JCU: College of Science and Engineering

Inspiring the next generation of engineers for National Science Week 2024 👩🏽‍🔧

The JCU Engineering Cairns team had a great time hosting the 'Engineer the Future' event on Thursday, welcoming kids aged 9-14 and their parents & carers to the James Cook University Ideas Lab for a night of fun engineering activities.

Participating kids designed great solutions to engineering problems, including designing filtration systems for cleaning (very gross) waste water, building a water storage tower, and designing wind-powered cars 🎈

This event was supported by our wonderful industry partners from Engineers Australia, BAE Systems Australia, and Nova Systems Australia and New Zealand and many volunteers from each organization.

A huge thanks also to our academic staff and student ambassadors for their efforts on this event.



JCU: James Cook University, Australia

Happy National Science Week!

This week we held the College's annual 3-Minute Thesis. Staff and HDR Students in Cairns and Townsville were invited to present their research projects in under three minutes! Thank you to our judges and congratulation's to our winners:

Holly Farnan – 1st
Febrio Lunardo – 2nd
Zhuogun (Nero) Liu – 3rd

Please join us tomorrow afternoon for The Art of Science and Bake Your Research in the Science Place!

JCU: James Cook University, Australia

Sweet science close to home Having a career is important, and so is being close to family, says JCU Bachelor of Engineering student, Jenna Attard.

Please join us next week throughout National Science Week while we celebrate with various activities across both campuses!

Cairns National Science Week, Tuesday August 13th
Townsville National Science Week, Friday August 16th

Please note that the My Research in 3 Minutes Event is on Tuesday 2pm at Science Place 142-111 in Townsville and in Cairns at D3-063, hosted on Zoom: https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjcu.zoom.us%2Fj%2F85834865776%3Fpwd%3DahARBwAq5kQxQrxz4twtS1ifWxisCk.1&data=05%7C02%7Cexperience.cse%40jcu.edu.au%7C1b1b3d6d34314be4e23208dcb69b35c8%7C30a8c4e81ecd4f148099f73482a7adc0%7C0%7C0%7C638586026707544545%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=XW6M3p01oenaxwqbVpuN3lIytic%2FvyXjWJEHRfDq7YI%3D&reserved=0

🤔𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁: What can ceramic 3D printing be used for?
- by Dr Elsa Antunes, Senior Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering, JCU: College of Science and Engineering

In recent years, advancements in material science and manufacturing have resulted in the development of what’s known as technical ceramics 3D printing.

This development has resulted in multiple industry applications across various high-tech applications by pairing additive manufacturing or, more specifically, 3D printing with the desirable and versatile material properties of technical ceramics.

For example, within the medical sector, when it comes to prosthetics and implant devices, we can combine the benefits of 3D printing and technical ceramics to facilitate the production of highly customised dental crowns, bone scaffolds and orthopaedic devices tailored to suit the individual patients by leveraging the technical design advantages of advanced manufacturing (3D printing) to create structures not possible by traditional manufacturing methods.

The ability to create these structures, along with the excellent compatibility with the human body, chemical resistance and mechanical properties that these ceramics possess, all assist with the long-term integration of ceramic structures into the body.

Another promising application is in the aerospace and automotive industries. Within aerospace, advanced ceramics manufactured via 3D printing can be used for the manufacture of complex ceramic shapes for high temperature and corrosive environments.

These components are often required to undergo extreme thermal and mechanical stresses during normal operational cycles where again we can develop and manufacture high-performance structures and components with 3D printing technical ceramics. These can perform within the operation requirements of hypersonic flight.

Finally, another application which is local to the North Queensland region is the use of technical ceramics and 3D printing for the development of sustainable coral substrate devices to assist with the restoration of the Great Barrier Reef.

Another benefit of ceramic additive manufacturing is the ability to create and develop fine porous structures from sustainable ceramics that are only manufacturable via additive manufacturing to target specific coral species and assist with the repopulation of the coral reef post bleaching events.

The possibilities of advanced ceramic combined with 3D printing are unlimited.

