Upcoming Event - UTS Engineering & IT Careers Fair

On Wednesday 10 October from 2pm-4pm, UTS will host a careers fair for Engineering & IT students. We encourage all students who are looking for internships, vacation roles and graduate opportunities to attend. Even if you are not actively looking, it is good to make an appearance and gain familiarity with future potential employers. Remember to look smart, but not overdressed, ask intelligent questions..........NOT.....'Do you have a job for me?' instead be friendly and ask questions about the company. All the best with job hunting!

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Glad it was nice out

A couple of weekends ago, a friend and I decided to take a saturday afternoon and act as safety pilots for each other and practice some instrument approaches. It was a beautifully clear day with enough wind to make approaches interesting, but not so much that it was super bumpy.

So we take my airplane up (fresh from the CAPS repack) and did a practice ILS and I was a bit all over the place on that approach, which was a bit unusual, but I chalked it up to just getting used to the 6 pack scan again. So we were getting vectors for another ILS approach and we were on the downwind when I was looking at my instruments and my attitude indicator is showing a 10 degree right bank, while every other instrument is indicating straight and level flight.

I ask my safety pilot, "does that look right?" He of course says no. So I take the hood off, and do some troubleshooting. Vacuum gage still in the green, DG still reading correctly, but no flag on the AI. Very odd. We tell the tower that we will continue this approach but it will be our last.

I didn't cover up the AI, and put the hood back on, and did my best to "ignore" the misreading AI, just to see how I would react. As we rolled through the various vectors to final, the AI reacted either slowly or wrongly. Straight and level awaiting the glide slope intercept it read a left turn this time.

It is incredibly difficult  to ignore the main instrument in your scan. It was great actual partial panel practice, and a great reinforcer as to why you should cover up the wrong instrument. I keep post it notes in my flight bag for just such occasions and thankfully I have never had the reason to use it.

The vacuum system was inspected this past week and it checked out ok, so we are sending the AI out for repair, and I get to drive this weekend to my destination.

Fly safe!

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RMS site visit: Transport Management Centre for NSW

Today, the WiE&IT Team took almost 30 UTS students on a site visit to the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) Transport Management Centre for NSW. The Transport Management Centre is situated in Redfern, and is the centre for traffic control for all state roads in the whole of NSW- that's 18,000km of road! We were invited into their presentation room, the very same room where they greet politicians and international partners, which had a great view over the Transport Operations Room. Having never heard of the TMC before, I was truly amazed to see the huge screen occupying an entire wall and displaying many familiar roads. Angela Cannuli, our presenter for the day,  explained that the Operations controllers work in shifts to monitor these roads 24/7, every day of the year, and to send assistance where it's needed.

Operations Controllers monitoring traffic in Sydney city

Angela showed a short video which explained the operations of the TMC in more detail. The Operations Controllers role is 'incident management', which involves liaising with emergency services, coordinating field resources, monitoring traffic, planning major events to minimise impact on non event communities (such as City2Surf), communicating with customers including using various social media and last but not least, road works (of course). Angela also described some of the innovations in traffic control management that have been implemented throughout Sydney over the years. One of these innovations includes the SCATS system. SCATS stands for Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System, and is used to control traffic flow. Before SCATS was used, traffic lights were on a time based cycle, and would change periodically despite traffic flow. Now, when a car pulls up at an intersection, weights under the road detect there is a demand for the lights to change. This makes it much easier to reduce congestion in busy intersections. This system was developed in Australia, but is operational in 27 countries and 263 cities around the world.

Angela showing us the SCATS system in action 

Other innovations include the electronic lane changing system used on the Harbour Bridge, as well as the Live Traffic NSW website. Fiona Simmonds, who works on the Live Traffic NSW website, gave a short talk about the mobile applications that are now available for Android and iPone (which I immediately downloaded!).
RMS are always looking for graduates. Anyone interested in working at RMS should apply through their website, found here:
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/careers/index.html

Keep an eye on our Facebook for more upcoming events and site visits!
http://www.facebook.com/groups/UTSwieandit/

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UTS Women in Engineering Alumni Event

It’s a rainy afternoon in Sydney, but the inside of the Powerhouse Museum is warm and alive with music and the smell of good food. Guests were welcomed in front of a giant 1920’s steam train and invited to take a look at the museum's Engineering Excellence Awards technology exhibition. Engineers from around Sydney, UTS alumni and staff were treated to canapés and drinks before presentations began.  
Themed, "Where have the flowers gone?",

the meeting is an invitation to UTS  engineering graduates to reflect on where they are now and share perspectives on the
experience for women in the profession today. 
The rate of growth of women in the engineering profession in Australia does not reflect even the small increases in university enrolments since the 1990’s. Reasons for leaving engineering uncovered by successive industry surveys include lack of flexible working conditions, workplace culture, lack of career development and pay inequity. At the same time, women are succeeding in engineering by adapting and by innovating and by finding progressive employers. What prospects are there for change that will better sustain and help retain women to succeed and flourish in their chosen fields and how can we collaborate to see it happen?
This topic was discussed by three panelists: Professor Marian Baird, Drenka Andjelic and Fiona Coe.
Professor Marian Baird has been a key policy advisor to government in the development of new legislation – Paid Parental Leave, Fair Work and the proposed Workplace Gender Equality Act.

