water distribution systems. Carbon dioxide equivalent gases are generated during the mining, manufacture and installation of components in a water distribution system. In addition electricity usage for pumping produces greenhouse gases. Research into multi-objective genetic algorithm optimisation of water distribution systems from a sustainability perspective where more than one objective is considered is being pioneered at the University of Adelaide. Objectives to be optimised include 1) the minimisation of cost, 2) the environmental sustainability criterion of minimisation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 3) the minimisation of risk and 4) the maximisation of robustness of the system to changes in parameters of the design. Results of the research to-date indicate that the inclusion of GHG emission minimisation as one of the objectives in addition to cost results in significant tradeoffs between the economic and environmental sustainability objectives in terms of a Pareto-optimal front. The tradeoffs generated during the optimisation process can be presented to decision makers so they can understand the implications of their decisions on both the cost of the network and on the potential greenhouse gases that will be produced during the lifetime of the project.

The abstract of the award winning paper follows:

Abstract
Climate change, especially global warming caused by human activities presents serious global risks. Mitigating global warming by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a unique challenge facing our generation. In order to tackle this challenge, many measures are being developed, among which carbon trading is a popular one. In this paper, a new paradigm for the design of water distribution systems (WDSs) is being developed under a possible emission trading scheme. In this paradigm, minimisation of the costs of GHG emissions is incorporated into the optimisation of WDSs either as one part of the objective or as a second objective. A multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) called WSMGA (water system multi-objective genetic algorithm) has been developed to solve this problem. The time value of both the system costs and the costs from GHG emissions has been taken into account by using present value analysis. Following the Stern Review Report there is controversy as to what discount rate should be used in present value analysis for mitigation of climate change, consequently two different discount rates have been used in this study. The impacts that the carbon prices used in the emission trading scheme have on the optimisation of WDSs have been explored for two hypothetical case studies. The optimisation results show that the different carbon prices used lead to different solutions in the single-objective optimisation formulation. In general, a network with larger pipes is chosen when a higher carbon price is used. In contrast, the carbon price used has no impact on the multi-objective optimisation results. However, different carbon prices lead to different amounts of savings in greenhouse gas costs resulting from the same amount of increase in system costs for the same ordered set of Pareto-optimal solutions.


Chevening Scholarship

August 2008

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Ashley Kingsborough, who graduated from the school in 2004, has been awarded a 2008/09 British Chevening Scholarship. He will undertake a Masters in Science (Environmental Change and Management) at the University of Oxford beginning in October 2008.

Since graduating Ashley has been employed as an environmental engineer in KBR's Natural Resource Management group in Adelaide, gaining experience in environmental management and hydrology. In 2006-2007, Ashley completed a 15-month placement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Hanoi, Vietnam as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development, where he managed the cultural heritage component of a feasibility study to upgrade the water system within the Hue World Heritage Area. In addition, he worked with Halong Bay Management Board to improve their management capacity and the Hoi An Centre for Monuments Conservation to improve their disaster preparedness planning.

The Chevening Scholarships programme is funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and administered by the British Council of Australia.


Teaching Prize

24 July 2008

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Staff from across the Faculty came together on Thursday 24 July to celebrate the teaching achievements of Dr Cheryl Pope and Associate Professor Martin Lambert.

Dr Cheryl Pope from the School of Computer Science was awarded a Faculty Prize for Teaching Excellence and the Executive Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching, while Associate Professor Martin Lambert from the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering was awarded a a Faculty Prize for Teaching Excellence and a Faculty Award for Excellence for Higher Degree by Research Supervision. Awards were presented by the Faculty's Executive Dean, Professor Peter Dowd, and were followed by a celebratory morning tea.


Adelaide Living Beaches Study

July 2008

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A research project, supported by the Adelaide Living Beaches initiative, is in progress on the local beaches. The aim is to assess the suitability of significant deposits of fine sand as a source for beach restoration. The work is being carried out by a group of final year students with some assistance from a visiting French engineering student who is in Adelaide to work with Dr Walker. The photo shows (left to right) Brendan Scott (PhD student), James Koronis (final year student), Camille Couzi (French engineering student) and Ryan Buckley (final year student) carrying out infiltration and penetrometer tests at Henley Beach.


