ISSUE 7 | 2017

A NEW ERA OF SPACE

FLIGHT

BRIDGING THE GENDER

GAP

TALL TIMBER INFERNO

TROPICAL PARADISE TAKEN BY THE SEA

WELCOMEWELCOME TO THIS EDITION OF INGENUITY.

It is a great pleasure for me to introduce this edition of our Ingenuity magazine.

Life in a university is never dull and as I write this we are facing another change to our funding landscape through the federal budget. Exactly how this will impact on us and the opportunities we can provide to students are yet to be clarified. Of course, this further reinforces the need for us to have strong partnerships with industry, alumni, charitable foundations and other government agencies at both state and federal level. Such relationships are facilitated and strengthened through the opportunities we provide to people to gain a world-class education, as well as through the leading-edge innovations that come from our research. I am very excited therefore that we are able to bring you further news here about the partnership between UQ and Boeing.

Within our Faculty, we have seen some significant changes in leadership during the last 12 months, with three new Heads of School, a new Associate Dean, and a new Director of the Advanced Water Management Centre. So, I hope you will join me in welcoming Professors Ross McAree (Mechanical and Mining), Simon Washington (Civil), Michael Brünig (IT and Electrical), Aleks Rakić (External Engagement), and Zhiguo Yuan (AWMC). I’d also like to welcome the Sustainable Minerals Institute’s new Director, Professor Neville Plint, who we look forward to working closely with.

A major theme for our Faculty is equity and diversity. As many of you know, we have supported a very successful program for women in engineering over many years. During the last year we have started to work with other universities to share our learning and try to build a stronger pipeline of females entering the profession across the whole country. This is one of the topics highlighted in this edition of Ingenuity and something that I am personally very passionate about.

Some of the great pleasures of my role are the opportunities to interact with so many of our wonderful alumni. This year we celebrate the centenary of chemical engineering at UQ and we have a number of exciting events lined up.

I hope you enjoy reading our magazine. If you have any thoughts or comments about anything to do with this or other aspects of the Faculty, please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Professor Simon Biggs

Executive Dean Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology

12

CONTENTS

NEWS

4SUN SMARTSTO SAVE LIVES

7BETTER BATTERIES FOR A BETTER WORLD

6

GENDER DIVERSITY: ARE WE SHIFTING OR FIXING THE PROBLEM?

8FEATUREDESIGNING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

12THE BIG QUESTIONREPLACING PETROLEUM WITH BIO-DERIVED FUELS

10

FEATURE UQ FIGHTS ENERGY POVERTY

14FEATUREBUILD THEM TALLCOVER STORY

16FEATURE RISING SEAS TAKING BACK SOLOMON ISLANDS COMMUNITIES

15

FEATURE WASTE AS ARESOURCE

17DATA IS THE NEW OIL OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

20AUTOMATION DRIVES NEXT GENERATION DISTRIBUTION CENTRES

18

TO THE MOON AND BACK – A NEW ERA OF SPACE TRAVEL

222017 EVENTS CALENDAR

27

ingenuityA UQ Engineering and Technology Publication

editorial teamKimberley Bennett Simon BiggsStuart Crozier Trent Leggatt Cormac MurphyLara Pickering Peter SuttonGenevieve Worrell

contributing writersSimon Albert Peta Ashworth Kimberley Bennett Simon BiggsAlana CloverJoe Gattas Chris GreigPete HalleyMarta IndulskaTrent LeggattMichael LucasCatherine MacintoshLara PickeringJohn QuigginMichael Smart Genevieve Worrell

photographyJudit Losh

designLiz Christiansen, Lula Creative

printingPrintcraft

cover imageCarmen Gorska Putynska featured in ‘Build Them Tall’Page 16. Photo by Judit Losh

contactLara PickeringAssociate Director, Alumni and Community EngagementT: +61 7 3346 7533E: alumni@eait.uq.edu.au

CRICOS Provider Number 00025B

/ ISSUE 7 2017 3

SOLAR SUN LOUNGER A LASTING LEGACYThe 2016 graduating engineering

class left a legacy for future

students in the form of a design

and build challenge. A multi-

disciplinary student team will

deliver three solar-powered sun

loungers, inspired by a design

from Massachusetts Institute

of Technology (MIT), with the

goal to improve the on-campus

experience of all EAIT students

and encouraging a comfortable

connection to the outdoors.

The annual Engineering Class Gift initiative was established in 2011, and since then students have raised more than $23,000 from over 330 donations to improve the UQ engineering student experience for the cohorts who will follow them. The initiative is an important avenue for graduating students to recognise the opportunities they have benefited from at UQ, and to ‘pay it forward’ to those following in their footsteps.

Leading the peer-to-peer fundraising effort for 2016 was a passionate core group of engineering students representing all disciplines, including Bianca Bin, Jake Dobinson, Phoebe Marples, Annie Proberts, Tom Oliver and Eric Staykov.

The 2016 Class Gift committee raised almost $4500 thanks to the philanthropic support of more than 100 graduating students, UQ staff and alumni, to make the solar sun lounger design and build project a reality.

Current engineering students Caitlin Fiegert and Marnie Stollznow said that working in the design and build team to make the 2016 Class Gift a reality was a fantastic opportunity to have the freedom to be creative and innovative without being financially constrained.

“We are honoured to receive such a generous gift from our peers and hope to do them proud with our work,” Ms Fliegert said.

Top image: The interdisciplinary student team constructing three solar-powered sun loungers thanks to UQ community donations. Right image: Dave Cole in Shanghai with UQ Idea Hub.

NEWS

/ ISSUE 7 20174

2017 has brought with it a range of new faces to the

Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology

Faculty leadership team. Along with three new Heads

of School, and new Centre and Institute Directors,

Professor Aleksandar Rakic has taken up the newly

created post of Associate Dean (External Engagement).

