News Archive — 2008

December 2008 — Professor Eddie Leonardi, 1952-2008

Professor Eddie Leonardi, Head of the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at The University of New South Wales (UNSW), lost a four month battle with melanoma and died in a German hospital on Sunday, 14 December, 2008. He was just 56 years old.

Eddie was a wise and helpful counsellor to his colleagues. We would all turn to him for help with our computer problems, for example. No task was too great that he could not solve it — and no task was too small that he would not bother. As the newly-appointed Head of School he had great plans for the development of teaching and research in the School but, sadly, he was not given the time to implement them. His colleagues and friends outside the School have been overwhelming in their feelings of tenderness, sadness and loss. They have referred again and again to his kindness and generosity. One wrote "I really admired him for his helpfulness and his sunny attitude ... he brought friendship and happiness to many". Another said "We lost a leader in this field at such an early age ... we share [with his family] this loss of a very respected member of our community".

He gave his wholehearted attention to his graduate students, and was careful and equally thorough in the preparation and delivery of his lectures to undergraduates. He was at the peak of his life and career, having recently been appointed Head of School, been married and moved into a new home. He was a keen surfer all his life — a passion that may perhaps have led to his illness — and in recent years developed, with his wife Victoria, a love of music and a taste for the theatre. He was a loving and caring husband and father, and a very dear friend to all who knew him. He was a generous, kind, and fine man, who loved Australia and enjoyed life.

Eddie Leonardi was born in Cles, Trento, in the north of Italy and came to Australia at the age of 5. He obtained his B.Sc.(Eng.) in Mechanical Engineering with Merit in 1977 and his Ph.D. in 1984, both from UNSW. He married Louisa Said in 1972 and they had two sons, Christopher and Adam. The marriage ended in 1992 and in 2006 he married Victoria Timchenko.

His undergraduate degree was obtained by part-time study while he was an Assistant Engineer with the NSW Department of Public Works. In 1977 he joined the staff of UNSW as a Research Fellow and became a member of the academic staff in 1982. He moved up the academic scale, becoming a Professor in 2000 and Deputy Head of School in 2004. He was appointed Head of School in 2008. During his academic career he also held many short-term appointments as Visiting Professor or Visiting Fellow at overseas universities and research institutions in Cergy (in the outskirts of Paris), Florida, Göttingen, Haifa, Harwell, Hong Kong, Limoges, Lyon, Marseille, Rome and Warsaw.

In addition to being Head of School he was, or had been, Director of Research, of Computing, of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Research Laboratory and of the Refrigeration & Air Conditioning (R&AC) Laboratory in the School. He developed the R&AC Laboratory into a major testing and research facility, the only nationally accredited R&AC testing laboratory in Australia.

Eddie's teaching interests included CFD, thermodynamics, R&AC and heat transfer and his research covered CFD/CHT and also R&AC. Eddie was a consultant to industry in refrigeration, air conditioning and heat transfer. In addition, he was a consultant to government on the evaluation of Minimum Energy Performance Standards and the determination of appropriate testing and rating methods for air conditioners and commercial refrigeration systems and was a member of several national and international Standards and other professional committees. He had been Technical Editor and Chairman of the AIRAH Journal and editor or co-editor of many international conference proceedings, as well as Secretary or Co-Chair of several international conferences. He was External Academic Advisor to the Department of Building and Construction, City University of Hong Kong.

He received many academic awards and prizes, including several during his undergraduate degree, as well as the W.R. Ahern Award for best technical paper in the AIRAH Journal for 1988, an AIRAH Citation for contributions to the Air Conditioning Industry in 1994 and Life Membership of AIRAH for outstanding contributions to the AIRAH Journal in 1998. He was elected a Fellow of AIRAH for contributions to the air conditioning industry in 2000. He was also a member of other major mechanical engineering institutions: Engineers Australia, ASME and ASHRAE.

In 2008 he was made "Industry Mentor" by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturers' Association (AREMA) in recognition of his long-term contribution to the industry. Also in 2008 he was elected a Fellow of the International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer in recognition of his many contributions to ICHMT Symposia and his long and active service on the ICHMT Executive Committee.

He was the author, co-author or editor of ten books or chapters in books, and the author or co-author of 57 refereed journal papers, 177 refereed conference papers and 29 other publications, with an additional one conference and four journal papers recently submitted for publication.