The Water Down Under Conference

April 2008

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The conference was very successful, with a large number of delegates (~450), many of whom commented that this was one of the best organised and best run conferences they had ever attended. This is primarily due to the hard work and expertise of the organising and technical committees, including Graeme Dandy as Committee Chair, Trevor Daniell and Martin Lambert as Co-Chairs of the Technical Program Subcommittee, and Michael Leonard, Alex Osti and Steven Need as members of the Technical Program Subcommittee. Well done to everyone involved. Trevor Daniell was selected to give the Munro Oration, which is a great Honour and a reflection of the many great achievements and contributions Trevor has made in the field of Hydrology over his career. Trevor's oration was outstanding, which was acknowledged by many of the delegates.

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Martin Lambert and Angus Simpson (with Pedro Lee, Dalius Misiunas and John Vitovsky) were recipients of the G.N. Alexander medal best paper award. This award is well-deserved recognition of Angus and Martin's groundbreaking work on leak detection using transients, which they have taken from the conceptual stage, to laboratory trials to contract work with SA Water. This award was also won by Bernie Foley and Trevor Daniell in 2003 for their work on sustainability, further highlighting the quality and innovation of the research in water engineering occurring in our School.

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Michael Leonard received the award for best presentation by a recent graduate. This adds to a long list of awards for our postgraduate students, the last of which was the Best Presentation award Jakin Ravalico received at the Modsim conference in Christchurch last December. Many of our past graduates were at the conference, one of whom Katherine Daniell, received the award for best poster presentation.


Engineering Challenge and BBQ

March 2008

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The tradition of the Engineering Challenge, a design competition for all the School's students, continued with an event that was held in the first week of semester. The Challenge culminated with a Welcome BBQ followed by the testing session on the Barr Smith Lawns on Friday 7th March.

This year the event involved the construction of a structure, made only of newspaper and sellotape capable of supporting a 2kg weight. The catch was that all elements of the structure had to fit inside a standard 5 ream photocopy paper box (a 35cm cube approx.) and be assembled on the day in only 5 minutes. The event was generously sponsored by Parsons Brinckerhoff who provided cash prizes for the teams based on the final height of the structure.

The winning team, who took away $500, finished with a structure 2.22 metres high. Most teams worked with a fairly traditional truss type structure but there were some very innovative designs too, showing real engineering flair.


Professor Graeme Dandy Elected to Fellowship

November 2007

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Professor Graeme Dandy was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in November 2007, placing him among Australia's leaders of technology and engineering. Professor Dandy was one of 30 new Fellows elected to the Academy, and one of only three from South Australia.

Prof Dandy was honoured for his international achievements in the development and commercial application of genetic algorithms and AI techniques in water resources engineering.

The Academy is an independent body of eminent Australian engineers and scientists established to promote the application of scientific and engineering knowledge to practical purposes.

The Academy's President, Professor Robin Batterham, said the new Fellows were "joining the ranks of the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists in Australia". "Our Fellowship is comprised of world-class performers and all are acknowledged as leaders in their field," he said.


Engineering Text Book Launch

November 2007

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A second edition of the popular "Planning and Design of Engineering Systems" by Professor Graeme Dandy, Associate Professors David Walker and Trevor Daniell and Emeritus Professor Robert Warner was launched by the Vice Chancellor at a function on Tuesday 20th November in the Barr Smith Library.

In launching the book, the Vice Chancellor outlined the history of the first edition with its emphasis on problem solving, creativity in design, environmental assessment, decision making and optimisation. He noted it had been used widely by universities in Australia, the UK and the USA and that the demand had led to the need for a reprint by the original publishers.

The Vice Chancellor suggested that the second edition reflects some of the changes that have occurred in engineering over the years, with new chapters on management skills, project management, communication, ethics and law and risk and reliability.

