Students head to NASA to represent Australia at international competition Thursday, 09 June 2016

At the end of June four Year 10 students from St Peters Girls High School in Adelaide will travel to NASA’s neutral buoyancy facility in Houston, Texas, to participate in the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Competition. These students won both the South Australian and National Finals of the SUBS in Schools program which is run by Re-Engineering Australia Foundation and sponsored by the Department of Defence.

The SUBS in Schools program is designed to engage, inspire and educate students about the career options which exist in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The program focuses on developing skills including: collaboration, communication, project management, presentation and teamwork… skills highly sought after by industry.

The program sees students designing and manufacturing a working model submarine, which must be able to dive, manoeuvre and complete specific tasks within a given time. Designing a submarine is a project involving high level systems design. Considerations include balance, buoyancy, flotation, mechatronics, power systems control, radio control and electronics.  The students use a range of technologies to develop their design including CAD (computer aided design), 3D Printing and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). They also need to learn higher order project management techniques, marketing, presentation skills and fund raising … all the skills needed by our future entrepreneurs.

Ultimately SUBS in Schools exposes students to the same real world challenges an engineering team in industry might encounter. It has them solving scientific and construction challenges which stimulate creativity and innovation.

Saab Australia Project Manager Andrew McCauley was the Chairman of Judges at the recent SUBS in Schools National Final and was witness to the drive and commitment for excellence that these students showed.

“Participating in an international competition such as this is a fantastic opportunity for our South Australian students and I am sure that these students will be exceptional ambassadors for Australia,” said McCauley. “Being able to showcase their skill on the world stage whilst at the same time interacting and learning from students from around the world will change their lives.”

Keen to find the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs, McCauley added, "this program is making entrepreneurial outliers of these students and we look forward to seeing these gifted students out in the workforce."

Image caption: St Peters Girls High School Year 10 students with their winning model submarine.