In addition to Alek’s teaching and research role within the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering here at UQ, he has served as the Director for International Development within the School.

His experience and passion for international engagement will aid the Faculty’s strategic international focus over the coming years and will support us in improving international recruitment outcomes and developing stronger relationships with alumni and industry supporters around the globe.

Ten UQ students have returned

from Shanghai after being

embedded in some of the world’s

leading technology startups

through the four-week China

Mobility Program.

Selected student entrepreneurs from a variety of faculties, who had completed the UQ Idea Hub intensive innovation and entrepreneurship training course, worked alongside startup founders, CEOs and innovation gurus learning first-hand the process of founding, investing and growing an early-stage business in the gargantuan Chinese economy.

Not only were students immersed in the Chinese culture within one of the world’s largest technology development hubs, Caohejing Hi-tech Park, they also attended development and networking events and rubbed shoulders with Australian dignitaries visiting Shanghai.

Information technology and business management student Josh Bitossi said the China Mobility Program was “an unreal experience”.

“I learnt more in this month of intensive learning and working than I normally would in six months because UQ put so much effort into making sure the people we were meeting and the activities we were doing were constantly boosting our learning.”

UQ Idea Hub Director Nimrod Klayman was impressed by the energy and commitment shown by the students, who were supported in the program through a full scholarship.

“We’re equipping these students with the technical skills they need to make real change in the world, and in return we are consistently blown away by the creativity and diversity of business ideas they develop, and their positive, go-get-em attitudes,” Mr Klayman said.

The China Mobility Program will run again in June and July 2017.

The UQ Idea Hub will continue to run sessions throughout 2017, welcoming undergraduate and postgraduate students, UQ staff and alumni. The Winter Session will commence Tuesday 1 August and the Spring Session will commence Wednesday 13 September. Alumni with startup experience are encouraged to get involved to help inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.

SHANGHAI MENTORS MAKE STARTUP DREAMS COME TRUE

NEW LEADER BRINGS FRESH IDEAS

Professor Aleksandar Rakić Associate Dean (External Engagement)

Image: UQ’s student entrepreneurs work with students from Shanghai Normal University during the China Mobility Program.

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/ ISSUE 7 2017 5

BETTER BATTERIES FOR A BETTER WORLD

For accomplished entrepreneur

and UQ alumnus Stephanie

Moroz (Master of Business ’16)

the decision to pursue a career in

developing energy technologies

came down to her determination

to, ultimately, make the world a

better place.

The Canadian-born engineer is the Chief Executive Officer of Sunshine Coast start-up company Nano-Nouvelle. The young company is pioneering new-generation lithium-ion batteries that weigh less and store as much as 50 per cent more energy than existing technology.

“I’ve always been very excited about energy, both for how it can transform lives, especially the way it can improve life for people in developing countries as they gain access to electricity, and also the impact of energy systems on our environment,” said Ms Moroz.

“All of my jobs have been pointed towards energy solutions and improving energy efficiency, and I’ve tried to put my heart and soul into it.”

The light new batteries developed by Nano-Nouvelle will give us longer-lasting phone batteries, will mean electric cars and drones will be able to travel further and stay on the move for longer and offer clear benefits for the storage of renewable energies, both in households and at the larger scale for sources like solar, wind and tidal energy.

“Batteries are not going to replace power stations or the internal combustion engine but they will provide an alternative source of power,” said Ms Moroz.

Nano-Nouvelle is making waves in the innovation community, named one of the ‘Top 50 Tech Pioneers in Australia and New Zealand’ in 2016 by H2 Ventures for its work on batteries, and Ms Moroz personally claimed the title of one of ‘Australia’s Most Innovative Engineers’ by Engineers Australia in 2016.

Nano-Nouvelle’s batteries are unique because of a 3D nano-porous conductive membrane they have developed for use as a current collector for lithium-ion batteries.

“We’re changing the structure of the current collector to be highly porous, providing advantages in performance, assembly cost and weight of the battery. The current collector can also be used as a support for high energy active materials that will further increase the energy and reduce the weight of the battery.

“We’ve made many changes to the existing technology and there are many benefits to the performance.”

The focus of research into batteries has undergone a shift

from the blue-sky technologies of portable electronics and

wearables to improving lithium-ion battery performance.

Stephanie Moroz says this is good news for the future of

electric vehicles and energy storage.

/ ISSUE 7 20176

Due to Australia’s proximity to

the equator and clear, blue-sky

days, we experience some of the

highest levels of ultra-violet (UV)

radiation in the world, with two

out of three Australians being

diagnosed with skin cancer by

the age of 70. This wearable UV

detection device aims to prevent

sun damage and skin cancer by

educating children from a young

age about sun safety.

“The wristband features a sensor that is able to calculate the UV index and display it live on the screen. The device can also send reminders about sun safety with messages like the Cancer Council’s ‘slip, slop, slap’,” Ms Clover said.

Growing up with a parent in software engineering, it was a natural step for Ms Clover to pursue a career in enterprise software development, using her programming skills and putting technology to good use within the community.

“I’m really proud that the project has the potential to make a difference to children’s lives. Being able to use my software engineering and business skills to create technology that can be used in real-world situations and really help everyday people is very rewarding.”

Ms Clover’s sun safety wristband was one of many student projects presented to industry at the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering’s annual Innovation Showcase event, where she won the ‘Best Industry-Focused Project’ Prize in the industry-based prize category.

The showcase highlights student work that has the potential to be developed further into a commercially-viable product through collaboration with industry and other external organisations.

To ensure the UV detection watch could be used in real-life, Ms Clover worked closely with the Cancer Council to seek direction on her idea.