Eddie Leonardi is survived by his parents Giuseppe and Bice Leonardi, his wife Victoria, his sons Christopher and Adam and his sister Julie and brother Stephen.

August 2008 — New thinking on engineering education

Dr Carl Reidsema has received a $220,000 grant from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council to investigate possible reforms of the way engineering is taught in the nation's universities.

Australian engineering faculties face numerous challenges: a new generation of students less willing to accept traditional lecture-based education; large numbers of "baby boomer" engineering educators nearing retirement; and increasing demand from industry for work-ready graduates.

Dr Reidsema is leading research involving UNSW, the University of Melbourne, Queensland University of Technology and the University of Sydney, aimed at identifying how to change Australia's engineering education to meet the needs of industry and students.

Dr Reidsema said the traditional model of engineering education in Australia "requires renewal" — with a move away from theory-heavy lectures towards teaching fundamentals and professional competencies through design-centred projects. Dr Reidsema led the creation of the UNSW Faculty of Engineering's first year Design and Innovation subject — a course created in response to industry feedback.

"We've got to rethink how we educate students," he said. "Students are paying a major component of engineering schools' budgets. Without a high quality education product in our universities we are going to lose that base funding.

"Students learn differently now. They are IT-savvy, they are a bit more cynical and they need to be convinced. But in terms of aptitude my view is that they are every bit as smart as the students that have come before them or smarter."

One of the challenges for Dr Reidsema's team is the structure of the next generation of academics as current "baby boomer" engineering educators approach retirement.

"New appointments are increasingly influenced by the potential research output without explicit coupling to teaching, thereby undermining the ability to develop and deliver inquiry based curricula and courses," he said.

Dr Reidsema's research will follow the US-originated CDIO (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate) Initiative — an international collaboration of leading engineering schools developed with input from universities, industry and students. The two-year ALTC grant will fund a study of engineering curricula at the four partner universities, evaluation of those curricula against international best practice, and the design of an Australian curriculum which builds technical and professional competencies through practical, project-based education.

July 2008 — Clarinet-playing robot wins Artemis orchestra competition

A joint NICTA-UNSW project to build a clarinet which can be robotically played under the control of embedded systems has won first prize in the 2008 Artemis Music Orchestra competition.

The Artemis Music Orchestra is an automated-music contest for technical students, designed to encourage understanding about embedded systems in a broad audience. The contest this year was held in Athens during the General Assembly Conference of the Artemisia Association.

The School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering was assigned the task of designing the finger control mechanisms of the clarinet. Mr Kim Son Dang, a Master of Engineering student in Mechatronics, designed the system under the guidance of Dr Jayantha Katupitiya. The project has a substantial acoustics component that was handled by Professor Joe Wolfe of the School of Physics. Many others contributed to the project, notably students Mark Sheahan (Biomedical Engineering/Computer Science) and Paul Santus (Physics). The project was managed by Dr John Judge of NICTA.

Click here to learn more about the project and to watch a video of the NICTA-UNSW Robot Clarinet in action.

June 2008 — Brothers start their own UNSW Engineering tradition

Brothers Anthony and Michael Curry have set up a proud family tradition at UNSW, with both boys now having won prestigious scholarships to study Engineering at the University of New South Wales.

Anthony, 18, from the northern NSW town of Tyagarah, was awarded a Faculty of Engineering Rural Scholarship to study Mechanical Engineering at UNSW at the 2008 Scholarhips Presentation. He will be the second Engineer in the family: older brother Michael graduated from UNSW with a Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering and a Masters in Engineering Science in 2006. Michael won the Stan Hall Rural Scholarship, when he was at UNSW.

"Mike got a scholarship so I thought 'I'll get one too'," said Anthony, who like his brother attended Mullumbimby High School. "I've always been building things and pulling stuff apart so Mechanical Engineering appealed to me."

Anthony was awarded the $9,000, four-year scholarship at the official reception held for recipients at UNSW. The Faculty of Engineering awards almost 200 scholarships to students each year, including around 120 from industry partners.