Reminder: CSE Staff and HDR Students, register for our National Science Week Activities!

Bake Your Research: 12 August
My Research in 3 Minutes: 13 August
The Art of Science: 16 August

Registration links are found in the posters below.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]

🎓 Are you currently at university studying a data or digital degree?

🎓 Want to get practical skills while you study?

Look no further, the Data and Digital Cadet Program is the one for you. You’ll get to make use of your degree and interests while gaining valuable industry experience, solving problems and helping to shape Australia’s future.

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Current university students
Passion for data, analytics, digital and IT
Desire to work on meaningful things within the Australian Government.

What's in it for you?
Meaningful work where you can make a positive impact in people’s lives and shape Australia’s future
Pathway into a diverse career in government
Permanent part-time employment while studying and full time employment when you’ve completed your degree
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Flexibly to complete the program over 1 to 3 years (depending on when you finish university)
Academic allowance for successfully completed units ($800 per unit up to 4 units per semester)
Membership to peak industry bodies the Australian Computer Society (ACS) or Data Management Association (DAMA).

You'll need to:
Be an Australian citizen (at the time of application)
Have completed at least the 1st year (or equivalent) of your eligible data or digital degree by January 2025.

Applications are open until 11:30pm (AEST) Monday, 22 July 2024.

Apply now!

👩‍🏫Spotlight on 👉 Dr Jane Addison
From running around on cattle stations as a youngster to traversing the desert plains of Mongolia, Dr Jane Addison appreciates just how special the connection between a land and its people can be.

👩‍🏫Spotlight on 👉 Dr Jane Addison

From running around on cattle stations as a youngster to traversing the desert plains of Mongolia, Dr Jane Addison appreciates just how special the connection between a land and its people can be.

The JCU: College of Science and Engineering social-ecological systems scientist has spent decades striving to understand the tricky balancing act between the environment, development and what people value.

“The development of northern Australia has a hundred years’ worth of history with a lot of conflict around it,” Jane said.

“The framing of places like northern Australia as a “sleeping giant” for further development has been criticised a lot in international literature. For example, it ignores Indigenous connections to country or it doesn’t ask what people in northern Australia actually want for themselves.

“There’s this idea that there’s a problem which needs to be fixed. I don’t assume that northern Australia needs to be developed in a particular way.”

Growing up in the Kimberley in Western Australia, Jane was in touch with the land from an early age.

“I spent a lot of time out on cattle stations with my dad who worked for the Department of Agriculture,” she said.

“I was thinking about what I wanted to do after school and I wanted to choose a career where I could just run around the bush basically.”

Enrolling in a Bachelor of Science majoring in Natural Resource Management at the University of Western Australia, Jane found herself moving away from environmental science and more towards human factors as she progressed through her undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

“I was interested in understanding how people feel about our environment, how our livelihoods are dependent upon it and how our decisions can influence environmental conditions,” she said.

“I increasingly saw those factors as being part of the same thing when it came to looking at the environment.”

Working for several environmental consultancy firms out of university, Jane decided to expand her horizons and took up an opportunity to volunteer with the Mongolian Academy of Science’s Desertification Research Centre in 2007.

The year spent there would eventually see Jane embark on a PhD, joining the country’s nomadic herders in the Gobi Desert and northern China in an effort to understand their connection with the land.

“I got really curious at that point about how we manage soil and vegetation in a context where there’s no private property rights,” she said.

“The herders are mobile. They track wherever there’s rain or grass and they take their livestock there.”

While the difference between a good and bad season can be catastrophic for local herders without as much of a social safety net compared to Australia, Jane’s time spent in Mongolia also found some similarities with Australian pastoralists.

“The Australian desert, like the Gobi Desert, has an incredibly variable climate and both the herders and pastoralists have to develop ways of responding to that variability,” she said.

“In the Mongolian experience, the herders will move themselves and livestock to greener pastures and Australian pastoralists will often allow their livestock to move wherever there’s rain or feed.”

