What's On at UWA

Prospective students are invited to attend one of our info sessions to learn more about how to achieve an engineering career with UWA. These sessions will explain course details, career opportunities, prerequisite subjects and how to apply, as well as providing the opportunity for attendees to ask questions and meet Faculty staff.

Whether you're coming to the end of your time at high school and are considering your university study options, or you already have an undergraduate degree and are looking to re-skill or complete postgraduate study, our 'Becoming an Engineer with UWA' information sessions will provide you with the information you need to get your career in engineering headed in the right direction.

If you can't make it to this session, further sessions will be held July - November.

Please visit the website for more information and to register your attendance.

The Three MInute Thesis (3MT) is a fun and challenging event that encourages the communication of research to a wide audience. The UWA 3MT competition finals will be held on 25th July and this presentation is a comprehensive guide to the preparation and presentation of a compelling 3MT talk. The presenter, Simon Clews,is an experienced 3MT judge who has championed the 3MT competition in Australia and internationally.

The course is designed for people with little or no knowledge of statistics. It will be spread over three days covering material ranging from means and standard deviations to simple linear regression, and basic ANOVA. Some basic categorical data analysis will be included with the emphasis throughout being placed on applications rather than theory. The statistical package SPSS will be used to illustrate ideas demonstrated, however this course is aimed at enabling an understanding of basic statistics.

This lunchtime seminar will be a series of 5-7 minute presentations facilitated by Assistant Professor Rita Armstrong, followed by a thirty minute question and answer session. A light lunch will be provided.

More about the speakers:

James Trevelyan's career spans nearly 4 decades, the first two of which were devoted to engineering practice in aerospace and subsequently robotics and automation for the Australian wool industry. He and his research students developed technology for remote internet control for robots and also for providing remote access to laboratory equipment, technology that has now been widely adopted worldwide.

Dr Roberto Togneri received the B.E. degree in 1985, and the PhD degree in 1989 both from the University of Western Australia and is a Senior Member of the IEEE. He has published over 80 refereed journal and conference papers in the areas of signals and information systems and is the chief investigator on two Australian Research Council Discovery Project research grants from 2010 to 2013. Dr Togneri’s commitment to teaching is exemplified by six Faculty nominations for excellence in teaching, a 2008 Faculty team teaching award, and a 2007 School highest student satisfaction survey. He is a member of the Faculty Academy for the Scholarship of Education and a member of the Foundation Curriculum Development Team. He has co-authored a textbook and various publications in education engineering research.

Dr Andrew Guzzomi (School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering) became in 2006 the first PhD candidate from the School of Mechanical Engineering to be awarded a Postgraduate Teaching Internship. Since this time, his interest in engineering education has grown. During his postdoctoral studies at the University of Bologna he became fascinated by the history of engineering and what we can learn today from revisiting ancient sources. He is currently exploring how a society’s grasp of thresholds may be demonstrated by marked leaps in architectural/industrial/warfare technology. He has published 7 conference and 1 journal paper related to teaching and learning in engineering, was a member of the International Advisory Board for ICERI 2009 and a Session Chair for INTED 2009. Andrew has won multiple awards related to both teaching and research excellence; most recently being the sole recipient of the 2011 Faculty Teaching Excellence Award.

Associate Professor Chris McDonald currently holds the appointments of associate professor in the School of Computer Science & Software Engineering at UWA and adjunct associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. Chris has recently taught in the areas of computer networking; security & privacy; mobile & wireless computing; software design & implementation; and operating systems. Together with these areas, his research interests include wireless, ad-hoc, & mobile networking; network simulation; and Computer Science Education.

R. Nazim Khan B.E. (electrical, 1986), BSc. (Maths and Stats,1992), PhD (Stats, 2004), all from UWA, Teacher’s Certificate (1982, Fiji Institute of Technology). Nazim has taught at several institutions, including Fiji Institute of Technology, UWA (1986-1989 in School of Electrical and Electronic Eng, 1989-2002, 2004- in Maths and Stats, 2002-2003 at UQ, QUT and Griffith University). He is particularly interested in student learning and motivating students to engage with learning. He has been nominated for the Faculty teaching award several times, and received a commendation in 2007. He has presented his ideas on teaching in conferences. He is currently looking at student performance and class attendance, the effect of online learning, and student learning habits with a view to adapting teaching methods accordingly.