"These are the premier awards for the Faculty," Dean of Engineering Professor Graham Davies said. "Each year our Faculty of Engineering offers a wide range of scholarships to future students. These scholarships recognise, on one hand, high academic achievement and, on the other, provide support to students whose socio-economic, cultural, geographic or personal circumstances may adversely affect their ability to succeed at University. Engineering is going to have a fantastic part to play in all the big problems the world faces and we want more young people coming into this field."

Giving a student perspective on scholarships on the evening was Elisse Zarimis, the 2004 Al Willis-UNSW Endowment Scholar and two-times winner of a UNSW Engineering Dean's Award. "I always knew I wanted to go to UNSW and when I heard I had the scholarship I knew I could afford it and do what I wanted to do," Elisse told the gathered students. "Having a scholarship behind you means that you don't have to worry quite so much about getting your life set up and can focus on your studies. Not having to work meant that I could put more time into the things that I want to do. I felt that having a scholarship has provided me with better marks."

View Photographs from the 2008 Faculty of Engineering Scholarships Presentation.

(l to r) UNSW Engineering scholarship holders Michael and Anthony Curry with their parents, Margaret and Bob, at the presentation night.

May 2008 — MAVSTAR Team wins Best UGV Performance Award

MAVSTAR Team, consisting of staff, postgraduate students and undergraduate students in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, won the Best UGV Performance Award at the 1st US-Asian Demonstration and Assessment of Micro-Aerial and Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology (MAV08), held in Agra, India from 10-15 March 2008.

MAV08, primarily organised by the US Army, was aimed at demonstrating the performance of micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) and their cooperative performance with unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) through competition. MAVSTAR was one of 12 teams shortlisted for participation and the only team invited from Australia. The Best UGV Performance Award was one of four awards prepared in the competition.

The MAVSTAR project was initiated by Dr Furukawa under the support of the Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems (CAS), Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures (CRC-ACS) and the US Air Force. The team included Dr Furukawa and Mr Hu (School staff), Prof. Kumon (visiting professor from Kumamoto University), two postgraduate students, including Lin-Chi Mak who was the leader of the team, and 14 undergraduate students who volunteered to work full-time for the entire summer break. Under the support of the sponsors and the organiser, nine members participated in the competition in India. For more information about MAVSTAR, click here.
Photo: MAVSTAR wins UGV Award. From left, Mark Whitty, Moses Alexis Nicoletti and Lin-Chi Mak.

Autonomous MAVs and UGVs developed for MAV08

April 2008 — New award honours lifetime in engineering A generous gesture by the family of the late Professor Douglas Archer has allowed the creation of a new prize for excellence in Aerospace Engineering. Professor Archer was a greatly respected figure in aerospace engineering both at UNSW and internationally. He joined UNSW's Faculty of Engineering in 1964, after serving in the RAAF and working on aircraft design in Australia and Britain. Professor Archer led the Aeronautical Engineering group for more than 25 years. He retired formally from UNSW in 1990 but remained actively involved in research and teaching until his death in 2004. In a signing ceremony at UNSW on Monday, April 21, Professor Archer's widow, Olga Archer, and one of his sons, Dr Robin Archer, made a generous donation which will fund a substantial new annual award, The Douglas Archer Prize in Aerospace Engineering. "It gives me and my sons great pleasure in knowing that this gift is to be used in the establishment of a prize for excellence in aerospace engineering", Mrs Archer said. UNSW Dean of Engineering Professor Graham Davies paid tribute to Professor Archer and thanked the family for their substantial donation. The Douglas Archer Prize, to be awarded for the first time in 2009, will recognise overall academic achievement in a student who has completed the requirements of a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in the Aerospace Engineering Program in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.

Mrs Olga Archer with Dean of Engineering Professor Graham Davies at the signing ceremony for The Douglas Archer Prize.

April 2008 — Annual Prize Giving Ceremony

Prize winners, sponsors and presenters at the School's Annual Prize Giving ceremony, held on 15 April 2008. Congratulations to the prize winners and our thanks to the sponsors and presenters of the prizes for their continuing support of this event.

January 2008 — Australia Day Honour

Associate Professor Alex Churches, a Senior Visiting Fellow in the School, is one of five UNSW academics named on the 2008 Australia Day Honours List.

Throughout his academic career A/Prof Churches has shown his strong dedication to the engineering profession and championed the cause of engineering design and development.

His appointment as a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia recognises his service to engineering, particularly the promotion and development of mechanical design, to education, and through professional organisations.