“My supervisor, Dr Alex Pudmenzky, and I had discussions with the Cancer Council to understand their priorities and to create a product that could have everyday use. Together, we identified a focus on sun safety for children, so I had that in mind as I developed the watch and it’s now being considered as a viable product the Cancer Council may develop.”

Beyond the laboratory, the sky is now the limit for Ms Clover, who has secured a software development role at a growing real estate company, Inspect Real Estate and will commence with them before she graduates at the end of this year.

SUN SMARTSTO SAVE LIVES

Prevention is better than a cure, and with

Queenslanders suffering the highest rates of skin

cancer in the world, early education on sun safety

is key. To address this, undergraduate engineering

and business student Alana Clover has developed a

wearable UV exposure-detecting device.

Learn about UQ’s Master of Interaction Design, which offers mid-year intakes,

allowing you to start your studies in July 2017. Visit eait.uq.edu.au/MIDes for details.

/ ISSUE 7 2017 7

GENDER DIVERSITY: ARE WE SHIFTING OR FIXING THE PROBLEM?

Many of the problems facing the world will require complex and imaginative

solutions, spanning across multiple disciplines and utilising a wide variety of

perspectives and experience. Quite clearly, the best solutions will benefit from

having very diverse teams working on the problems at hand.

Diversity within an organisation

not only opens doors to a broader

talent pool, but also allows for

varied viewpoints and helps reduce

siloed thinking, thereby fostering

greater innovation and improving

an organisation’s functional health.

But as a whole, how does the engineering industry achieve this?

Over the past decade, many engineering companies have announced equity targets to address the gender imbalance in an industry traditionally dominated by men.

One of the more ambitious targets is from BHP Billiton, who set a 50:50 gender target for 2025. It’s ambitious because the multinational resources giant currently only has 17 per cent female staff in its global workforce.

Although this increase will not be exclusively professional engineering roles, it does mean that in eight years BHP Billiton will need to attract and retain 21,000 women into their organisation.

Many other organisations are also setting hiring goals as part of their diversity strategies. One company has reported a target of up to 80 per cent women in their graduate recruitment. The risk is that some multinationals will progress towards their equity targets, employing a disparate number of women, resulting in a wider struggle across smaller companies in the engineering industry to build diverse teams. While we applaud industry for its commitment to necessary change, unfortunately the talent pool of skilled female engineers graduating from universities isn’t growing at the rate

our industry needs to achieve its goals. We have to ask, are we really working together on fixing the problem, or are we merely shifting the engineering gender diversity issue with current approaches to headline targets?

The way to achieve the growth that industry requires will need a shift from reactive recruiting to helping schools and universities develop a sustainable talent pipeline of suitable female candidates. And to do this, there needs to be a continuous, collaborative approach between all partners to truly make a transformational impact.

In 2013, The University of Queensland commenced Australia’s first university-led, industry-funded initiative to address the gender disparity in engineering at both the tertiary and industry levels.

/ ISSUE 7 20178

The Women in Engineering (WE) program was established, with the support of Rio Tinto, APPEA, API and later Origin Foundation. The program has seen sustained success throughout its four years reaching out to girls in senior school and providing mentoring, training and support to the young women who enter our university cohort.

We have seen significant growth in female student numbers, with women now accounting for 23.8 per cent of commencing engineering students in 2017 – up from 18.8 per cent before 2013 and well above the current national average of 16 per cent. The program's key performance indicator is to achieve more than 30 per cent before 2023.

Our ultimate goal, however, is to improve the gender balance in students studying engineering across the whole university sector, not just at UQ. We want to see broad systemic change that can benefit the industry in Australia and globally, and we fundamentally believe that schools, universities and industry need to work better together if this is to be achieved.

To support our goals, UQ recently hosted the first joint-university workshop to collaborate and share best practice

for recruiting females into university engineering degrees. More than 30 representatives from 18 universities across Australia and New Zealand as well as from the University of Colorado in the USA attended the event, and were committed to achieving the long-term objective of increasing women's participation in engineering at all Australian universities.

As a group, our first challenge is educating young women about their perceptions of engineering. Most young people, both male and female, simply do not understand what a graduate engineer does or what a career in engineering can offer to them. The lack of obvious role models for young women and a need for increased self-confidence to pursue a career in a field dominated by men are further barriers to surmount.

We are starting to tackle some of these issues with the help of both our undergraduate students and our young alumni; both groups providing role models that future students can identify with and learn from. A program of school visits and on-campus activities are helping us showcase why engineering can be a great choice.

The messaging we use around engineering is important and it is all too easy to reinforce stereotypes. A key feature for us in our programs has been to explore how we can deliver positive messages about where a career in engineering can take you regardless of what you look like or where you come from.

In the end, we must ensure that more female students are graduating with engineering degrees if we are to achieve better gender diversity within our industry. This will require any barriers preventing them from entering the engineering field to be identified, addressed and removed. It also requires a grassroots effort from early childhood through to high school to gain interest in STEM fields and continue through to education on engineering careers. A partnership between government, universities and industry will be needed if we are to achieve lasting change in the diversity of the engineering workforce.

“Over the past decade, many engineering

companies have announced equity targets to

address the gender imbalance in an industry

traditionally dominated by men.”

Image: UQ's Engineering Futures Evening provides an opportunity for young women to

meet role models working in the industry.

/ ISSUE 7 2017 9

THE BIG QUESTION

Can bio-derived fuels and materials be developed at a sufficient scale to replace petroleum and meet growing demand while staying competitive?

QUnder the Paris Climate Agreement, a worldwide transition

to low-carbon energy strategies for electricity, transport

and industry is underway.

With the cost of fossil fuels increasing as supplies diminish,

a low-carbon economy based on bio-derived fuels and materials

could become the future of global energy production.

Image: Algal bioreactors in operation at the IMB Centre for Solar Biotechnology pilot plant at UQ’s Pinjarra Hills site. Top image: IMB Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Melanie Oey examines the growth of green microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in the lab. Images courtesy of UQ Institute of Molecular Bioscience.