The launch was attended by representatives from industry and the university and included a good number of current and former students who have benefited from their introduction to engineering through the first edition.


Student Annual Awards Dinner 2007

August 2007

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The School's annual awards dinner regularly attracts over 200 people made up of current students, alumni, industry presentatives and staff. Pictured right is Luke Luey, Michael Quince, Nicole Anderson and James Daniell being awarded the Structural/Geotechnical Research Group Award for 2006, awarded by Professor Deric Oehlers.

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The dinner provides a formal occasion where students can meet prospective employers, graduates can renew contact with classmates and academic staff, and for industry to catch up with the achievements of students and staff of the School over the past 12 months. Pictured left is Hamish Banks being awarded the Steel Reinforcement Institute of Australia Award for 2006, awarded by Dr Togay Ozbakkaloglu. Hamish was also awarded the Robert Warner Medal for outstanding achievement in Structural Design III (Concrete)


James Daniell wins the Honours Alumni University Medal 2007 of the University of Adelaide

July 2007

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James Daniell, who graduated in Civil and Structural Engineering (First Class Honours) and Science in 2006, has been named the Honours Alumni University Medallist 2007. This medal is given for outstanding academic merit and is the highest award for an Honours graduate of 2006 across all the Faculties of The University of Adelaide. James was also awarded a University Medal for Civil Engineering and Science at the same commemoration ceremony on the 31st July. As well as his academic awards, James has excelled in sport, representing the university at numerous university games and receiving a Blue for volleyball in 2005 and a Bob Heddle Sports Scholarship in 2006.

This year James worked as a geophysicist with Santos Pty Ltd. In September he commenced a Masters in Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology at The European School for Advanced Studies in Reduction of Seismic Risk (ROSE School) incorporating the University Degli Studi di Pavia, Italy, and the University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France. James won the John Crampton Travelling Scholarship, the George Murray Scholarship and a MEEES (European Union) Scholarship for his postgraduate studies in Europe.


South Australia's New Mining Engineers - Field Trip

June 2007

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The new mining engineering programme in the University of Adelaide has been successfully launched and it has attracted 58 students this year. The mining engineers have recently embarked on a 10 days field trip to visit mining operations and mineral processing plants around the area. Their first stop is Zinifex's lead smelter in Port Pirie, followed by two days visit to BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam operation. The group then visited Leigh Creek coal field and Beverley uranium mine before spending two days in Broken Hill, visiting Perilya southern operation and CBH's Rasp mine. BeMaX's mineral sand processing plant at Broken Hill and Ginkgo operation at Pooncarie were also on their exploration menu.

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"The mining companies we visited were very supportive and the students did get a very positive message out of this trip. The students can almost hear the crying of the industry for qualified mining engineers", said Professor Ian Plimer, who lead the field excursion. "A lot of time and effort from both members of staff and personnel from industry have been spent to make this trip happen and I am glad the trip went well and that the students enjoyed it. I am sure the knowledge the students gathered will be extremely beneficial to their studies in the next couple of years as well as motivational for them", commented Professor Mike Griffith, head of the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, University of Adelaide. Some students have also commented: "It was simply great!", "It's really great to have the chance to see what is really like in the mining industry and talk to the real people working in the mines.", "I now have much better idea what this course is really for. Just can't wait to finish the course and to start my career in such an exciting industry.", "The scale of the industry is phenomenon. Can't image our industry without mining. It is so great to be part of something so big!" The program was inaugurated in August 2006 at National Wine Centre and was attended by State Government representatives, industry personnel, community leaders, teachers and school students.


Holger receives award

Holger Maier receives the Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Engineering Education' Award

December 2006

Professor Maier has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to Engineering Education by receiving the 'Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Engineering Education' award from the Australasian Association for Engineering Education, which is a Technical Society of Engineers Australia.