Working as a research consultant upon her return to Australia, Jane undertook a project for the Remote Economic Participant Cooperative Researcher Centre in Alice Springs and consulted for Territory Natural Resource Management working with pastoralists in arid Australia to manage refuges of small mammals.

After a stint working with the CSIRO as a post-doctoral researcher, Jane joined JCU in 2016 as a researcher and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management.

Currently based in Germany as part of the Institute of Regional Geography’s Humboldt Research Fellowship, Jane is busy seeking fresh perspectives on regional development, using the experience of the reunification of Germany following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, that could help solve the northern Australia quagmire.

“I’m trying to seek answers to why do we keep having this discussion about developing northern Australia and why do we keep getting in conflict about it,” she said.

“Can we learn from what’s been done elsewhere and talk through this in a more constructive way. I’m working through different theories around understanding the causes of differences in regions using metrics like economic outcomes and employment rates.”

Away from research, teaching Natural Resource Management and Environment and Social Impact Assessment gives Jane the ability to inspire future environmental social scientists.

“Most of the students I teach come from a science or environmental conservation background, so I love sharing this idea that the environment can look after itself – it’s how people relate to the environment that can cause issues,” she said.

“You need to understand the social and economic side of things to be able to effect change.”

Yet despite the research and policy challenges that come with managing Australia’s vast sunburnt plains, Jane’s passion for finding a better tomorrow still burns bright.

“I just love running around the bush,” she said.

Please join Dr. Samantha Horseman, Aidan Possemiers, and and the Innovation Hub for "Discovering Mathematical Magic – Through exploring the Math behind Generative AI" on Friday June 28 at 4.30pm.

"We strongly believe that there is a math geek in all of us! Welcome to an exhilarating journey into the heart of Generative AI (Gen AI), where the realms of mathematics and artificial intelligence converge to unlock boundless possibilities. This workshop highlights how mathematics is the backbone of Gen AI, we will embark on an adventure to explore algorithms, equations, and mathematical principles that underpin the evolution of Gen AI systems. Get ready to unleash your inner math geek as we explore the captivating world where numbers come alive to shape the future of technology. This workshop is structured to include a mix of theoretical foundations, practical demonstrations, and interactive sessions"

Register here: https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flnkd.in%2FgGP5HFWu&data=05%7C02%7Candrew.morgan3%40jcu.edu.au%7Cd00e1ecc881647e1f90f08dc93e848ff%7C30a8c4e81ecd4f148099f73482a7adc0%7C0%7C0%7C638547873076376571%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=OTlgffautJRFDiEliyJ%2F3DKPAZHKFNXDEKeuYFef2T8%3D&reserved=0

🌀 🌧 🏠 Before the devastation of Cyclones Tracy and Althea in the 1970s, the idea of engineering buildings to withstand what society coined ‘acts of God’ was thought laughable. However, pioneers in wind engineering from JCU: James Cook University, Australia defied the odds to not only revolutionise building standards but also set up the university’s ground-breaking JCU Cyclone Testing Station in 1977 in response to the devastation in Townsville and Darwin.

The testing station is hosting the Australian Wind Engineering Society’s 22nd workshop in the same year Australia marks 50 years since Cyclone Tracy crossed the Northern Territory coast, destroying 90 per cent of Darwin’s homes.

JCU Cyclone Testing Station Adjunct Associate Professor Geoff Boughton presented at this year’s workshop and said the team continued its quest to make buildings more resistant to severe wind events.

‘‘It’s significant that JCU is hosting the workshop in the same year the country marks 50 years since Cyclone Tracy decimated the town of Darwin. Cyclone Tracy was a watershed moment not only for Australia but the world. As a nation we said we need to do something to keep people safe and Cyclone Tracy was the catalyst for the establishment of the JCU Cyclone Testing Station. And from that time, Cyclone Tracy and the Cyclone Testing Station have been intrinsically linked.’’

Read more 👉 www.jcu.edu.au/news

📷: Cyclone Testing Station team members Adjunct Associate Professor Geoff Boughton, Adjunct Associate Professor George Walker and Chief Engineer Dr David Henderson.