/ ISSUE 7 201710

PROFESSOR CHRIS GREIG

DIRECTOR, UQ ENERGY INITIATIVE; DIRECTOR, DOW CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING INNOVATION

I expect biofuels to remain a niche player in the global market for decades to come – it’s a numbers game. The world currently consumes around 3.3 billion tonnes of crude oil

and 3.1 billion tonnes of natural gas. These are used to produce power, transportation fuels and a variety of industrial chemicals and materials. Bio-derived equivalents represent

just a few per cent of this volume.

Of the biofuels used as a replacement for oil, much is currently produced from food crops, presenting a threat to food security as the global population grows. Those biofuels

that are produced from more sustainable feedstocks tend to cost 3 to 10 times their petroleum-derived equivalents.

CATHERINE MACINTOSH

PHD STUDENT AND FACULTY 3-MINUTE THESIS WINNER 2016

I believe there is increasing technical capacity, given the diversity of potential feedstocks and versatility of emerging conversion technologies, for second and third generation

biofuels and materials. However, the processing cost is not currently competitive, with biofuels costing more than double that of petroleum fuels.

To reduce costs and scale up production, government needs to establish consistent, proactive biofuel and material policies and reduce support for the petroleum industry.

Stable government policy will attract venture capitalists to the sector, enabling the development and commercialisation of these biotechnologies. Technology maturation will reduce the processing cost and increase the potential for biofuels and materials to supply

future consumer demands.

PROFESSOR JOHN QUIGGIN

ARC AUSTRALIAN LAUREATE FELLOW, UQ’S SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

At this stage, it appears unlikely that biofuels will make a major contribution to the decarbonisation of transport. Existing biofuels are mostly derived from food crops,

such as corn ethanol, and require substantial subsidies. Large-scale expansion of these fuels would generate fuel shortages. Potential alternatives such as switchgrass grown on

marginal land have yet to overcome technical obstacles. By contrast, the alternative of electric vehicles powered by renewable electricity generation is already here,

and is rapidly becoming cost-competitive with internal combustion, particularly once climate and pollution costs are taken into account.

PROFESSOR PETER HALLEY

HEAD OF UQ’S SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

After over 20 years of researching in this field, it’s clear to me that a mix of synthetic and bio-derived solutions will be required for humans to continue to live productively and

sustainably. Biomaterials and biofuels will be an important part of the solution, but like all complex problems, they are not the only solution.

The future sustainability of materials, fuels and energy will require a systems integration of a range of solutions, probably involving a range of different local solutions that best suit local conditions and resources. For example, a region with abundant gas reserves,

mountains and rivers may favour a clean gas and hydroelectric solution.

It is very important to conduct a life-cycle assessment (or cradle-to-grave material and energy balance) on each proposed solution to determine which is best for the environment.

For example, it is not enough to say bio-derived materials will be better for the environment than a synthetic solution. It may be that a synthetic material that is recycled, requires less energy and produced less pollutants during its lifecycle than a crop-derived

biomaterial that requires pesticides and tractor emissions during harvesting.

/ ISSUE 7 2017 11

FEATURE

Our planet is witnessing dramatic social, technological,

economic and environmental change. Accelerated expansion

is taking place across the middle classes of China, India

and beyond. And, as billions emerge from poverty, become

urbanised, build wealth and live longer, pressure on our

infrastructure, health, food and water resource, energy

needs and environment continues to grow.

The University of Queensland is tackling these complex

challenges with collaborative and innovative research.

DESIGNING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

/ ISSUE 7 201712

FEATURE CONTENTS:

UQ fights energy poverty

Rising seas taking

back Solomon Islands

communities

Build them tall

Waste as a resource

Image: A hybrid cooling tower at UQ’s Gatton campus enables the study and development of new ways to reduce water consumption throughout thermal power generation.

/ ISSUE 7 2017 13

Energy poverty is a core

component of what students

enrolled in the Master of

Sustainable Energy study.

Taking an interdisciplinary

approach, students work

to solve the challenge of

transitioning to a secure,

affordable, low-carbon

energy supply.

UQ FIGHTS ENERGY POVERTY

Energy is a hot topic around the world. No matter who you are or where you live,

the production of energy and access to it is being discussed.

Conversations about energy will

differ depending on whether you

live in a developed or developing

country, but there is no question

that energy is critically important

to modern life.

It is used to produce food and clean drinking water, it helps to improve education standards and it contributes to overall economic growth. Energy is a vital element that contributes to a community’s potential to flourish and prosper.

However, over 17 per cent (1.2 billion) of the world’s population is without access to basic energy, and 38 per cent (2.7 billion) are without clean cooking facilities, resulting in frequent exposure to the harmful effects of cooking with wood, coal and animal dung.*

With the world’s population relying on fossil fuels for most of its energy generation, the issue of human-induced climate change cannot be uncoupled from discussions about energy.

So the big question is: how do we reduce the number of individuals living in energy-impoverished communities and improve their quality of life, while at the same time mitigating carbon emissions from energy generation? Particularly when climate and energy issues are so politicised.

The Energy Poverty Research Group (EPRG) was established at UQ to support energy-impoverished communities, focusing on India and its neighbouring countries. The livelihoods of the individuals in these communities depend on ongoing global efforts to support positive social, environmental and economic outcomes for them.

The complexity of these problems calls for interdisciplinary expertise. PhD researchers within the EPRG include engineers, geographers, social scientists, psychologists and communication experts.

The group is examining topics such as: identifying drivers of transformational change amongst the energy impoverished, understanding energy and climate justice issues, community-led identification and implementation of locally-appropriate technologies, and how to engage the private sector to alleviate energy poverty.