The award was presented at the 17th Annual Conference of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education, which was held in Auckland, New Zealand from December 10-13. During the conference, Associate Professor Maier also received a High Commendation for his presentation titled 'Meeting the challenges of engineering education via online role-play simulations' [more details].


Maier and Dowd

Holger Maier wins National Teaching Prize

28 November 2006

Associate Professor Holger Maier was today presented with a $25,000 Australian University Award for Teaching Excellence by the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education at a ceremony in Parliament House, Canberra. [more details] [article from Adelaidean, Dec issue]


Michael Leonard

Michael Leonard Awarded The AWA's 2006 Postgraduate Research Award

20 October 2006

Michael Leonard, who is a PhD student in the School, won this award for his project titled: 'Rainfall Modelling Techniques for Engineering Risk Assessment'.

The Australian Water Association SA Water Awards were established in 1996 to recognise outstanding recent contributions related to water in South Australia. Judging of this award is based on a written submission and a 15 minute presentation. The written submission is to be of 1000 words, describing the nature and benefits of the research.


James Daniell

James Daniell Awarded Rod McGee Medal

September 2006

James Daniell (final year student) has been awarded the national 2006 Rod McGee Medal and $2000 prize, for his submission the importance of public works engineering and the contribution of engineering to the community. [media statement (pdf 24kB)]


Three of the School's Academics Win Teaching Awards

Three of the School's academic staff have recently been awarded national, university and faculty prizes for excellence in learning and teaching. Assoc Prof Holger Maier and Dr Mark Jaksa have both been presented with the Carrick Institute's 2006 Inaugural National Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. These build on Holger's many learning and teaching related awards, including those from the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education, Commonwealth of Learning Awards for Excellence in Distance Education, UniServe Connections and Stephen Cole the Elder Prizes for Excellence in Teaching. In 2005, Mark was also presented with the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, Stephen Cole the Elder Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the ECMS Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.

In addition, Dr David Walker has recently been awarded one of the 2006 ECMS Faculty Awards for Excellence in Teaching. This award recognises David's contributions to outstanding teaching in the School's undergraduate program.


Jakin Ravalico wins the IEMSS Student Prize

August 2006

Congratulations to Jakin Ravalico, who is a PhD student in the School, for receiving the IEMSS (International Environmental Modelling and Software Society) Student Prize at the recent World Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, which was held in Burlington, Vermont, USA.Jakin received the prize for her paper and presentation titled 'Rank-Equivalence Method for Sensitivity Analysis of an Integrated Model of a River Catchment' .Jakin's success follows a string of High Commendations for PhD students from the School at related conferences, including Gavin Bowden (MODSIM 2001), Greer Kingston (MODSIM 2003) and Jakin herself at MODSIM 2005.


Mining Group

Launch of the new Bachelor of Engineering in Mining Degree

17 August 2006

State Government representatives, industry personnel, community leaders, teachers and school students joined with staff from the University of Adelaide to launch the new Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) degree at the National Wine Centre on Thursday, 17 August 2006.

State Government representatives, industry personnel, community leaders, teachers and school students joined with staff from the University of Adelaide to launch the new Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) degree at the National Wine Centre on Thursday, 17 August 2006.

Professor Peter Dowd, Executive Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences chaired the event. Speakers on the day included the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide, Professor James McWha, the Honourable Paul Holloway, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Dr Roger Higgins who is the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (Australia) of BHP Billiton, and Professor Ian Plimer who is the Professor of Mining Geology at the University of Adelaide.

Also in attendance was the Honourable Paul Caica, Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, and Mr Mitch Williams, Shadow Minister for Mineral Resources Development indicating the strong endorsement from both sides of the State Government for the new degree.

The clear message from speakers at the launch was mining is critical to the sustained growth of South Australia and the nation, and the University is committed to supporting the development of both the skills and capabilities necessary to build this strategic sector.

Minister Holloway said, "South Australia was experiencing an exploration and mining boom, unprecedented in the State's history. More and more local, national and international mining companies are turning their attention to our State, and our rich mineral and resource deposits. The new mining degree at the University of Adelaide will play a significant role in ensuring that skilled workers are available to meet the increasing demand for our resources. The degree will also prepare young South Australians for rewarding careers in the State's mining industry."

