EA Sydney President's Message - June 2015
Sydney Division volunteers and staff recently successfully showcased the engineering profession to year 11 High School students in the northern region of Sydney. The event, “Discover Engineering Day” was held at Chatswood High School with nine Schools visiting together with all the major engineering universities being represented. It was most pleasing seeing a large number of girls participating (including from an all-girls school) and their enthusiasm was clearly evident. An excellent video explaining engineering in a way students could relate to was shown followed by a presentation on engineering careers, then a young entrepreneurial engineer shared his journey in the engineering world. Then it was time for the students to participate in some interactive engineering related group activities.
All the group activities were exceptional with highlights including the design (and attempted use!) of an artificial prosthetic lower leg, construction of a (lightweight) paper tower trying to support a two kilogram weight and hands on electronic module design (buzzers, lights, motors). ANSTO excelled in their demonstration of the effects of liquid nitrogen (at minus 195 degrees) on everything from ping pong balls to bananas, using the latter to hammer a nail into wood!
The students were truly inspired by the day and I ask you to encourage your local High School to participate in the future (contact our Division office for further details). In this way we can offer students a window into the engineering world and encourage their pursuit of this wonderful profession.
As I mentioned previously it is now membership renewal time and I encourage you to renew sooner rather than later to ensure the continuation of your benefits.
Also as you may have heard, Engineers Australia recently signed an agreement with Macquarie Bank. We are now excited to introduce “Macquarie Elevate”, a banking offer designed exclusively for members which was launched last week. I encourage members to consider this wonderful offer.
Bruce Howard FIEAust CPEng
President, Engineers Australia, Sydney Division
Photo: Students walking with the artificial prosthetic lower leg at the Discover Engineering Day.
This article has been posted by Engineers Australia Sydney Division. For enquiries please email EA Sydney.