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Oct 15, 2018 | 00:05 am
Both men recently visited a number of countries, taking with them the passion for education and engineering that marks the Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT). They have travelled to share the opportunities EIT offers students who want to further their engineering studies, or who dream of becoming engineers - online or on campus in Perth, Western Australia.Rolf and David will have packed many facts about EIT’s learning platform and approach into their deliveries. For instance, that EIT’s teachers are engineering experts from all over the world. And that they reach students in real time – whether they are on campus or online. They would also have spoken of EIT’s course content – that it is driven by the needs of industry and designed (and indeed re-designed) to be relevant, practical and useful.Rolf Baum, EIT’s International Recruitment Manager in the South Asia region, recently visited India and Pakistan to gauge the[…]
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Oct 10, 2018 | 23:56 pm
Just across from EIT’s sister company in South Africa, in Waterfall City, Midrand, the largest rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) system in the southern hemisphere has been unveiled.If there’s one thing that South Africa doesn’t lack, it’s sunshine. Malls and other venues that keep the lights on around the clock are moving towards renewable energy to reduce their carbon footprints. It also provides a model for the country; encouraging the citizens of South Africa to dream of and plan for a future where clean energy makes up one hundred per cent of the energy mix.Engineers from renewable energy company Solareff have fitted the Mall of Africa’s roof with a US $3.49 million photovoltaic system that will generate the necessary energy to keep the lights on.Source: Business InsiderIt is officially the 10th most significant photovoltaic solar setup in the world, and purportedly the world’s first mixed-use integrated solar power-diesel hybrid system.Talking to[…]
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Oct 9, 2018 | 07:13 am
This week the Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) received some important visitors. A delegation of three (the CEO and two supporting managers) from the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) spent two days at our head office and on our campus in Perth, Western Australia. ECSA is the equivalent of Engineers Australia, but with greater regulatory power.ECSA team and a number of EIT Managers Front row: ECSA CEO, Mr S Madonsela (middle)Back row: ECSA Council Member, Mr A Sentsho (third from left), Dean at EIT, Dr S Mackay (second from right), ECSA Executive Researcher, Mr M Gwazube ( end at right)Their mission was to learn more about the online and blended learning platforms available for engineering education. The result of their research will be two-fold. South African education institutions can look forward to a robust set of protocols and standards on which to base their online learning methodologies. And those[…]
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Oct 4, 2018 | 07:01 am
The fourth industrial revolution is disrupting so many engineering industries, the civil engineers are beginning to call it ‘Civils 4.0.' Mark Hansford, writing for New Civil Engineer, says the industry is on "the cusp of a technological revolution."In a year of high-profile bridge collapses, the civil engineering industry has seen more disparaging headlines than it is comfortable with. Something needs to be done within the industry to ensure these catastrophic failures don't occur.In 2018, innovative and pioneering methods of construction alike have been nitpicked after highly publicized failures have occurred. The first incident that had engineers scratching their heads was in May when the Florida International University Bridge collapsed onto a highway.Then in August the Morandi Bridge in Genoa came down. In the first case, innovative methods of construction known as ‘Accelerated Bridge Construction’ saw some criticism. But Hansford says the highly publicized failures are no reason to prevent further[…]
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Oct 4, 2018 | 03:09 am
September has come and gone, and it has given us something to contemplate as we venture towards the final three months of the year.Investigative journalism show, Vice aired an episode in September entitled: Engineering Earth.The episode alluded to the fact that engineers and scientists are looking to a new era of geoengineering as a ‘last ditch effort' to mitigate the effects of global warming. The report asserted that a technological revolution may be necessary to curb the phenomenon of global warming.Vice founder Shane Smith said after 50 years of research, engineers and scientists are aware that the level of carbon dioxide present in our atmosphere ‘exceeds levels that haven't been seen in three million years.' He said the world is clearly past the point of no return.Visiting Greenland's Eagle glacier — a glacier that has experienced immense runoff — Smith spoke to Jason Box, a PhD contributor to Vice and[…]
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Oct 3, 2018 | 07:28 am
As we rapidly move through our first year of hosting on-campus students, we are consistently experiencing lots of ‘firsts’. In their first year of study, our students take part in a site-visit to gain a little insight into the engineering industry they have chosen. CELEBRATION OF SUCCESSRecently, one of our first-year Bachelor of Science (Civil and Structural Engineering) students, Hamza Baig completed his first industrial site-visit. I had the pleasure of interviewing Hamza, who was very excited to share his experience. How did you know which companies to contact?I went through the ‘top Australian companies’ contact list provided by the unit co-ordinator and highlighted those in Perth.I then used the template letter on Moodle and sent Pro Build an email, introducing myself and requesting a day on-site. Within a very short time they replied, providing me with the site-manager’s details, who then put me in touch with the site co-ordinator. We confirmed[…]
