The exceptional achievements of Queensland’s current and past engineers were recognised and honoured at the annual Hawken Address in Brisbane on 21 October 2010. The award dinner and address, hosted by Queensland Division President Mike Brady, included inductees to the Queensland Engineering Hall of Fame and the announcement of the 2010 Professional Engineer of the Year, Engineering Technologist of the Year and Engineering Officer of the Year.

2010 Queensland Professional Engineer of the Year
Glenn Schumacher

Glenn is General Manager Gladstone Operations for NRG Gladstone Operating Services (NRGGOS).  NRGGOS operates and maintains Gladstone Power Station (GPS) on behalf of the Gladstone Power Station Joint Venture. Glenn, who is affectionately known as ‘Shoey’, describes himself as ‘a simple power station engineer’ but this couldn't be further from the truth. He is an inspiration to the engineering team at GPS and is committed to developing the next generation of engineers.

His knowledge of coal and milling is unique and specialised and has earned him an international reputation with organisations including Anglo Coal and NRG Energy (USA). So much so that Glenn has completed technical investigations and reports on milling and improvements for overseas stations and he is currently working on a research investigation into breakage theory.

Glenn is concerned about the environment and the role power generation must play to ensure sustainability. He looks for opportunities to integrate complementary carbon capture technology such as algae for bio-sequestration and was involved in the program to place low NOx burners into Tarong PS.

Glenn is the international face of GPS. His role requires him to deal with multinational owners such as Rio Tinto Alcan, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo Light Metals, Marubeni, YKK and NRG Energy Inc on financial, technical, environmental and political issues. This can be as simple as translating what issues exist in the Gladstone region and GPS, through to negotiating multi hundred-million-dollar contractual agreements.

Glenn is credited with turning around the culture and performance at GPS to a new direction. GPS needed someone to make a difference and he has delivered. New terms have united the workforce and he has successfully engaged the owners to sustain investment during difficult times. Under Glenn’s leadership, the station's performance is at record levels.

2010 Queensland Engineering Technologist of the Year
Bruce Potter

Bruce is a Senior Civil Design Engineer and Public Utility Plant Discipline Leader with Arup in Brisbane. He has been working in civil engineering for 11 years with some of his projects including the Airport Link and the Brisbane Domestic Terminal Expansion. Bruce has an exceptional understanding of various South East Queensland and regional Queensland Subdivision and Development Guidelines for earthworks, roadworks and signage, particularly trunk and reticulated water, sewerage and stormwater infrastructure and design requirements.

2010 Queensland Engineering Officer of the Year
Mark Patis

Mark is a Principal Civil Designer with Parsons Brinckerhoff and has been working for almost three decades in the field of road design and land development. Some of his recent transport design projects include the Airport Link, Northern Busway upgrades and the CLEM7 tunnel. Mark has also recently worked on the road safety audits of the Ipswich Motorway upgrade, the Inner City Bypass and the Queens Road upgrade. 

2010 Queensland Engineering Officer - High Commendation
David Marks

David is a Senior Engineering Technologist with the Geotechnical Branch at the Department of Transport and Main Roads. David has made a significant contribution to instrumentation monitoring within the Department and has developed a robust, reliable and indispensible risk management tool. His passion, commitment and dedication to his role are much valued by his colleagues.

2010 Eric Brier Memorial Award
Bill Capati

Bill is a civil engineer with over 30 years experience. He has been working for the Gold Coast City Council for 15 years and is their current Manager of Infrastructure Planning for Gold Coast Water. Bill is responsible for the forward planning of $1.6 billion dollars worth of infrastructure and Gold Coast Water’s long term strategic planning. He has been working to develop a sustainable water future for the Gold Coast community through initiatives including the desalination plant, raising the Hinze Dam, a pressure and leakage management plan, and the use of recycled water, water conservation and rainwater tanks.

2010 Queensland Engineering Hall of Fame
John Hardie Lavery (1905-1970)

Professor John Lavery combined his skills as an engineer with his strong background in science to modernise the engineering course at the University of Queensland. His 22 years with the university established the strength of the Civil Engineering school and, in doing so, he rose to chairman of the Professional Board, a member of the Senate and Acting Vice Chancellor. He was Deputy Chairman and Member of the Council of the Papua and New Guinea Institute of Technology at Lae, external examiner for the University of Malaysia in the early 1960s, and involved with the development of Townsville University College (now James Cook University) and the selection of the site for Brisbane's second university (now Griffith University). He was Chair of Queensland Division in 1952.

2010 Queensland Engineering Hall of Fame
Mansergh Shaw (1910-1993)

Professor Mansergh Shaw developed his expertise in metrology over 11 years on the staff of Melbourne University. He brought these skills to University of Queensland in 1949 when he was appointed the Foundation Professor of Mechanical Engineering. His metrology laboratory was registered with the National Association of Testing Authorities, for who he acted as an assessor. His expertise led to his appointment to the Advisory committee on the future of the National Standards Laboratory. He advanced the operations of the sugar milling industry with his research into the fundamental properties of raw cane and the development of a computer program to determine the efficiency of a mill. A similar leap in development followed his research into agricultural tractors. His related research into tractor accidents determining the links in the chain of events in an accident pinpointed design faults that needed rectification. He assisted in the development of the Queensland Institute of Technology and the Universities of James Cook, Capricornia and Darling Downs. He was Chair of Queensland Division in 1956.

2010 Queensland Engineering Hall of Fame
Sydney Arthur Prentice (1908-2002)

Professor Prentice used his early experiences in high voltage to develop his research, testing and design and work in radar and telecommunications equipment during WWII.  Appointed Foundation Professor Electrical Engineering at University of Queensland in 1950, he built a strong teaching and testing team leading the first one-million-volts testing laboratory, the first digital computer centre that marked the start of the computer age in Queensland, and the first lightning observatory. He opened the new Electrical Engineering building in 1965 and established a chair of Electronics and Communications in 1968. He was Dean of Engineering for 10 years (1959-1969) and commenced with Melbourne University the annual residential Schools of Power Engineering with the Electricity Supply Association of Australia. His work on lightning strikes led to improved design and protection of electrical distribution systems and earned him international respect through his contributions to the committee of CIGRE. In 1970, he designed an automatic lightning flash counter and established a national network of counters and then had this counter accepted as a standard world-wide. He was a member of the Queensland Division Committee from 1951-1961 and served as chairman in 1959.

2010 Queensland Engineering Hall of Fame
Paul Greenfield

Professor Paul Greenfield has driven the University of Queensland through a period of rapid growth and continual gaining of international prestige. With a high reputation in education and administration in the Chemical engineering faculty he attracted support from business and all levels of government to develop several centres of research. Promoted through Executive Dean, ProVice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor, he was appointed Vice Chancellor in 2008. His development of seven Institutes as centres of excellence has seen some remarkable world firsts which continue to attract the brightest academics and students to the university. In January 2006 Professor Greenfield was made an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to science and engineering, particularly through research in the areas of chemical engineering, biotechnology, wastewater and environmental management, and to the tertiary education sector.