UQ staff and alumni feature prominently in the 2012 list of Australia's 100 most influential engineers.
The list, published annually in the June edition of Engineers Australia , identifies the country's leading engineers in academia/research, associations, consulting, innovation/expertise, industry, public service and politics.
Engineers Australia said the qualities that made an engineer influential included: “analytical skills; a logical problem solving capability; a methodological approach; an ability to understand complex areas and find improvements; and a general approach of testing ideas against reality.”
Influential engineers also had good management and people skills; they empowered staff; were in tune with client needs; had good team working and collaborative capacity; good understanding of how industries and markets worked; and advanced communication skills.
UQ Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, chemical engineer Professor Max Lu and Group Leader in the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology Professor Mark Kendall are among the top 100.
As Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) then Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lu has helped lift UQ’s international rankings into the top 100 in the world.
Through Professor Lu’s leadership and strategic oversight over the past couple of years, UQ has established major partnerships with industry, including the $25 million BaoSteel Joint R&D Centre and the $10 million Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation.
Biomedical engineer Professor Mark Kendall is one of only five international recipients of a prestigious Rolex Laureate, recognising his pioneering efforts to expand knowledge and improve human life.
Professor Kendall is the driving force behind development of needle-free vaccine delivery device the Nanopatch.and co-founded the company Vaxxas in late 2011 with a $15 million investment from Australian and US investors to advance the Nanopatch towards clinical testing and product development.
Other engineers with UQ connections named in the list (alphabetically) also include:
• UQ Doctor of Engineering (honoris causa) and President of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Melbourne, chemical engineer Professor Robin Batterham.
• Coordinator-General, Queensland Government and Master of Engineering and Technology alumnus Barry Broe.
• Managing Director of Cardno Limited, Brisbane, and mechanical engineering alumnus Andrew Buckley.
• Managing Director, Melbourne Water, Melbourne, adjunct professor and civil engineering alumnus Shaun Cox.
• Premier of Queensland, member for Ashgrove and MBA alumnus, civil engineer Campbell Newman.
• Former UQ chemical engineering academic Professor Peter Lee, who is Vice-Chancellor of Southern Cross University.
• Chairman and CEO, Dow Chemical Company, Michigan, US and chemical engineering alumnus and honorary doctorate recipient Dr Andrew Liveris.
• Managing Director, CSR Sydney and mechanical engineering alumnus Rob Sindel.
• Chief Executive, Powerlink Queensland, and electrical engineering alumnus Merryn York.
• National President of Engineers Australia and civil engineering alumnus David Young.
Media: Jan King 0413 601 248