For me, it is a privilege to be working alongside our highly-motivated master's and PhD students, who are already becoming the next agents for change in this highly-contested space.

There is possibly no greater challenge than being able to transition to a low-carbon future while trying to lift so many out of abject energy poverty.

WITH PROFESSOR PETA ASHWORTH

Study the Master of Sustainable Energy at UQ. Visit eait.uq.edu.au/MSE

online to learn more.

FEATURE

*worldenergyoutlook.org

/ ISSUE 7 201714

Researchers from the UQ School of

Civil Engineering are studying the

reasons behind the rising waters

in the South Pacific paradise, while

monitoring the speed at which

waters are rising, and finding ways

to understand the impact on the

people living in these remote

areas of the world.

Recently, five reef islands in the Solomon Islands were lost completely due to sea-level rise and a further six islands have seen severe coastal erosion. These lost islands range in size from one to five hectares, and they supported dense tropical vegetation that was at least 300 years old. Nuatambu Island, previously home to 35 families, has lost over half its inhabitable area, with 75 per cent of houses destroyed by the sea since 2011.

The research team, led by Dr Simon Albert (pictured bottom right with a research drone), has combined traditional knowledge of the local inhabitants with cutting-edge technology such as drones to help guide locally-appropriate adaptive responses to this critical issue.

The team monitored the coastlines of 33 reef islands across the Solomon Islands using aerial and satellite imagery from 1947–2016. The team compared historical photos dating from World War II with modern-day satellite images to track the islands’ growth and retreat over time. This information was integrated with local traditional knowledge, radiocarbon dating of trees, drone-derived topography, sea-level records, and wave models.

This is the first scientific evidence that confirms the numerous anecdotal accounts from across the Pacific of the dramatic impacts of sea-level rise on coastlines and people.

For the past 20 years, the Solomon Islands has been a hotspot for sea-level rise and is now considered an insight into the future of similar communities.

Here, the sea has risen at three times the global average, around 7–10 millimetres per year. This higher local rate is due to natural climate variability, but these dramatic rates are in line with what we can expect across much of the Pacific due to human-induced sea-level rise.

The rapid changes to shorelines observed in the Solomon Islands have led to the relocation of several coastal communities that inhabited these areas for generations. These were not planned relocations led by governments or supported by international climate funds; rather, they were ad-hoc relocations using the communities’ own limited resources.

In some cases, entire communities have left their coastal villages that were established in the early 1900s by missionaries, and retraced their ancestral movements to resettle old inland village sites used by their forefathers.

“Before this place was our paradise – the centre of our community – but now the sea has taken that from us we must move up the hill. While we are now safe from the sea we are faced by challenges of water supply, sanitation and landslides," Rence William, community elder of Nuatambu, said.

Linking this rich knowledge and inherent resilience in the people with technical assessments and climate funding is critical in guiding global adaptation efforts, and guarding the future of the world’s vulnerable island communities.

RISING SEAS TAKING BACK SOLOMON ISLANDS COMMUNITIES

Over the next century, scientists expect sea-level rise to be one of humanity’s greatest

challenges, with ecosystems, communities and infrastructure all under threat.

WITH DR SIMON ALBERT

FEATURE

/ ISSUE 7 2017 15

BU

ILD

T

HE

M T

AL

LEAIT’s newest Centre of Excellence, the Centre for

Future Timber Structures (CFTS), was established

to drive broader use of timber as a sustainable material

in the Australian built environment.

Using timber as a construction material has clear benefits – it’s natural, making it a safe and healthy construction material; it’s environmentally friendly as it can be sustainably farmed; it requires the lowest energy of almost all common building materials to produce; and it’s a great insulator.

Advancing timber-based construction in tall buildings isn’t easy, though. It requires an integrated approach across manufacturing, design, and construction.

UQ’s interdisciplinary team incorporates not just experts from the UQ School of Civil Engineering, but also product manufacturers, construction managers, fire safety engineers, architects and structural engineers. This range of experts are working towards the production of safe, strong and sustainable materials that can be used for rapid construction, while reducing the weight of material, enhancing building quality and performance, and minimising waste on site.

The team works on projects including the development of Engineered Wood Products (EWPs) appropriate for the Australian context; the development of hybrid construction systems like concrete-timber; the development of prefabricated EWP construction systems; and holistic assessment of EWPs.

EWPs provide one of the best potential means of reducing resource consumption and reducing the environmental impacts caused by the construction sector, which is estimated to contribute as much as one third of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.

Timber-based buildings require less energy from resource extraction through manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life disposal, and are responsible for producing far less greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and water pollution, going beyond the benefits of most renewable building materials.

The need to address fire safety considerations in timber construction is a major ongoing challenge for researchers.

Driven by the fear of large, destructive fires, current regulations impose severe restrictions on the use of timber. Timber structural elements are required to be covered by non-combustible materials, increasing the construction cost and embodied energy while also restricting the aesthetic exposure of timber surfaces. This is a key area that researchers are working on – how to properly address the inherent combustibility of timber and its structural performance during and after fire.

UQ fire engineering researcher Carmen Gorska Putynska (featured on the cover of this edition of Ingenuity), for example, is looking at how to best utilise the self-extinguishing nature of timber in engineered cross-laminated timber (CLT) structures, with the aim to improve fire safety in the use of this ultra-popular new product.

UQ’s Fire Safety Engineering group are leading the discussion in Australia towards establishing clear guidelines for timber-based construction and achieving true optimisation of tall timber buildings.

With this research, the team hopes to usher in a new phase of tall timber building construction across Australia and across the world – and perhaps delivering a new 21st century timber Queenslander style along the way.

For more information about the Centre for Future Timber Structures, please

visit civil.uq.edu.au/timber or contact the team at timber@civil.uq.edu.au.

