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October 30, 2017

Engineering students showcase tech projects

Students solving real-world problems through partnerships with industry.  

SCIT Trade Show and Research Showcase

Innovative technology and software solutions to real-world problems were on display last Thursday (26 October) as part of the annual School of Computing and Information Technology (SCIT) Trade Show and Research Showcase.

The annual showcase gives final year computer science, information technology and business information systems students the opportunity to showcase their final projects to members of the community and industry.

Over the past year, students have worked together in teams to innovate technology and software solutions to deal with a real-world problem for business and industry clients. Many of the projects involved multimedia, sensors, database systems, graphics, games, virtual and augmented reality, internet and networking software.

The students engage in the full project management and software development life cycle, following some key milestones and with guidance from a supervisor from the school and an industry partner.

UOW SCIT senior lecturer Dr Mark Freeman said the projects encourage students to work with industry professionals, in real employer workplaces, and use their computer science, business and information technology skills to demonstrate their technology acumen and career potential.

“Innovative technologies, such as cloud computing, big data, AI, machine learning, and block chain, are reshaping the world we live in,” he said.

“Huge amounts of data have been gathered as a direct result of the rapid advances made in technologies such as digital sensors, biomedical and healthcare devices, Internet of Things and data storage.

“The projects present an opportunity for the students to combine their academic learning, personal ingenuity and creativity to create a business outcome for the client.”

SECTE Innovation Fair

Using technology and the internet to improve the lives of our ageing population, particularly those with dementia, was just one project on display at last Friday’s (27 October) School of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering (SECTE) Innovation Fair.

The SECTE Innovation Fair showcases final year and higher degree research projects, with students working in teams throughout the year to create products that will solve real-world problems.

The school also presented the winners of the recent Pitch competition, an annual event organised by UOW’s business incubator iAccelerate designed to foster entrepreneurialism in students and staff. Engineering research student Maryam Ghahramani took out best pitch in the postgraduate student category with her iBalance concept; a wearable sensor coupled with a mobile application to measure balance and risk-of-fall assessment for the elderly.

Another winning team of the Pitch competition, also displayed at the Innovation Fair, was a 3D scanner for education designed by a team of undergraduate students. Ben Brown, Jason Clissold and Havelock Vaisey came up with the idea of a scanner which enables access for the entire education segment to help increase interest in STEAM areas (Science, Technology, Education, Arts and Mathematics).

SECTE Course Coordinator Peter Vial said student team projects are the best way to train engineers, allowing them to think like entrepreneurs who develop ideas and innovate to solve real-world problems. Students learn how to work for a client and ask the right questions, so they can develop the right solutions themselves.

“Unless you’re actually working and trying to solve problems, it’s difficult to know what questions to ask the client,” he said.

Both events were free for members of the public and industry to attend, with testing and sampling of tech-projects taking place throughout the day.