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Oct 3, 2018 | 07:02 am
A new report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows female engineering graduates earned slightly more than their male counterparts for the first time in 2017.These figures account for males and females who have completed an undergraduate engineering degree and have started in their first full-time role. According to the report, the median starting salary for female engineering graduates is $65k. For male engineering graduates, the median starting salary is $63.5k.Source: Australian Bureau of StatisticsAccording to the ABS, female graduates still earn less than male graduates in 15 out of the 19 key industries but are on a par in the communications field.These figures come from the Australian Graduate Outcomes Survey 2017, which was conducted by the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) and released in February this year. They aim to provide students with relevant and transparent information about Australian higher education institutions from the perspective of[…]
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Oct 2, 2018 | 07:36 am
India celebrates Engineering Day on the 15th of September every year. Google, this year, decided to honor one of India’s most celebrated engineers -Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. He was the Google Doodle for the day. Behind him on the Doodle, is the work he is most famous for; the Krishna Raja Sagara Lake and dam.Popularly known as Sir MV, he was a lead player in the construction of the Krishna Raja Sagara dam in the North-West suburb of Mysore City. It was early in his career that it was clear he had an affinity for irrigation systems. Soon after his studies, he became the sanitary engineer for the government of Bombay.Source: Screenshot from GoogleDuring his tenure in Bombay, he implemented a block system of irrigation that would provide irrigation for a large number of villages.His mantra was: “Work is Worship”. When he looked at naturally occuring waterfalls, he knew that hydroelectric[…]
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Oct 2, 2018 | 06:04 am
Germany has unveiled not one but two Hydrogen fuel trains. It is being celebrated as a world-first.The train can traverse 600 miles (1,000km) of railway on a single tank of hydrogen. What is significant about this number is that it matches what diesel trains can do. The new-fangled trains can reach a speed of 140km/h (86.99 miles per hour).The fuel cells are positioned on top of the train. The cells combine hydrogen and oxygen, then transfer them to lithium-ion batteries inside the train. The train then emits steam and water. Another 58 zero-emissions trains are to be sold to Germany.The train has been specifically designed to operate on non-electrified railway lines. To refuel the train, there will be a hydrogen refueling station Bremervorde where a 40-foot-high steel container will be pumped into the trains. The train is also quieter than its diesel-powered brethren.Source: Twitter; AlstromIt is named the Coradia iLint,[…]
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Oct 2, 2018 | 05:52 am
In a digital world, higher education becomes a shapeshifter.Even after graduation, continuous and life-long re-skilling and up-skilling is becoming a necessity. The difficulty for universities is to keep up with the demand for new forms of education and training as a result of the internet age. Brick-and-mortar institutions are facing digital expansion and are struggling to stay ahead.And for the current workforce, advances in this world of digital transformation simply threaten their jobs. A skills shortage has arisen and will continue to deepen if workers cannot access new and relevant skills.Big data, business automation, and intelligence solutions are now becoming commonplace in the vocabulary of a modern workplace. Digital literacy is critical and according to the Australian Industry Group’s 2018 Workforce Development Needs Survey, Australian companies are struggling to find aptly trained individuals. Australia’s workforce According to the survey, companies are beginning to take on more apprentices and those fresh out[…]
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Oct 2, 2018 | 05:19 am
How do you make a nanodevice move? Add some light. No, really.A nanomotor is a molecular or nanoscale device capable of converting energy into movement. The motors are so small they can fit inside human cells. The benefits of engineering these kinds of motors in the future of biomedicine and robotics might be unfathomable.The University of Texas at Austin is abuzz with the news that their mechanical engineers have — once again — achieved a breakthrough for nanotechnology.Source: Cockrell School of EngineeringThey have created a method for selecting and switching mechanical motions of nanomotors among multiple modes with visible light as the stimulus. The engineers are confident their findings can factor into the next generation of controllable nanoelectromechanical and nanorobotic devices.The engineers liken light as a stimulus to a knob that can select the different modes of mechanical motions. The devices convert energy into movement at the cellular and molecular[…]
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Oct 2, 2018 | 03:40 am
A recently formed civil engineering company, the Boring Company, is planning to further tunneling and tunnel mechanics. The CEO happens to be the hotly debated Elon Musk.He has been inspired by the challenges of the Los Angeles transport infrastructure and believes that with California famously splayed across the San Andreas Fault, tunnels would survive an earthquake.However, a journal published by Springer points out that for tunnels to be completely safe from earthquakes, they have to be as deeply embedded in the ground as possible. An excerpt reads:“Experience shows that underground structures, especially deep ones, are far less vulnerable to earthquakes than superficial ones. The earthquake waves can also be amplified within soft superficial strata. In addition, loose water-saturated soil may lose its strength (so-called liquefaction), and this can lead to landslides or failure of foundations and retaining walls.”Source: The Boring CompanySo going deeper is better. And aside from the already[…]
