SWIEIT Speakers' Visit - Randwick Girls High School, 28 June

On 28 June the SWIEIT Speakers team visited Randwick Girls High School. UTS students Ashwini and Tammy spoke about their experiences as university students and the various influences which lead them to pursue studying engineering and IT. Ashwini outlined the transition she made from high school into the workforce and then to studying engineering. Tammy outlined her influences in choosing a career in IT highlighting that her father was an engineer, her interest in coding at a young age after her friend set up a website and the realisation that she wanted to pursue a career which highlighted and complemented her strengths. Ashwini and Tammy both spoke about how both the engineering and IT fields are very extensive, and open up the opportunity to work in diverse roles.

The SWIEIT Speakers team then ran the Engineers Without Borders activity of Floating Houses. The students learnt that in developing countries such as Cambodia many villages are susceptible to flooding and sanitation problems. The students were then tasked with the activity of developing a structure which floated and could hold weight on a limited budget in essence modelling a floating house. The activity was successful with all students designing unique models.

The SWIEIT Speakers team would like to thank Randwick Girls High School for hosting a visit. We look forward to seeing you again in 2014.

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Sydney Engineering Researcher wins Bright Sparks Competition

On Tuesday 4 June  at The Basement in Circular Quay, Sydney - a selection of Australia’s brightest PhD researchers had 150 seconds to convince a panel of judges why their research deserves AMP's $5000 funding. Beyond the judging panel these researchers are pitching to the hearts and minds of an audience brimming with seed-funders and collaborators.

The program invites PhD researchers to collaborate with performance coaches to transpose 'geek speak' into an easily understood and entertaining pitch.

Kate McDonell, Sydney-based Civil Engineer and PhD candidate won the Bright Sparks PhD competition where 19 finalists from around the country communicated their PhD in a 2.5 minute performance as part of the AMP AMPlify festival. She mimicked the self healing behaviour of carbon nanotubes under electron irradiation by throwing balls at her friends. Outside of her academic career, Kate spends her time as Vice President of Engineers without Borders in the Sydney Region including talking to high school students about the significant influence that engineering has on our quality of life and basic human rights.

UTS Women in Engineering & IT Program would like to congratulate Kate for all her achievements and wish her all the best for the rest of her studies and work with Engineers without Borders Australia!

Please find some photos of Kate's research pitch as part of the Bright Sparks competition below.

Photographer: Phillip Qin

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Getting Hands on with STEM

198 female high school students from 30 schools around NSW and the ACT gathered at the University of Technology, Sydney for the 2013 bi-annual Women in Engineering and IT Hands On Day on Friday 5 April. The day consisted of  interactive activities which encourage 13-18-year-old female high school students to consider engineering and IT as a career option.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities included:

• simulating earthquakes and learning about the power of amplitudes and frequencies with UTS’s remote lab
• the chance to learn the basics of Javascript, one of the world’s most common programming languages
• using magnets, batteries and wires to make an artificial heart and
• discovering how robots can be used to save lives following natural disasters
• careers talks from various UTS Alumni including Daphne Chong, Senior Software developer at Mi9.

Thanks to UTS’s strong links engaging with industry the day also featured representatives from Engineers without Borders, UTS Motorsports, UTS Centre for Health Technologies, ARC Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems, Commonwealth Bank, Microsoft, Tech Girls are Chic- Not Just Geek, Females in  IT and Telecommunications(FITT) and Symantec; as well as staff and student societies from the Faculty of Engineering and IT.

The Faculty’s Equity & Outreach Coordinator Laura Waibel said events like Hands On Day are important in convincing high school girls of the long-term societal benefits of studying and working in IT and Engineering.

‘’These industries are extremely important in shaping a sustainable and technology-driven future and women are currently underrepresented in both engineering and IT. We're hoping to change that one female high school student at a time because individuals regardless of gender and society as a whole stands to benefit from increased female participation in engineering and IT,’’ said Ms Waibel whose team were impressed by the energy of students at Hands On Day – particularly those who woke early to make the journey from Newcastle and the far south coast.

The next Hands On Day takes place on 6 August. Places fill up quickly so teachers are encouraged to book places early. Parents are encouraged to register their daughters to attend if schools are not able to allow an excursion.

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WiE&IT second Hands on Day for 2012

On Friday 17 August 2012, UTS played host to almost 300 high school girls from 26 schools across NSW, making this Hands on Day the largest to date. Students from as far as the South Coast to the Hunter-Central Coast attended the Women in Engineering and IT second Hands on Day for Smarter Futures this year. Students participated in a range of activities which are designed to engage them with engineering and IT disciplines. As always, these days hinge on the contributions of activities facilitated by UTS academic staff, as well as industry partners such as Roads and Maritime Services, Commonwealth Bank, Tech Girls are Chic, Engineers without Borders NSW and ThoughtWorks. Student volunteers also played a vital role in the success of the day by helping the girls in their activities as well as telling them what its like to be a UTS female student studying engineering or IT. Whether it is designing computer games, controlling robots or constructing models of Spaghetti Bridges, each student learnt something new and gained an insight into student life at UTS.

Students learning about road construction and drainage

For more information about Hands on Days next year, click on the Hands on Day tab at the top of this page. To see another article about our last Hands on Day you can visit this link http://www.newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2012/08/hands-on-day-marks-new-high-for-women-in-engineering-it

All our wonderful volunteers!

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Engineering & IT Hands on Day for Smarter Futures

If you were around the UTS city campus last Friday 27 April 2012 then you were probably wondering why there were so many students around during Vice Chancellor’s week. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss a memo and class didn’t start back a week early- it was just one of the Women in Engineering and IT's bi-annual ‘Hands on Days’. 

The Women in Engineering and IT (WiE&IT) team invite schools from all across New South Wales to participate in a fun and interactive activities day, aimed at encouraging female school leavers to consider engineering and IT as a study option and future career. Students travelled from places as far as Mudgee, the Central Coast and Newcastle to participate. The activities involved many aspects of engineering and IT learnt through studying at UTS, and ranged from making prosthetic legs, creating computer games and apps, controlling robots and even how to make artificial hearts. 

These activities couldn’t happen without support from industry partners, who donate their time to talk to the students. Each year, WiE&IT encourage industry partners to run an activity, giving the students an insight into engineering and IT career pathways and an opportunity to speak to women already working in these industries.  Companies such as Thales Group, the Roads and Maritime Services, Engineers Without Borders, Thoughtworks Australia and Microsoft Australia all ran activities that taught the girls how engineering and IT are embedded in almost every aspect of our lives. The Engineers Without Borders team did an excellent job of reinforcing this, by proving that the majority of the world's problems can be fixed using engineering solutions. 

Nekisa Mostafavi, a 5^th year Mechanical Engineering student and a facilitator for the ‘Mousetrap Race Cars’ activity, was delighted by the participant’s enthusiasm.

“I liked that everyone was involved, not just the students but the teachers as well,”  Nekisa said.

“I think the ‘Mousetrap’ activity gave them an idea of how engineering [principles] can be incorporated more into high school subjects [such as, science and physics].”

At the end of the day, over 200 hundred students had learnt something new about engineering and IT, and hopefully inspired them to pull us towards the vision of Hands on Day- ‘Engineering and IT for Smarter Futures’. 

By Shellee Murphy-Oates

UTS Events Cadet, Faculty of Engineering & IT

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