JCU: College of Science and Engineering
Insurance Council of Australia
Geoscience Australia

Building for the future🏗

Over the weekend, JCU: James Cook University, Australia engineering alumni gathered for a reunion more than 50 years in the making.

Hosted at JCU’s brand new Engineering and Innovation Place, the event marked the opening of the new $100m four-storey building and celebrated how engineering has shaped and changed our world.

Engineering has always played a fundamental role in society by providing solutions to daily problems, along with using knowledge, skills and creativity to design and maintain technologies that improve our quality of life.

They are at the forefront of developing new solutions and creating a better future as technology evolves and new challenges emerge.

JCU: College of Science and Engineering Head of Engineering Professor Senadji says engineering will always be required to meet society’s basic needs.

“We always need housing, we always need food, we always need to socialise as humans,” she said.

“That’s what engineering is, it’s a service to communities. It’s a technical service but it’s a service to support our communities.

“Basic needs are always going to be there. The way we achieve those basic needs might be different, but the need to live, connect and explore will always be there."

Read more📄👉https://shorturl.at/ZCfiM

Clean-up superstars JCU Professor Jan Strugnell has co-authored a study that found tropical oysters excel at gobbling-up nutrient pollution from waterways and the Reef.

Last week on our Townsville and Cairns campuses, local schools tested their skills in the 2024 Titration Competition, putting what they've learned in class to the test and applying these skills in real time! ⚗️🧑🏻‍🔬

The results were very close; we even had some three-way ties!

Congratulations to everyone and we'll see you all next year! 🥇

JCU: James Cook University, Australia

This June, engineering alumni will gather for a reunion more than 50 years in the making. Hosted at JCU’s brand new Engineering and Innovation Place, the event will mark the opening of this incredible space and celebrate how engineering has shaped and changed our world.

The upcoming JCU Engineering Reunion will provide an opportunity for students and graduates to reflect on how the profession has changed since 1970, when engineering was one of the foundation courses offered by the newly proclaimed James Cook University.

The reunion will also be an opportunity to look ahead at what the future holds, and what role engineering could play in the progress of society.

JCU Head of Engineering Professor Bouchra Senadji never imagined working in the rapidly evolving world she does now. A major reason for that is how quickly change can happen, especially in engineering.

Having recently been appointed to her leading role at JCU, Professor Senadji works in the Engineering and Innovation Place - a marvel of engineering itself.

Read more through the link below!

JCU: James Cook University, Australia

Engineering a better world Engineering alumni are preparing for the upcoming JCU Engineering Reunion at the brand new Engineering and Innovation Place.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🍃 A remote Scottish archipelago has provided valuable insights for the protection of some of our most treasured heritage sites here in Aus 🦘

JCU: James Cook University, Australia Professor of Physical Sciences Scott Heron has played a key role in the identification of the three key threats from climate change to the UK’s only mixed UNESCO World Heritage property, St Kilda, located about 60 kilometres off the Scottish Isles.

Professor Heron, who is also the UNESCO Chair on Climate Change Vulnerability of Natural and Cultural Heritage, co-developed the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) which assesses the potential impact of changes to climate in World Heritage Sites.

'‘In the case of St Kilda, this is the first time the method has been applied to a place designated for both its natural and cultural significance,’’ Professor Heron said.

‘‘The success of the CVI application at St Kilda is particularly relevant for Australia, which is home to four mixed UNESCO World Heritage properties of Kakadu, Uluru-Kata Tjuta, Willandra Lakes, and the Tasmanian Wilderness that all hold natural and cultural significance.’’

Read more about the report published by Historic Environment Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland here 👉 www.jcu.edu.au/news/releases/2024/may/remote-scottish-archipelago-provides-valuable-insights-for-aussie-heritage-sites

JCU: College of Science and Engineering

Milking venom from Australia's deadly marine animals | AFP Toxicologist Jamie Seymour runs a facility studying Australia's deadliest marine animals in a bid to understand them and keep people safe. His team milks sea...