University engineers scoop major awards
Two University of Queensland engineers will receive the State's top engineering awards at a Brisbane function on Friday, October 30.
Chemical engineer Professor Paul Greenfield, the University's Deputy Vice-Chancellor (research), is the 1998 Engineer of the Year and mechanical engineer and PhD student Michael Lucas the Young Professional Engineer of the Year.
The awards, an initiative of the Institution of Engineers Australia, were open to all professional engineers in Queensland, making the successes of Professor Greenfield and Mr Lucas a considerable personal achievement, as well as recognising the excellence of the University's Engineering, Physical Sciences and Architecture Faculty.
This has been a special month for Mr Lucas as he has also been announced a Science and Technology category State finalist for Young Australian of the Year and finalist for Young Australian of the Year (Queensland) to be announced in Brisbane on November 30.
Professor Greenfield has an international reputation in chemical engineering as a researcher, teacher and consultant in the fields of biotechnology, wastewater management, environmental management and project evaluation.
He has been an executive on many high-profile advisory committees including chair of the National Greenhouse Advisory Panel (NGAP), and the Scientific Advisory Committee which oversees studies into the waterways health of Moreton Bay and its associated estuaries - Brisbane, Logan, Pine and Caboolture rivers.
Professor Greenfield has chaired numerous international conferences and currently holds directorships for eight technology commercialisation ventures.
He said the time was ripe to broaden Queensland's economic base by attracting new technology ventures to the Brisbane area.
He said Southeast Queensland had the potential to become the Silicon Valley of Australia by attracting or encouraging as many as 300 start-up companies during the next 20 years.
"Queensland already has many of the features necessary to become a Mecca for companies specialising in information technology or biotechnology," Professor Greenfield said.
"People want to come and live here because we have good research institutions, a strong commitment from research institutions and State Government to foster commercial outcomes, a reasonable financial climate and a wonderful environment.
"If you cluster a group of innovative new companies together, you generate information transfer and the expectation that commercialisation is real. This starts to create an environment for on-going technology development and commercialisation.
"Once you get the ball rolling, it starts to feed off itself. The current major weakness is the conservative and unsophisticated nature of the Queensland and Australian Venture Capital sector; but even this is changing, although slowly."
Institute of Engineers Australia, Queensland director Gordon Graham said Professor Greenfield "exemplifies modern engineering."
"He is internationally recognised for his innovation and expertise in fields that are becoming increasingly important in the global environment," Mr Graham said.
Mr Lucas, 25, graduated from the University in 1994 with first-class honours for his bachelor of engineering (mechanical) degree, and holds a graduate certificate of engineering trades from the Australian Chamber of Manufactures, Victoria.
He is currently working on a PhD titled On the Nature of Mechatronic Prototyping, supervised by Associate Professor David Radcliffe. The thesis looks at the background of mechantronics as an engineering discipline and proposes a set of metrics for evaluating mechatronic prototypes.
"The design and building of the modular mechatronic prototyping kit as the core of my PhD thesis would have to be my finest engineering achievement," Mr Lucas said.
The project grew out of the designs of four robots which combined mechanical, electrical and software engineering, each of which took a team of engineers to design, construct and test.
"These robots are notable in that they were designed, built and tested ?on the fly' - no prototypes built," Mr Lucas said.
The project encompasses Mr Lucas' areas of expertise - mechanical, electronic and electromechanical design; process control and automation; materials handling and dust collection/suppression; computer programming and graphic design.
Mr Lucas is the chair of Young Engineers Queensland, the Queensland representative of Young Engineers Australia and was a finalist in the 1998 Young Queenslander of the Year.
His ambition is to apply his expertise in engineering design, particularly in robotics and mechantronics, in Australia's film and cinematography industries in the field of special and visual effects.
The awards will be presented in the Hawken auditorium of Engineering House, 447 Upper Edward St, Brisbane, at 8pm on Friday, October 30.
Media contacts: Professor Greenfield (telephone 07 3365 3917) or Mr Lucas (telephone 07 3365 4091 or mobile 0419 737 869).