WITH DR JOE GATTAS

FEATURE

Carmen Gorska Putynska

/ ISSUE 7 201716

Approximately 1.4 billion tonnes

of organic waste is disposed

of in landfills around the world

each year, enough to fill 560,000

Olympic swimming pools.

If left to degrade, the waste produces vast amounts of methane, exacerbating climate change through uncontrolled greenhouse gas emissions. But what if these emissions could be harnessed to produce a sustainable source of energy? The same materials the world currently views as waste would be recast as fuel and valued as an important resource in a sustainable energy future.

The process of converting organic material into methane (biogas) through microbes in oxygen-free environments is known as anaerobic digestion and occurs naturally in places like landfills. This same process can be used in controlled environments – like our laboratory, where the methane can be captured and used to create energy through combustion.

Anaerobic digestion is commonly used throughout the world to treat municipal and agri-industrial organic waste, producing biogas and on-site heat and power. However, many of these existing systems have spare capacity and could be utilised to treat even more waste. The efficiency of these systems could also be improved to maximise biogas production within their existing infrastructure.

One of the key ways to improve efficiency is through the use of anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD), a promising strategy incorporating two or more different and complementary waste streams to optimise biogas output.

AcoD offers many benefits, including the promotion of integrated waste management between industries, diversion of organic waste away from landfill which limits greenhouse gas emissions, and increased revenue for industry through increased energy production.

AcoD is able to combine low-energy waste, such as livestock manure or sewage sludge, with small amounts of high-energy waste, such as fats, oil and grease.

Researchers in the Anaerobic Technologies team at the Advanced Water Management Centre (AWMC) are enhancing our fundamental understanding of AcoD risks and drivers, to help municipalities and industries improve their management of waste.

This fundamental research will inform a comprehensive co-digestion model and manual aimed at enabling industry to evaluate cost-benefit and risk of various wastes and combinations of waste for co-digestion.

These tools will enable industry collaborations for multiple types of wastes to be treated on-site, reducing organic waste sent to landfill and reliance on the fossil-fuel driven electricity grid.

Optimisation of the anaerobic digestion process will ensure that surplus organic materials are no longer viewed as waste, but as a resource, powering a sustainable and environmentally sound future.

WASTE AS ARESOURCE

How do you turn poo

into a commodity?

By transforming waste

that is currently doing

harm, researchers hope

to produce biogas

that can be used as a

renewable alternative

to fossil fuels. WITH CATHERINE MACINTOSH

FEATURE

/ ISSUE 7 2017 17

Image courtesy of Woolworths: Woolworths Melbourne South regional distribution centre under construction.

/ ISSUE 7 201718

AUTOMATION DRIVES NEXT GENERATION DISTRIBUTION CENTRES

Supermarket warehouses just got a lot more exciting, with the world’s largest

and most high-tech kitchen pantry coming soon to Australia.

Can you imagine it? Self-guided

forklifts zooming down narrow

aisles, feeding pallets of products

into a colossal 15-storey rack

system that stretches up towards

the warehouse ceiling, laden with

inventory. A large robotic head

automatically places cartons into

trays that are whisked away to the

other end of the warehouse by a high

speed conveyor and sorting system.

An articulated robot then assembles

the perfect order by picking cartons

from these trays, ready to load onto

trucks and out to stores.

It’s not a glimpse into the future; it’s a real-life scenario that UQ mechatronics graduate Dr Michael Lucas daydreams about as he solves the daily problems encountered on his latest project.

Automation is changing the way traditional warehouses operate, and it begins with distribution centres across the global supply chain. E-fulfilment centres and centralised distribution centres are emerging at lightning speed across the world as companies seek to maximise their capacity to process goods while enhancing order accuracy.

Automated materials-handling equipment, high-speed conveyor systems and robotic applications are key, but, as always, size is too.

Dr Lucas is working on a distribution centre that combines technologies from the traditional logistics industry with those from manufacturing, parcel and postal systems to create Australia’s – actually, the world’s – largest automated grocery distribution centre.

The result for Woolworths is a system with at least twice the size and capacity of similar operations concurrently being built by European retailers. It will handle over 13,000 different products, run 24-hours per day, seven days a week and will provide the bulk of all ambient grocery needs (items that can be stored at room temperature) for Woolworths stores in Victoria. The new facility will be able to house more than Woolworths’ Brisbane and Sydney distribution centres combined.

As Distribution Centre Design Manager for the Woolworths Group, Dr Lucas's focus is on the testing and network integration of the $350-million distribution centre in south-east Melbourne. He is working to optimise the software and automation systems that will prepare orders for distribution, acknowledging their vital role in the facility’s success.

The brain of the system is the software. Its capabilities extend to customising what goes on each truck to match the specific needs of the store it is delivering to, and configures the automation and robotics to provide product in the appropriate sequence.

Beyond the extremely advanced technical capability of the systems being rolled out in the centre, the sheer size of the facility is also breathtaking. At its highest point, the automated storage section of the facility is 45 metres above ground level, and it contains over 14 kilometres of conveyors and 2000 tonnes of steel.

Due to the scale and complexity of the site, it needs approximately 18 months of testing between installation and go-live. To make this a reality, teams of engineers, technicians and tradespeople on-site in Melbourne, in project offices in Sydney and in development offices in Veghel (Netherlands), Dortmund (Germany) as well as Serbia and India will work together to complete this phase of the project. The company has said that this is the largest single investment in infrastructure in Woolworths history and it is expected to deliver significant safety, efficiency and productivity.

WITH DR MICHAEL LUCAS

/ ISSUE 7 2017 19

DATA IS THE NEW OIL OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

Associate Professor

Marta Indulska is the

leader of Business

Information Systems

at the UQ Business

School. She is a

computer scientist

with a deep interest in

how innovation – both

radical and incremental

– can be used to create

successful businesses.