Professor Plimer said, "Australia has been producing just 40% of the mining engineers required to satisfy industry needs. The new four-year Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) degree is designed to help redress the nation's serious shortage of mining engineers."

The Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) Degree

Mining Group

A new degree to be offered by the University of Adelaide in 2007 will position South Australia at the forefront of mining education in the country. Up to 30 students will be offered places in the inaugural Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) intake in the first semester of 2007.

The University recruited Professor Ian Plimer from the University of Melbourne early in 2006, specifically to develop mining geology courses and lead the recruitment drive for the new mining engineering degree. He holds a joint appointment in the Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences and the Faculty of Sciences.

"This University - in conjunction with the State Government - has been incredibly astute to realise that the world is undergoing a global restructuring of commodities and we can play a huge role in that," Professor Plimer said. "The population explosion in India and China - which collectively numbers more than two billion people, had placed pressure on the world to supply their energy and manufacturing feed-stock needs. What we're experiencing is not a mining boom or bubble, but a fundamental re-evaluation of commodities against real estate and cash. It means we will have to do a lot more exploration and to do that we need highly skilled people."

Professor Plimer has spent the past two months on a statewide recruiting drive for the first cohort of mining engineering students.

Details of the new degree can be found a on the Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) page.


Katerine Daniell

Katherine Daniell wins SA Young Achiever Environment Award

8 April 2006

On Saturday night April 8th, Katherine Daniell, who graduated in 2004 from our School, won the South Australia Young Achievers Environment Award sponsored by SA Water. This was one of eight categories for which the awards were given for young achievers between the ages of 14 and 26 years.

The Awards applaud high achievement, vision and commitment while fostering the pursuit of excellence and highlighting the efforts and success of young people making meaningful contributions to their field of endeavour. Well done Katherine!


Paper Award

29 March 2006

PhD student, Darren Broad, has received the CRC for Water Quality and Treatment 'Excellent Publication Award' for the paper:
Broad, D.R., Dandy, G.C. and Maier, H.R. 2005 'Water Distribution System Optimisation Using Metamodels'. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management - ASCE, 131 (3): 172-180.


Softballers

Staff v Student Softball Match

27 March 2006

The annual Staff - Student softball match was held on Monday 27th March. The School's hydrology guru Trevor Daniell had been busy in the morning checking the latest weather radar data from the Bureau of Meteorology and predicted flooding north of Clare but dry conditions at the Graduate's Oval.

The match started with a BBQ cooked, as usual, by the very capable laboratory staff under the direction of 'Chef' Greg Atkins. Following frenzied practice (mainly by the students) a coin was found, tossed and the first of six innings was underway.

Despite the lack of match practice there were 38 runs in total over the day with the staff winning narrowly by 20 to 18. As in life, it's amazing what four or five academics can do when amply supported by a host of postgraduate students and professional staff!!


Passing of a Former Academic

27 March 2006

Dr Maurice Arnold, Former Senior Lecturer in the School, passed away today. Maurice is well known in the Geotechnical Engineering Community for his work on the mineralogy of clays, expansive soils and the pressure meter test. Our sincerest condolences to his family.


winners

Winners of the WH Warren Medal 2004

presented August 2005

In August 2005, Professor Andrew Downing presented the 2004 Warren Medal to Ms Bernadette Foley and Associate Professor Trevor Daniell for their joint winning papers: 'A Sustainability Tool for Intrasectoral and Intersectoral Water Resources Decision Making' and 'Are Traditional Thinking and Decision-Making Techniques Adequate for Developing Sustainable Water Systems?' The Warren Medal perpetuates the memory of Professor WH Warren who was the first President of the Institution of Engineers Australia. Established in 1929, this award is given annually by the Civil College of Engineers Australia for the best paper in the discipline of civil engineering. Congratulations to Bernadette and Trevor.