UC Home > Departments > College of Engineering > Civil and Natural Resources Engineering   

News

• News
• Seminar Series
• Archives

See Also

• CoE News
• University News

News and Events Archives

2009 Highlights

Mike Newcombe becomes first university student ever to be named Young Engineer of the Year

University of Canterbury PhD student Michael Newcombe has become the first university student to be named Young Engineer of the Year at the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards in recognition of his work on the development of an innovative timber construction technique.

UC PhD student Michael Newcombe

After completing his first degree at the University of Canterbury, Michael did a Masters in earthquake engineering at the University of Pavia in Italy. He has continued to build on the research he undertook in Italy and is working towards a PhD on the design of reinforced wood structures using laminated veneer lumber held together by high-strength steel.

His research focuses on the use of timber as a structural material in multi-storey buildings and specialises on earthquake performance. He is part of a large research consortium called the Structural Timber Innovation Company (STIC) which is working to increase the use of wood in the construction industry.

Michael's research is based on an innovative UC timber construction technique enabling buildings to be assembled on site from prefabricated elements. In order to create strength, steel tendons are run through the centre of the timber beam and tensioned.

"They act like rubber bands connecting the entire structure," he says.

"STIC has been able to dispel a number of myths or mistruths about using timber in multi-storey buildings - such as fire safety, earthquake resistance and durability.

"Recently there has been renewed interest in multi-storey timber buildings within the New Zealand government sector that is having a flow-on effect to the private sector and international markets," Michael says.

Aside from the sustainability elements, the work by the STIC has the potential to establish a new industry and add value to the forestry industry. A major element of Michael's PhD work has been the construction of a two-storey experimental building within UC's College of Engineering.

The experimental structure has performed extremely well in earthquake simulations, remaining undamaged after being subjected to the equivalent of a magnitude seven earthquake. This has been attributed to the inherent flexibility of timber.

The research work is now moving into the commercialisation stage, with a three-storey building using the new construction technology due to be built in Nelson.

The New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for New Zealand's engineering profession. The young engineer award is given to someone who is judged to have made the most excellent contribution as an engineer, as a leader and/or through community involvement. Those eligible for the award this year had to have completed the final year of their first engineering qualification in 1999 or later, and have been no older than 33 on 1 January 2009.

 

Transportation Engineering: Congratulations to the winning team!

Congratulations to Matt McAlpine, Pam Wilson, Ian Robertson and Tharindu Hapugaskumbura who were judged to have the best poster for general public display in the 3rd Pro "Transport Design Project" course (ENCI498).

Their task 'How would you improve Ilam Road near the University of Canterbury'

The winning team won $200 courtesy of the IPENZ Canterbury Branch.

Ruaumoko Comes back to Engineering

A new carving of Te Taonga o Ruaumoko – the Mäori God of earthquakes and volcanoes – has been officially welcomed to its new home at the University of Canterbury’s Engineering Library.

It is a replica of a carving by the late master carver Charles Tuarau which was stolen while on display at an engineering conference in Beijing last year.

The original Ruaumoko carving was commissioned by Karl Steinbrugge for the International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE) in 1970. It was adopted as the association’s symbol and was displayed at conferences around the world.

University art curator Terri Elder said the original carving was deposited by the New Zealand branch of the IAEE with the University in 1991.

“One of the conditions of its deposit at the University was that it would be released into the guardianship of an association member to travel to the association’s international conference every four years.

The new Ruaumoko is the work of Clive Fugill, a master carver at Te Puia, the New Zealand Mäori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua, who spent several months following the design and patterns of the original. The 38cm high carving is made of totara. The carving was officially welcomed back into the library last week with Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Mäori) Sir Tipene O’Regan leading the blessing ceremony.

Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr said he was pleased to welcome home the “reincarnation” of Ruaumoko and to celebrate the “defining and unique character” of the carving.

 

Pedro Lee wins International Award

Pedro was awarded the International Association of Hydraulic Research (IAHR) inaugural award for the best reviewer of the Journal of Hydraulic Research held recently in Vancouver. Every review was noted as being "detailed, constructive, informative and had strong impact on improving the papers". Congratulations Pedro.

 

Pair learnt first hand from L’Aquila earthquake

Professor Stefano Pampanin and research fellow Dr Sonia Giovinazzi recently returned from spending three weeks in the medieval city of L'Aquila which was hit by 6.3 magnitude earthquake on 6 April.

More than 300 people died, making it the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy in more than a quarter of a century. The quake severely damaged upwards of 15,000 buildings and left more than 65,000 people homeless.

The husband and wife team, who were both born and educated in Italy, spent three weeks in the area representing the Department and the New Zealand Society of Earthquake Engineers. Professor Pampanin is an expert in seismic design and retrofit of existing structures while Dr Giovinazzi specialises in risk management and heritage buildings.

The pair worked out of the Civil Defence emergency headquarters in L’Aquila, set up after the earthquake in the military barracks in Coppito. It was here that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hosted the G8 meeting in early July so world leaders could see first hand the strength and resilience of the people of L'Aquila and to help “keep the lights on” for the next delicate reconstruction phase.

“We were involved in several tasks and activities, from on-site evaluations and survey of damaged buildings, to the strengthening of existing schools so they can reopen for the beginning of the academic year in September,” Professor Pampanin said.

“We tried to help and give as much technical support as possible in this first phase.

At the same time we learnt about the effects on population, building environment, lifelines and services, as well as the management during the initial emergency and in the reconstruction phase that followed,” he said.

Dr Giovinazzi  focused on the emergency management of critical lifeline networks, including roads, electricity, water and gas.