Drenka Andjelic (Alumni) has put her values about work life balance into practice in the establishment of her project management company in the construction industry, and has won recognition for her innovation.

Fiona Coe (Alumni) has been a strong advocate for women in engineering as a student, and she has worked hard to make her professional workplace a more sympathetic environment. Now she is on a quest to find a way to resolve her passions with engineering practice.
After the speakers, there was a lively discussion  with many questions from the audience. Some interesting points of contention were raised and different view points discussed. You can view the entire presentation section of the evening by clicking here.

From left to right: Bronwyn Holland, Drenka Andjelic,
Fiona Coe and Prof. Marian Baird

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Oleo Strut Sag Check

A good question was posed to me yesterday about how to tell if your oleo strut is properly charged. We began installing oleos with the SR22T introduction with the SR20 and SR22's following shortly afteward. So they have been in production a few years now.

It is common for manufacturers to list an exposed amount of chrome to indicate a properly charged strut. This makes it easy for mechanics and pilots alike to be able to look at their airplane and know if the strut is charged.

For the Cirrus, this number is listed in the Aircraft Maintenance Manual (AMM) Chapter 32-20. For the SR22/22T shown below that measurement is 2.00-2.25". For the SR20 it is 2.25-2.5" due to the lower weight.

SR22/22T Oleo Strut Exposed Chrome Measurement for a Properly Charged Strut

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WiE&IT Semester Spring Lunch

Each semester, WiE&IT hold a special luncheon to celebrate yet another round of exams, internships and hard work. In 2012 our Spring Semester Luncheon on 12 September saw almost 60 students and Faculty of Engineering and IT staff members in attendance. 

After networking over food and refreshments, the Director of the UTS Women in Engineering and IT Program; Bronwyn Holland gave a brief welcome and an overview of the year’s events. Bronwyn also paid her respects to Joan Bielski, who was an influential and passionate advocate for gender equality in Australia and who attended the Spring Semester Lunch in 2011. Sadly, Joan passed away in mid August, but her achievements throughout her career and her support of the WiE&IT Program will not be forgotten.

Bronwyn then introduced the two guest speakers for the day. First was UTS Alumni, Jenny Bhuiyan (BE-software) who now works for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Jenny went through her story of transitioning from studying a double degree of Bachelor of Software Engineering at UTS, to entering the workforce and becoming a valuable member of several teams throughout her career. One piece of advice that resounded throughout Jenny’s speech was to embrace every opportunity you can. This is a motto that Jenny herself has stuck by, and it has helped her identify her strengths and weaknesses, as well as give her valuable experience in areas not generally expanded upon in Business and IT studies, such as customer service.

After Jenny’s inspiring words, we heard from Seline Hardy, a current UTS student studying Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Science in IT. Seline reflected on her experiences at the Telecom Summer School in Paris in July this year. After making up her mind to go to Paris in 2011 and missing out on the opportunity, Seline made it her mission to attend the Telecom Summer School in 2012. Seline gave us an insight into her rural background from Parkes NSW, highlighting how much of a culture shock it was for her when she finally got to travel to France.

WiE&IT Program Staff would like to thank all students, staff and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for their support, and we hope to see you all at the next semester lunch in Autumn 2013!

Our two lovely guest speakers: Jenny Bhuiyan, BE-Software Engineering (left)
and Seline Hardy, BBusBScIT (right)

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Integrated Fuel Level Display

The last analog gage in the cockpit has been the fuel level gage. All the other gages had been integrated into the Garmin Perspective system, so obviously this is another one that we wanted integrated to complete the system.

One problem we ran into was that we had used up all the available analog inputs into the Perspective system. So to use our existing level senders we would have to design, build, and install another box to convert it from analog to digital. That solution was less than inviting so we began looking for a new digital solution to the fluid level senders.

What we ended up with was a technology that uses anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) non-contact technology. This solid state device, common in many automotive and other applications, was tied to the same type of float we already used which made the installation and certification easier for us.