Winthrop Professor Hui Tong Chua is a Winthrop Professor of the School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering and the Program Chair for the Chemical Engineering Program. Hui Tong has been very much involved in the design of the Engineering Foundation units, and coordinates the Engineering Thermodynamic part of the Energy Unit. He is currently part of the research team to evaluate how well students learn under the new pedagogy for the foundation units. Hui Tong was the recipient of the Faculty 2010 Commendation Award and 2010 Award for Teaching Excellence (Individual Teaching).

Please RSVP to [email protected] as early as possible to assist with catering.

The course is designed for people with knowledge of basic statistics who want to learn more about regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA).

The course is hosted by the Centre for Applied Statistics and we offer discounted rate fees to UWA Graduate Research Students.

Fee information is available on our website cas.maths.uwa.edu.au. Please register online.

The 3MT competition challenges research students to give a dynamic and engaging presentation about their research and its significance in a way that can be understood by everybody. The audience will select the "People's Choice" winner.

Prospective students are invited to attend one of our info sessions to learn more about how to achieve an engineering career with UWA. These sessions will explain course details, career opportunities, prerequisite subjects and how to apply, as well as providing the opportunity for attendees to ask questions and meet Faculty staff.

Whether you're coming to the end of your time at high school and are considering your university study options, or you already have an undergraduate degree and are looking to re-skill or complete postgraduate study, our 'Becoming an Engineer with UWA' information sessions will provide you with the information you need to get your career in engineering headed in the right direction.

If you can't make it to this session, further sessions will be held in October and November.

Please visit the website for more information and to register your attendance.

The Annual Lecture is the highlight of the year for the UWA Historical Society and Convocation and we are delighted to welcome Winthrop Professor Cheryl Praeger to the podium to reflect upon her years on Campus and subsequent experiences and achievements.

Mathematician Cheryl Praeger has served the University of Western Australia as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Professor since 1976. She leads a flourishing research group in pure mathematics and is in the top one per cent of highly cited mathematicians in the world.

Attendance is free.

The course is designed for people with knowledge of basic statistics who want to learn more about how to analyse binary or survival data.

The course is hosted by the Centre for Applied Statistics and we offer discounted rate fees to UWA Graduate Research Students.

Fee information is available on our website http://www.cas.maths.uwa.edu.au/courses. Please register online.

This is an opportunity to learn how young engineers are helping people by making the world a better place to be.

Marita Cheng was awarded Young Australian of the Year for her work with RoboGals: see http://www.robogals.org/latest-news/latest/182 and this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nRXlT0b_v0

This event is her first stop in Western Australian tour. This is an opportunity to meet one of Australia’s most wildly enthusiastic young engineers. It will also be a great opportunity to meet young people who would like to become engineers.

Apart from Marita you will also meet mechatronic engineers doing exciting things here in WA, such as Professor Thomas Braunl, robot builder and now running one of Australia's largest trials of electric cars, here in Perth. See http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/8382462/perth-hosts-electric-car-trials/

There will be a modest charge ($10) for light food and refreshments: students and young people will be admitted free of charge.

ABOUT THE KEY SPEAKER

While still a university student, Marita Cheng has demonstrated vision and leadership well beyond her years and is dedicated to encouraging young women to become interested in a career in engineering. The daughter of Chinese parents, Marita was born and raised in far north Queensland and now studies at the University of Melbourne. She founded Robogals Global in 2008, as a response to the traditionally low levels of participation by women in engineering and technology. Robogals uses fun and educational activities to teach schoolgirls about engineering and the difference that engineers make to our lives. Already Robogals has run robotics workshops for 3,000 girls across 80 schools in Australia and now has 17 chapters across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Marita's career path includes studying for a Bachelor of Engineering and a Bachelor of Computer Science on a Paterson Scholarship. She has a Nancy Fairfax Churchill Fellowship, an International Youth Foundation YouthActionNet Fellowship and an Anita Borg Change Agent Award. A former panellist on ABC TV's New Inventors program, Marita plans to start a robotics company, creating robots that will take care of many everyday and mundane tasks. Already she has changed the way that girls view their capacity to contribute to engineering and technology.

