Women in Engineering Winter Gala Dinner 2012

To celebrate the conclusion of Engineering Week, the Sydney division of Engineers Australia invited women from all over Sydney and surrounds to join them for their annual Women in Engineering Winter Gala Dinner. On 11 August 2012, several representatives of the UTS Women in Engineering and IT Program attended this spectacular black tie event. This year, the Winter Gala Dinner was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Circular Quay, with stunning views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. After being greeted by waiters holding trays of drinks and told where we were sitting, we got an opportunity to mingle and appreciate the balcony view, as well as everyone’s extravagant clothing! A wonderful three course dinner was served, interspersed with speeches by the two guest speakers. 

First to talk was Sandra Triulzi, who is the National Diversity Manager at Abigroup. Sandra spoke about her experiences and about some of the things she has learnt over the years working as a female in a male dominated industry. One of her more prominent points was the need for there to be an industry wide paradigm shift away from emphasis on the ideal employee towards being an ideal employer.

The second presenter was the guest of honour, Professor Mary O’Kane, NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer. It was a truly special experience hearing Mary's address, which touched on many keen issues that affect women in non-traditional fields today. Everyone wanted a photo with Mary afterwards as a souvenir to remember her inspirational words. 

At the close of the speeches section of the event, everyone was encouraged to stay for tea and coffee and enjoy the venue. The night was relaxing and tasteful, and I can’t wait to attend again next year!

 WiE&IT Staff with Professor Mary O'Kane, NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer

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New Service Bulletins

Over the last 6 weeks or so, we have released a handful of service bulletins. I will summarize a couple of them here, but I encourage all owners to ensure they are up to date on their service bulletins.

SB2X-71-21 Upper Cowl Flexing affects a small number of SR22 airplanes. When the SR22T came on line a couple of years ago, we worked to create a common upper cowl between the SR22T and the SR22. To do this, we had to cut back some of the foam in the composite cowl for clearance to some parts on the SR22T. This area was supported by baffle ramps in the SR22T but there is no similar support in the SR22.

So over time, during high speed descents this local area (front right) of the cowl begins to bulge. This doesn't have any affect on the strength of the cowl, but it does result in a cosmetic issue (cracking paint) at a very early time (about 1 year). Our solution is to go back and put some foam back into the layup during production, and a similar field fix to put foam and fiberglass on the cowl to stiffen this area.

SB2X-05-02 Induction Duct Flapper Bolt Replacement Interval involves pre-perspective airplanes. There is a bolt that holds the alt air flapper valve and over time this bolt wears to the point where the nut and cotter pin could come loose. When that happens, it could cause the bolt and flapper valve to vibrate to the point where the bushing or other attaching hardware could break loose and get injested in the engine. There is an inspection point for this bolt at the annual maintenance interval, and this service bulletin adds a recommended replacement interval of 2 years or 500 hours for this bolt.

SB2X-57-13 Lower Landing Gear Attach Bracket Torque. During assembly at the factory, the bolt torque was adjusted for nut friction but it may not have taken into account bolt friction. This Service Bulletin inspects and retourques all the attach fasteners.

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Oshkosh

I was able to attend Airventure again this year on Monday. Although I always like going there, and was able to meet some people for work and personal reasons, it was extra special because I got to spend a few hours there with my grandfather. My grandfather Elroy, was the first person to take me to Oshkosh way back in 1985. That trip left a memorable impression on me with all the various types of airplanes, from homebuilts, to warbards, and the Concord was there too! It was the first time I saw aerobatic performances and was amazed at how they can do that (still am).

Although by that point I already had a pretty big interest in aviation, that trip cemented my desire to make it a career. My grandfather has not been back to Oshkosh since 1987, so needless to say things have changed quite a bit since he was there last. We met at the Cirrus booth, looked around there and then went for a walk through the antique/classic area and watched some of the ultralights flying around. It was a memorable day for both of us.

So thanks Grandpa for supporting my career then and now. I am sure there are others that have similar stories, and I would love to hear them.