We began installing this in airplanes back in the May time frame. It is not easily retrofittable, so Cirrus is not offering a service bulletin to install it. However the device manufacturer CIES is working on an STC to install it in Cirrus and other models of airplanes. Scott the owner also has a blog (http://fuellevel.blogspot.com/) and I encourage you to check it out.

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September Speakers Workshops at UTS

Between February and July this year, the Sydney Women in Engineering & IT (SWIEIT) Speakers Program have engaged with 25 schools and over 1000 school girls from years 8 to 12. This program is jointly sponsored by the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), NSW and GHD professional services firm. More information can be found on SWIEIT Speakers Program by clicking here.

Being an active outreach initiative that WiE&IT single-handedly coordinate, speakers for our presentations and school visits are always warmly welcomed. That’s why on Wednesday 5 September and Friday 7 September, women studying either Engineering or IT at UTS were invited to come and participate in an intensive 3 hour workshop designed to improve public speaking skills.  These workshops not only gave participants an opportunity to assess and analyse their public speaking style and presence, but it also gave them an opportunity to get to know some of the other women studying in the Faculty of Engineering and IT. Principal Advisor for Workplace Diversity and Equity from RMS, Ann Pitkeathly, also attended the evenings giving some insight into the importance of public speaking skills in the public sector workplace. The workshops were open to both undergraduates and postgraduates, so there were quite a few fresh faces over the two evenings. Ian Colley from UTS Training and Development Services facilitated the workshops, giving helpful acronyms to help us remember some of the more important aspects of public speaking. Some of these tips were:

Visuals: enhance your presentation. Photos are always better than cartoons!

Audio:  Alter your tone of voice to drive home a point.

Kinaesthetic: moving and touching, getting your audience involved by asking them to raise hands. 

Head: knowledge. Knowing what you are going to talk about makes presenting easier.

Heart: emotions, try to establish an emotional connection and pull at peoples heart strings.

Feet: movement and purpose, moving around the stage but also giving your speech a direction.

Afterwards, all SWIEIT Speakers and workshop attendees were invited to the Great Hall balcony for the annual SWIEIT Speakers Party, to celebrate the years Outreach activities and acknowledge the efforts of all those who contributed to the program throughout the past few years.

WiE&IT Program staff would like to say thank you  to all the girls who have participated in the program, particularly those that have travelled long distances to reach schools in rural communities. 
Anyone who is a female studying or working in these fields, is a cadet or a cooperative scholarship recipient, or UTS female Alumni is encouraged to join the program, so they can share their story and inspire female high school students to consider engineering or IT as a career!

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Zonta Club of Sydney Breakfast - 'Women in Engineering' Award

This morning, students and staff of UTS were invited to breakfast with some of Sydney's most influential women in business, hosted at Westpac Place. Zonta International is an global initiative that is aimed at advancing the status of women in numerous fields. Once again this September, Zonta is celebrating the history of achievements of women in engineering. The breakfast began with a fantastic presentation from Sandra Triulzi, National Diversity Manager at Abigroup, a true pioneer for diversity and gender equality in the field of engineering.

Apart from offering a space to mingle, Zonta also provides encouragement for the next generation of engineers by offering financial support. This year a record number of UTS female students applied for the 2012 Zonta International Club of Sydney Breakfast Award, which was given to Su Myat Khine Win- congratulations Su Myat! Su Myat is in her second year of the Bachelor of Engineering, Diploma in Engineering Practice, majoring in Civil Engineering. Su Myat gave a short presentation at the breakfast, giving us some insight into her background and her passion for civil engineering. She began a medical degree in her home country of Burma,  before moving to Australia and finishing a nursing degree which she completed in Australia. Su Myat has been working as a qualified nurse for many years. However, her curiosity for Civil Engineering was so strong that it inspired her to change professions. Though Su Myat outlined the various challenges associated with starting a new profession after so many years away from the Maths & Physics classroom - she has been doing very well in her course and has thoroughly been enjoying her studies at UTS. Upon receiving the Zonta award, Su Myat announced she would be donating $300 back to the club, which prompted a standing ovation! Su Myat's story is truly inspiring and hearing it was definitely the highlight of the morning.

Award applicants (L-R) Jaime Cheuk, Sixiao Lu, Amy Burrows, Sy Myat Khine Win (winner), Kulsoom Hussain, Sally Anderson and Sijjal Tasneem. 

All award applicants were invited to attend the breakfast as well as getting the opportunity to mingle with Zonta Club of Sydney Breakfast members that work in various industries throughout Sydney. Su Myat Khine Win will be officially acknowledged as the Zonta Award winner at the Faculty of Engineering and IT award night in October.

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