Mike Flood
Chair

I am very pleased to report that the College Board, and the National Panels and Committees had a very successful year. In the Year of the Engineering Team, we broke new ground within Engineers Australia by having Adrian Richards, an Engineering Technologist as College Chair. As incoming Chair, I need to record my thanks to Adrian and all those who contributed to the year’s activities.

Our key role in delivering CPD for our members continued with the Board and each of the Panels and Committees holding successful conferences in 2008. Our Australian Biomedical Engineering Conference goes from strength to strength, last year attracting over 400 registrants in Christchurch.

Biomedical Engineering is truly multidisciplinary in that it brings together electronic, mechanical, chemical, and materials engineering with the life sciences of medicine, biology and molecular biology. A principal activity for the Board next year is to continue to lobby for registration of biomedical engineering practitioners. No mechanism exists for identifying or registering biomedical engineers within the health system, with consequences which place patients and systems at risk. Assessment for Chartered Status and/or national registration would provide a sound basis for a system of registration.

Read the full Biomedical College Report  |  Visit the Biomedical College website

Elizabeth Harangozo
Chair

The efforts of volunteers in our profession never cease to amaze me. Being chair of the College is a tremendous, if not at times overwhelming honour, and I gratefully acknowledge that the success of our endeavours depends on the commitment and drive of our volunteers. Chief among them was the organising committee of the annual Chemeca conference. Recognition is duly given to Prof Graeme Jameson from the University of Newcastle, and his team, for coordinating Chemeca in Newcastle in September 2008. The highlight of the conference was the presentation of the Awards of Excellence in Chemical Engineering. Other awards include the Chemeca Medal, to Dr Stuart McGill of ExxonMobil and the John A Brodie Medal to a team of researchers from the University of Auckland.

This year the College invested significant effort in internal governance, modifying our practices and efforts to align more closely with Engineers Australia’s Operational Plan processes, and to help us work towards our own annual targets. As College Chair, it has been an opportunity for renewal and re-direction of efforts and I trust this will hold us in good stead to embrace the objectives of the new Strategic Plan for 2010-2015.

Read the full Chemical College Report  |  Visit the Chemical College website

Barry Tonkin
Chair

I am very pleased to report that the Board of the College of Civil Engineers had a very successful year, and I wish to thank all board and national committee members for their contributions.

We were especially pleased to see that the work of the Construction Safety Taskforce has been completed – a significant joint achievement for Peter Godfrey and past CEY recipient Bill Wild.

Our major awards were presented in Melbourne in October 2008. My thanks go on behalf of the College to the members who make these awards possible each year. The “Sir John Holland Award for Civil Engineer of the Year” was awarded to Assoc Prof Ron Cox, who undertook an Eminent Speaker Tour, making presentations on ‘adaptation to climate change in coastal settlements’ at nine venues around Australia. Brendon Hyde was awarded the Warren Medal 2008 for his paper “Civil engineering for passage of fish and fauna”. The Rod McGee medal and cash prize for the final year civil engineering undergraduate were awarded to Christopher Paxino.

With Paul Mitchell as ACECC Chair, planning is well underway for the CECAR5 Conference in Sydney – incorporating the Structural Conference – in August 2010.

Thank you to Dr Rebecca Gravina for her untiring work as Editor of the Civil Engineer – two journals were published in the year.

In March 2009 Matthew O’Hearn was elected Deputy Chair and the Board farewelled some representatives and strong supporters of long-standing: Bill Blake from Queensland, Bronte Strout for South Australia, and Thamo Thamotharalingam for Canberra Division.

Read the full Civil College Report  |  Visit the Civil College website

Albert Koenig
Chair

This was a year of challenge for members and office bearers of the Electrical College. The global financial crisis undoubtedly had an impact on many members and their employers, distracting from any focus on professional development.

Early in 2009 we put considerable effort into improving and consolidating the Board’s policy framework and records – covering national awards/prizes, events, and our meeting and policy development protocols. The College pages on the Engineers Australia website were substantially improved to make them more relevant and easier to use for members, including facilities to download public policy papers and award nominations.