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Oct 2, 2018 | 03:16 am
Could solar and wind farms create gardens of Eden in the desert?According to a newly published study in the popular journal, Science, bringing rain to the desert with solar arrays and wind turbines is not far-fetched. The study is entitled: ‘Climate model shows large-scale wind and solar farms in the Sahara increase rain and vegetation’.The researchers assert that as each solar and wind farm grows in size the ‘consequences’ for the climate increase too. With solar panels on the ground, the earth reflects less heat back into the atmosphere. And when turbines spin, warmer air is combined with cooler air. These occurrences can change the local climates.Source: PixabayUtilizing a climate prediction model, researchers suggest that rainfall would increase and with this more vegetation would grow.This is not the first time scientists have asserted that big solar farms and wind farms could cause climate change. In 2012, the journal Nature put[…]
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Oct 2, 2018 | 02:51 am
The convergence of machine learning and engineering is perhaps the most important crossing of paths in modern times.Companies in a plethora of industries are expected to (and already are) opting-in to the AI future. As technology advances, it is up to the prospective engineer to adapt to the innovation that is occurring and use it to their advantage.Machine learning and certain levels of AI have seen in the automated industrial warehouse. However, ‘AI’ and ‘machine learning’ have become a little like buzzwords in the engineering world today. Entry-level engineering students might be questioning what exactly might be impacting the future workplace they are studying towards. What does this so-called threatening AI look like?Source: PixabayCEO of machine learning company Iprova, Julian Nolan explains:“For example, a smart microphone could have embedded algorithms that normalise input audio levels and clean out an adjustable level of background noise. If it does this in real-time[…]
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Oct 2, 2018 | 02:31 am
The advancement of technology has its advantages, especially for rural areas and low-income households around the world. With microsystems and nano-engineering, processes can be made more efficient and the cost of operation reduced.Also, some engineers have turned their skills in this direction, designing complex wearable technologies that are improving, and in some cases saving people’s lives. Wearable technologies are revolutionizing industries as they focus on the health of workers usually at risk.For example, miners, inside mines, can utilize wearable technologies to monitor their health and safety underground. Also, innovation is continuing.Engineers at the University of British Columbia have invented an ultrasound transducer. A transducer is a device that converts a variation in a physical quantity, such as pressure or brightness, into an electrical signal or vice versa.Source: Clare Kiernan, University of British ColumbiaEssentially they have designed an ultrasound sensor that can be carried around in a pocket. So, how did[…]
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Both men recently visited a number of countries, taking with them the passion for education and engineering that marks the Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT). They have travelled to share the opportunities EIT offers students who want to further their[…]
Just across from EIT’s sister company in South Africa, in Waterfall City, Midrand, the largest rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) system in the southern hemisphere has been unveiled.If there’s one thing that South Africa doesn’t lack, it’s sunshine. Malls and other[…]
This week the Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) received some important visitors. A delegation of three (the CEO and two supporting managers) from the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) spent two days at our head office and on our[…]
The fourth industrial revolution is disrupting so many engineering industries, the civil engineers are beginning to call it ‘Civils 4.0.' Mark Hansford, writing for New Civil Engineer, says the industry is on "the cusp of a technological revolution."In a year[…]
September has come and gone, and it has given us something to contemplate as we venture towards the final three months of the year.Investigative journalism show, Vice aired an episode in September entitled: Engineering Earth.The episode alluded to the fact[…]
As we rapidly move through our first year of hosting on-campus students, we are consistently experiencing lots of ‘firsts’. In their first year of study, our students take part in a site-visit to gain a little insight into the engineering[…]
A new report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows female engineering graduates earned slightly more than their male counterparts for the first time in 2017.These figures account for males and females who have completed an undergraduate engineering degree[…]
India celebrates Engineering Day on the 15th of September every year. Google, this year, decided to honor one of India’s most celebrated engineers -Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. He was the Google Doodle for the day. Behind him on the Doodle, is[…]
Germany has unveiled not one but two Hydrogen fuel trains. It is being celebrated as a world-first.The train can traverse 600 miles (1,000km) of railway on a single tank of hydrogen. What is significant about this number is that it[…]
In a digital world, higher education becomes a shapeshifter.Even after graduation, continuous and life-long re-skilling and up-skilling is becoming a necessity. The difficulty for universities is to keep up with the demand for new forms of education and training as[…]