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SWIEIT Speakers' Program - Riverina Road Trip

On Monday 30 July, Sydney Women in Engineering and IT Speakers' Amy (BE-mechanical) and Rochelle (BInfTech) travelled to the Riverina region of rural NSW to speak to over 120 female students in Years 7-12. After a frosty morning with ice on the windscreen of the hire-car, first up was the school hall at Murrumburrah High School where the speakers engaged a lovely group of girls with their journey about wanting to study engineering & IT and some robot friends they took along. 

The SWIEIT speakers' then drove to Young where they were met by careers adviser Susan Matthews and a delicious lunch in the library staffroom - Thank you, before speaking to a group of senior girls in the school's ICT resource centre! Last stop for the day was Cootamundra High School before a long drive back up the Hume Highway to UTS Broadway Campus. A HUGE thank you is extended to all three schools for hosting us and we would love to see some of you come and visit us for Engineering & IT Discovery Day on Friday 30 November at UTS.     

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SWIEIT Speakers' visit - Mitchell High School Blacktown

Sydney Women in Engineering and IT Speakers' Jenny and Laura had the pleasure of speaking to a lovely group of year 10 and year 11 girls at Mitchell High School Blacktown on Friday 27 July. Jenny who grew up in the area and attended nearby Quaker's Hill Public school, opened up to the girls about her love for robotics and mechatronic systems, transition from TAFE Meadowbank to UTS:Engineering and all that has happened since including becoming an Australian Power Institute (API) scholar and working at Ausgrid, one of Australia's largest electricity suppliers. 

A huge thank you is extended to Mrs Christine Watson for organising for us to come and visit your female students. Please keep in touch and come and visit us at Open Day on Saturday 25 August. 

Read more about Jenny's story below: 

SWIEIT speaker Jenny from UTS_wieandit

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FEIT Public Lecture - TIM (Thought-controlled Intelligent Machine): A New Smart Wheelchair for People with Severe Physical Disability

Today in Australia there are around 700 thousand people living with severe disability, and many do not have access to any form of independence in mobility. To address this issue a hands-free, smart wheelchair named TIM (Thought-controlled Intelligent Machine) has been created at the University of Technology, Sydney. This smart wheelchair is aimed at providing new means of wheelchair control, such as thought-control, for those who currently cannot use any available control options. In addition, this wheelchair can sense its surroundings and provide safe manoeuvering assistance during navigation. 

Jordan Nguyen became involved in this research as part of his final year undergraduate project and in 2009 was awarded a scholarship to continue the research. Now nearing the completion of his PhD, Jordan will take you through the research undertaken and explain how 'TIM' will allow severely disabled people to control their chairs using only the power of their minds and some head movement, and how the wheelchair uses its cameras to see and intelligently decide how to avoid obstacles by constantly working out the safest directions to travel based on the user's intentions.

Jordan is a strong supporter of the Women in Engineering & IT Program at UTS and has been involved in promoting the field of Biomedical engineering to young women for many years now.

This is a free public lecture presented by UTS Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology and is also part of the Ultimo Science Festival, supported by the City of Sydney and the Australian Government. 

For further information on research being undertake in the faculty visit  FEIT Research.

  

Date: 21 August 2012

Time:18:00 - 20:00

Light refreshments from 6.00pm.

Location: City - Broadway CB01 Tower Broadway Great Hall UTS Building 1, Level 5.

               Map and directions.

 

Audience: All Welcome

 

Cost: This is a free event

 

RSVP: Registration essential. Please register online.

 

Contact:Tracey Grinter, Ph. 9514 2637 

 

 

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M10 Homecoming

It is a very exciting weekend for us here at Cirrus as the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) holds their annual "migration" which this year returns to Duluth. The new employees in Engineering are just as excited as us "veterans" to see all these airplanes on the ramp. A great benefit for me is it gives me another chance to meet and interaction with our customers and blog readers.

I will be around at the events on Thursday night, I give a talk on Engineering updates on Friday afternoon, and I will be around the convention area on Saturday afternoon, I always enjoy talking with fellow pilots and Cirrus owners, so feel free to stop me and say hello.

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