The world has seen a stunning

increase in the amount of data

generated each day. Such

data, created by individuals,

organisational systems, and

sensors, among other sources, has

the power to provide competitive

advantage for business. This is

primarily because data can provide

clarity in business decision-making

and therefore reduce related risk.

It is not surprising then that data has recently been referred to as 'the new oil'. However, like oil, data can also be messy – its advantage can only be realised when data is strategically collected and managed, and meaningfully combined and analysed to create information of value to the business.

Therefore, to help unlock the value of data, businesses are increasingly making investments in data science – a discipline that combines statistics, mathematics and technology knowledge into a suite of methods and tools for the analysis of data of various types. So high is the demand for professionals with data science skills that it is arguably one of today’s hottest IT professions.

By 2018, the US alone will have a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 professionals with data science expertise. It is easy to see why such strong demand exists in today’s globalised and hyper-competitive world of business – data science helps organisations to unlock new, innovative ways to use data which can result in a spectrum of improvements from efficiency gains through to creating new business models.

The field’s related techniques have far-reaching applications in virtually all industries.

Insurance companies can more effectively identify underwriting risks, perhaps going as far as using vehicle telematics to inform premium pricing. Data from sensors in expensive mining or aviation equipment can be used to predict the ideal servicing times that ensure safety while reducing waste. The medical profession, through its move to electronic health records, can create insights that have never before been possible. The humble corner store can develop a better understanding of its customers and predict future sales.

These are just some examples of the wide application that we are witnessing, and will continue to witness, due to data science initiatives in business. Furthermore, advances in hardware in future years will continually make it faster and cheaper to crunch an ever-bigger amount of data, also presenting new opportunities for real-time use of data analytics.

The possibilities are exciting and endless. However, as organisations embrace the era of data-driven transformation they also need to be prepared for a variety of changes.

Availability of information can shift power, highlight underperforming areas, and change organisational culture, among other impacts. So, while reaping its benefits, today’s senior management also need to be prepared to face the challenges that can result from data science initiatives, including the sometimes grey area of ethical use of data.

WITH ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MARTA INDULSKA

/ ISSUE 7 201720

This year UQ launched a

new Master of Data Science

program to address the

current global shortfall

in data science experts.

Combining computing,

statistics, mathematics,

legal and ethical studies,

communications and

a choice of business,

finance, health or

science, students have

the opportunity to

become a sought-after

specialist in their field

of choice.

Visit eait.uq.edu.au/MDS to learn more.

Image: Hend Shindy and Robert Wall are among the students in the first cohort of the Master of Data Science.

/ ISSUE 7 2017 21

TO THE MOON AND BACK – A NEW ERA OF SPACE TRAVELAustralia’s own pioneer in space exploration,

Professor Michael Smart from UQ’s School of Mechanical

and Mining Engineering, is redefining space travel with

reusable high-speed planes with air-breathing engines.

Professor Smart’s groundbreaking concept is ready for launch.

/ ISSUE 7 201722

In the glory days of the 1960s

space race, NASA was asked by

President Kennedy to “send an

astronaut to the moon, and return

him safely to earth before the

decade is out”. At the time, there

were two possible ways to do this;

the first and easiest was to use

massive rockets that were thrown

away after each launch; the second

and more futuristic possibility was

to use a hypersonic airplane that

could be used many times over for

at least part of the trip.

NASA chose 'throw-away' rockets, and in 2017, the method of going to space is little changed from the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s. Almost all space launches of satellites or astronauts use expendable rockets.

Innovative thinkers like Elon Musk with his company, SpaceX, are trying to change this paradigm in an attempt to make space launch less wasteful and more economical.

The University of Queensland, with its world leading scramjet technology, is planning to do the same by developing the SPARTAN launch system for small satellites, which is 90% reusable.

A scramjet is an air-breathing engine, like a jet, that works at hypersonic speed; that’s mach 5 or faster than five times the speed of sound.

It uses oxygen from the air to combust with fuel and generate thrust. It’s much more efficient than a rocket, which must carry all its oxygen on-board. This oxygen can weigh up to 60% of the mass of the entire vehicle. The fact that a scramjet is air breathing also means that a scramjet-powered vehicle looks like an airplane; a hypersonic airplane.

Scramjets have been around for many years, but the technology has one significant limitation: scramjets only work at hypersonic speed. You cannot take-off under scramjet power. Given this limitation, UQ has been developing scramjet engines that work from mach 5 to mach 10.

Image: The SPARTAN scramjet-powered hypersonic airplane.

/ ISSUE 7 2017 23

With the market for small satellites well established and growing and the rapid pace that technology is advancing, the requirements of satellite launch systems are changing.

Both reduced scale and increased responsiveness are now the drivers of access to space. Due to the rapid development of micro-scale, low-power electronics, satellites that were once many thousands of kilograms now weigh just hundreds of kilograms.

HOW DOES SPARTAN WORK?

The SPARTAN three-stage system takes off vertically under the power of two first-stage boosters. These booster 'modules' use standard rocket engines, and speed the scramjet-powered second-stage aircraft to its mach 5 take-over speed. Once the boosters have finished their job, however, some magic happens.

Instead of falling into the sea, the boosters transform into light aircraft.

First they undergo a controlled re-entry, slowing down to around 150 kilometres per hour. Then they deploy a wing and propeller motor. Once this has been accomplished, each booster then simply turns around and flies back to the launch site, ready to be re-fuelled and flown again.

While this is occurring, the real job of satellite launch continues, with the SPARTAN hypersonic aircraft accelerating to mach 10 – over 12,000 kilometres per hour – under scramjet power.

The skin of the SPARTAN becomes red hot – up to 2000 degrees celsius. Modern high-temperature composites must be used for the outer shell and the scramjet to accomplish this.