It was very pleasing to conduct the College’s national Awards Dinner 2009 in Brisbane in June, in association with the QLD IET and IEEE as part of the annual Queensland Electrical Fraternity Dinner. A number of prestigious awards were made, and it was particularly pleasing for me to present the first National Professional Electrical Engineer of the Year Medal which is now part of the College’s awards framework.

Read the full Electrical College Report  |  Visit the Electrical College website

David Hood
Chair

Another year has passed bringing with it increasing evidence that anthropogenic climate change is real and serious. While this poses great challenges for the community, and engineers, there are considerable opportunities at the same time. The College of Environmental Engineers and its technical society (SSEE) are at the forefront of advising on the necessary policy, education requirements, and practice resources needed to meet this challenge.

In education, the College is developing a new set of course and accreditation guidelines for undergraduate Environmental Engineering programs, which will recommend a greater focus on understanding the interconnection between “engineered” systems and earth systems. The inculcation of sustainability across all disciplines of engineering education remains a high priority focus for the College as well as ensuring that our practice competency standards adequately test sustainability understanding, and an awareness of the impacts of our work on the environment and society.

Read the full Environmental College Report  |  Visit the Environmental College website

Alan McPhail
Chair

The College’s Inaugural Eminent Speaker was Dr David Skellern, CEO of NICTA. In his series of lectures on the Future of the Digital Economy, David informed us of many innovative applications and challenged us to contribute to the development of the digital economy. As ITEE College members contribute at all levels of business and society, we are well placed to respond to the challenge.

The 2008 IREE Neville Thiele Award was presented to Professor Alex Grant who has made important contributions to the mathematical theory of information transmission in wireless digital networks.

I appreciate the contribution of Simon Finlayson and Peter Hitchiner to conference liaison and responses to government papers respectively. Simon and Peter have been exemplary in ensuring these areas are addressed. It is well known that there have been declining numbers of high school students studying science and mathematics. I would encourage you all to contribute to the future by sharing the challenges, achievements and opportunities to contribute in an engineering career.

Read the full ITEE College Report  |  Visit the ITEE College website

Jenny Simpson
Chair

The Mechanical College strives to meet membership needs for professional development and networking, as well as contribute to competency audits and policy analyses. Thanks go to the many volunteers on the College Board, its National Committees and Panels, in our Mechanical Branches at various Divisions, and in affiliated groups.

Our highly successful seminar on Pressure Vessels and Piping fuelled the motivation to organise a seminar on Storage Tanks and Dangerous Goods. The College hosted a National Manufacturing Forum for National Manufacturing Week, and gathered feedback to assist development of the Manufacturing Taskforce’s policy discussion paper. A great deal of collaboration by volunteers and staff in Engineers Australia and RINA with Operations Mobilisation (a humanitarian organisation) enabled us to bring the technical tour of MV Doulos (Guinness World Record Holder for the World’s oldest ocean-going passenger ship) to various Australian ports.

The College Board recognised the achievements of Dr Gordon Long – the AGM Michell Award, James Hamilton – Young Mechanical Engineer of the Year, and greatly appreciates the editorial leadership of Prof Steve Armfield on the Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering.

Internationally, Engineers Australia was represented by the College at the Global Summit for the Future of Mechanical Engineering in Washington DC which helped build relations with key mechanical societies in the US, UK, Japan and China.

Read the full Mechanical College Report  |  Visit the Mechanical College website

Phil Blundy
Chair

I believe that the Structural College has made significant progress in meeting its long-term goals in the past year. The College now boasts over 4,000 members.

The status of the Structural College as the preeminent Australian professional body for structural engineers has been reinforced with our mutual recognition agreement with the Institution of Structural Engineers.

College Board members have been active with Standards Australia in leading roles in the finalization of the Concrete Standard, which we look forward to being published before the end of 2009.

As National Congress prepares the strategic plan for the next five years, so has the College Board has been looking to the future. A particular focus will be delivery of CPD to regional centres. Planning is well underway for the combined conference ASC2010 and CECAR5 to be held in Sydney in August 2010. The conference will be a wonderful opportunity for international friendship as well as a significant learning experience.

Read the full Structural College Report  |  Visit the Structural College website