UWA opens up the whole campus to the public.

Come and find out about the courses on offer, career options, scholarship opportunities, our valuable research, community programs and facilities.

There's also residential college tours, hands-on activities, live music and entertainment, and plenty of fun activities for the whole family.

Our internships will give you first-hand experience of Shell as an employer and exposure to a range of real-life business projects. You will have the opportunity to learn, network and make an impact. The projects provide are well defined, business relevant and challenging. We allow you to independently manage you own area of responsibility whilst receiving management support and business exposure.

All of our internships are paid and take place over the summer holidays, November – February, for a period of 12 weeks.

Come along to the Working in WA State Government information session. The session is open to students from all years and all disciplines. You will be surprised at the opportunities available in the public service.

Bookings on CareerHub – http://uwa.careerhub.com.au

Come down to room G25 in Asian Studies every Tuesday between 3-5pm to meet some new friends, practice your language skills and enjoy some free Chinese tea! It's not a class so feel free to come and go as you wish!

The Graduate School of Education invites you to participate in this inaugural Seminar Series.

With a focus on sharing personal insights into timely and relevant topics in education research, these seminars will engage participants in a lively discussion of some of the pressing issues affecting Australia’s academics, schools and society today.

Speakers and topics for 2012

15 August

Winthrop Professor Grady Venville

“Choosing science comes more from the heart than from the brain (or the pocket)”: A retrospective study of why scientists chose to study science.”

26 September

Winthrop Professor Stephen Houghton

“Are the seeds of antisociality and psychopathic traits sown early in life?”

10 October

Winthrop Professor and Chapple Chair David Andrich

“Sliding Doors in Academe: Idiosyncrasies of autobiography and controversy in psychometrics”

31 October

Winthrop Professor and Faculty Dean Helen Wildy

“NAPLAN Data: Improving student learning OR doing the work of the Devil?”

14 November

Winthrop Professor Thomas O’Donoghue

The primary school’s invasion of the privacy of the child: Unmasking the potential of some current practices

Venue Details

RSVP to Ms. Alyce Green, Administrative Assistant, GSE [email protected]

Abstracts and additional details will be distributed closer to the event date.

The ‘science pipeline’ in Australia is under threat because not enough budding scientists are moving through from school to university to science-based jobs. The aim of this research was to retrospectively survey current Australian and New Zealand scientists to ascertain why they chose to study science. The quantitative data from 722 respondents showed that, unsurprisingly, the main reasons were that they were interested in science and they were good at science. Secondary school science classes and one particular science teacher also were found to be important factors. Of more interest are their anecdotes about the challenges of becoming a scientist, some of which will be shared in this presentation.

Not only is volunteering an opportunity to give back to the community but it provides invaluable experience which can be included on your resume and helps to boost your employablity.

Come and learn more about the value of volunteering and the opportunities available.

Want to learn more about the lucrative Oil and Gas industry but don’t know where to start? Thinking about a career in Oil and Gas? Interested in adding a professionally accredited course to your résumé? The UWA Society of Petroleum Engineers is pleased to sponsor the Drilling Essentials course presented by Intertek Moody, valued at $3,000+. The event is open to UWA students from all disciplines interested in learning more about the industry, and no prior knowledge is required. If you’re interested in attending, please email Michael at [email protected] to register. Get in fast as the event is limited to the first 30 students.

SIFE is a global network of university teams competing in over 40 countries, creating change in the lives of others through the positive power of business.

Being the 2012 National Australian Champions, SIFE UWA will be travelling to Washington D.C in September to represent Australia at the SIFE World Cup. SIFE UWA has projects in areas including financial literacy, environmental sustainability and economic development whilst simultaneously impacting communities across Australia and beyond.

Want to help make a difference and gain invaluable business experience?? SIFE UWA is looking for talented, switched-on students from a range of disciplines to help us make a difference.

If you are interested in getting involved, we would like to invite you to the SIFE UWA Information Session WHEN: 1pm, Tuesday 28th of August, 2012 WHERE: Law Lecture Room 1, G.31

For more information – please contact [email protected]

Join us for a free welcome BBQ during common lunch hour - meet new friends, catch up with old ones and chat about burning Australia-China issues!