During the four-minute acceleration, the small third-stage rocket and satellite is protected from the hypersonic environment, nested on the scramjet’s back. At mach 10 the scramjet has done its job, and the third-stage rocket blasts away, taking the 100-kilogram satellite up to its required orbit.

The scramjet-powered vehicle then turns for home, cruising back to the launch site and then gliding in to land. The third stage rocket is the only part of the system that does not return to be used again.

A FUTURE IN SPACE FLIGHT

UQ is leading the world in scramjet technology, giving us

a competitive advantage over other small satellite launch

systems, and having received roughly 70 million dollars of

support from the Australian and Queensland Governments

over the last 30 years, this is really a project that all

Australians can feel connected to.

The commercial success of the SPARTAN small satellite

launch capability would deliver rewards that Australia has

yet to enjoy in the international high-tech space sector,

including recognition as a genuine player in the field and

offering our bright young engineers the jobs they deserve.

Watch Professor Smart’s TED talk online at hypersonics.mechmining.uq.edu.au

Image: (left to right) Christopher James, Pierpaolo Toniato, Steven Lewis, Sam Stennett, Professor Michael Smart, Liu Yu and Professor Richard Morgan.

Professor Michael Smart

/ ISSUE 7 201724

JOINING FORCES WITH BOEINGThe University’s world-class

researchers in advanced

engineering, mathematics,

neuroscience, chemistry, physics,

psychology and human movements

will cement their partnership with

aerospace giant Boeing in 2017.

A purpose-built research and development facility has been constructed in UQ’s Hawken Engineering Building, at the heart of the University’s engineering hub, that will be home for around 30 Boeing engineers.

The Boeing Research & Technology Australia (BR&T–A) Brisbane Technology Centre will be conveniently located near other specialist research groups of interest to the aviation industry, including the UQ Centre for Hypersonics, renowned for its innovation in hypersonic aerodynamics research; the Queensland Brain Institute, where bird flight-patterns are being analysed for possible unmanned aircraft system application; and the Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, home to several sustainable fuels project teams and polymer researchers.

Collaboration with the Boeing team means that academic research will be effectively translated to industry – a great boon for its relevance when applying for funding – and UQ students will also continue to benefit from the PhD scholarships and undergraduate internships Boeing offers.

Boeing‘s presence at UQ will be a showcase for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) projects, involving not just Boeing researchers, but UQ students and staff too. Topics already being investigated include a study of human factors in the flight deck and simulator technologies for future training approaches with Professor Stephan Riek, and Professor Paul Meehan’s work on incremental sheet forming, which, as an advanced manufacturing technology, has demonstrated high potential to shape complex three-dimensional parts without using specific high-cost tooling.

As a fully functioning industry workspace, the new BR&T–A Brisbane Technology Centre will demonstrate the realities of aerospace research and will provide opportunities for UQ staff and students to experience it first-hand.

Image courtesy of iStock.

/ ISSUE 7 2017 25

The University of Queensland celebrates 100 years of chemical engineering this

year, and to celebrate we are hosting a special anniversary gala dinner.

We anticipate this will be one of the biggest gatherings of chemical engineering

professionals in Queensland’s history, dedicated to celebrating the past 100

years of chemical engineering at UQ, and looking to its exciting future.

All UQ chemical engineering alumni will receive a formal invitation in June 2017

– so please make sure we have your correct contact details. Visit

alumni.uq.edu.au/update-your-details to update your contact details.

WHEN

18 November 2017

WHERE

Brisbane City Hall

ENQUIRIES

alumni@eait.uq.edu.au

CONTACT Faculty of Engineering, Architecture

and Information Technology

The University of Queensland

St Lucia, Queensland 4072 Australia

Email: enquiries@eait.uq.edu.au

Phone: + 61 7 3365 4666

eait.uq.edu.au/engage

JUNE

• Perth ‘State of Origin’ Alumni Networking Drinks

• School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering ‘Thank you’ Event

JULY

• UQ ‘Leaders of Influence’ Series with Collette Munro, Chief Digital Officer, AECOM, Australia and New Zealand

• Sydney Alumni Networking Drinks

• Melbourne Chemical Engineering Networking Alumni Drinks

AUGUST

• Brisbane Alumni Networking Drinks

• UQ Open Day

• MEET a Mentor Recognition Event

• 1992 Electrical Engineering Reunion

• School of Civil Engineering ‘Thank you’ Event

• UQ ‘Career Transitions’ Alumni Event hosted by the Women in Engineering Alumni Ambassador Council

SEPTEMBER

• UQ Global Leadership Series: Big data – a tool for innovation

• UQ ‘Leaders of Influence’ Series with Ashley Wright, Chief Executive Officer, GHD

OCTOBER

• ‘Celebrating Philanthropy’ Cocktail Event

• Women in Engineering ‘Celebrating Gender Diversity’ Cocktail Function

• UQ Courting the Greats Awards Ceremony

NOVEMBER

• 1968 Chemical Engineering Reunion

• 1967 Chemical Engineering Reunion

• Brisbane Alumni Networking Drinks

• School of ITEE ‘Innovation Showcase’

• Architecture Exhibition

• 1987 Civil Engineering Reunion

• 1987 Chemical Engineering Reunion

• Chemical Engineering Centenary Celebration

2017 EVENTS CALENDAR

To find out more and register for upcoming events visit

eait.uq.edu.au/alumni-events

/ ISSUE 7 2017 27

Be prepared for more senior, leadership roles

Discipline-focused courses

Practical research or industry-based projects

UQ’s Master of Engineering has been designed to include business and innovation courses so graduating students are better prepared to take on more senior, leadership roles. The program is a pathway to becoming an accredited engineer and has been submitted for accreditation by Engineers Australia.

MASTER OF ENGINEERING

Visit future-students.uq.edu.au/study CRICOS Provider Number 00025B

The new two-year Master of Engineering