“After a major disaster like an earthquake, the full and prompt re-establishment and/or control of these supply networks are crucial to support the emergency response and avoid any further worsening of the direct consequences of the ground motion,” she said.

Dr Giovinazzi is working at UC on a number of projects related to the vulnerability of New Zealand lifelines under multi-hazards.

“I have been successful with an application to the International Science and Technology Linkages Fund grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand to collaborate with Italian universities on the development of methodology for a better control and mitigation of the seismic vulnerability of lifelines and L’Aquila could represent a valuable case study.”

On their return to New Zealand, the pair intend to report on the important lessons to be learnt in terms of mitigation of seismic risk, action and planning.

“We are acting as technical ‘reporters’ to share our experiences with colleagues and organisations in New Zealand to build safer and more resilient structures and communities,” Professor Pampanin said.

 

Adjunct Professor to Iceland

Professor Athol Carr has been appointed as an adjunct Professor to the University of Iceland for a 5 year term. As well as conducting a series of lectures for Reykjavik and Iceland Universities, Athol will also be using the time to supervise and do research.

 

Congratulations 

Mofreh Saleh has successfully passed all the requirements for registration as a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of California and the State of Arizona. To qualify for registration you need to have sufficient experience in the field of Civil Engineering and to successfully pass all five major examinations. The pass rate of which is around 35 to 40%.

Mofreh is now registered as professional Engineer in Both California and Arizona. This qualification in away is similar to Chartered Civil Engineer (CPEng)in NZ.

Well done Mofreh!!

 

New Staff Member Wins Award

Congratulations to Kenneth Kuhn who was recently awarded 'best paper in session' at the USA-Europe Air Traffic Management Seminar for his paper on Airport Service Vehicle Scheduling.

 

Professor Tom Paulay Dies

On Sunday 28 June 2009 Professor Tom Paulay passed away at the age of 86.

Tom was a real scholar and gentleman, and made a very large contribution to building the international reputation of the Department for its teaching and research in structural engineering. He was recognised many times over by awards and honours from around the world.

In 2008 Tom was one of 13 people honoured as a “legend” of earthquake engineering during the 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Beijing, China.

His contributions to research and education will especially be felt here in the department.

Obituary written by Professor Athol Carr.

Publications and Bibliography

 

MNSM Award to David Elms

Professor Emeritus David Elms was recently awarded the MNZM Award (announced in the recent Queens Birthday Honours List) for services to civil engineering. Congratulations David.

---

2008 Highlights

Young/Emerging Researcher Awarded to André Dantas

Two "Young Researcher Awards", each taking the form of a plaque and a cash award of $1000 (after tax) were awarded in December. The applications were assessed by the College Research Committee on the basis of excellence in research based on the applicant's total body of work, and awardees recommended to PVC.

Eligibilty included : Applicants must have been a full-time academic staff member of the College of Engineering for at least two years prior to the application closing date, and the applicant must have held a PhD for no more than 7 years at the application closing date.

André completed his PhD and joined the Department in mid-2002. Since then he has been a very active researcher and has demonstrated a very high level of commitment to collaborative research, collaborating with staff within the Department, in other Departments at Canterbury, and in other Universities in NZ and overseas (especially Japan and Brazil).

André has been an Objective Leader for the FRST Resilient Organisations project (the logistics of emergency response), and has undertaken ground-breaking research into planning urban areas and their transport, in the face of an energy constraint. His research has been recognised widely within NZ and overseas (viz. the number of invitations to present the results of his research in NZ and overseas).

 

Teaching medal goes to Roger Nokes.

The University of Canterbury Teaching Medal has been awarded to Associate Professor Roger Nokes. The Teaching Medal recognises an outstanding and sustained contribution to teaching. The Department wishes to extend congratulations on this award. (full story)

 

Legend of Earthquake Engineering

Tom Paulay was one of 13 people honoured as a “legend” of earthquake engineering during the 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Beijing, China.

Graeme Beattie, President of the NZ Society for Earthquake Engineering presented the award here in Christchurch on 20 November, followed by a light lunch. The Department extends their congratulations to Tom for this rare honour.

A legend in earthquake engineering is defined as an individual whose activities have made unique, exceptional, and lasting contributions to earthquake engineering. The contributions include, but are not limited to, development of unique national, regional, or global programs that mark earthquake engineering on the academic or professional map, creation of pioneering ideas, novel concepts, innovative design criteria and engineering approaches for earthquake resistant and resilient structures, and interdisciplinary socio-economic-engineering procedures for seismic safety and minimization of impacts of earthquake hazards to the society.

 

Off to Cambridge!

Our congratulations go to Jennifer Haskell, a student in the Civil and Natural Resources Engineering Department who is one of the 2009 recipients of the Woolf Fisher Scholarship.

This scholarship is awarded to up to three outstanding New Zealand graduate students each year. The Woolf Fisher Scholarship recognises outstanding academic ability and the other qualities which Sir Woolf Fisher most admired – integrity, kindness and generosity, leadership, boldness of vision and exceptional zeal, keenness and capacity for work.

Among other things, the scholars receive:

• the choice of studying for a doctoral degree at either Cambridge or Oxford Universities for three or four years
• a maintenance allowance of £12,000 per annum payment of approved University and College fees

To be eligible for a scholarship students must be:

• under 25 years of age
• have attended a secondary school in New Zealand for at least two years
• have graduated or expect to graduate in the year of application with a first-class honours degree from a New Zealand university.

Jennifer will start her PhD in October 2009 at the University of Cambridge under Dr Gopal Madabhushi. Her research will focus on seismic design of foundations and will use the geotechnical centrifuge at Cambridge's Schofield Centre.

She has represented New Zealand in both ice and inline hockey and hopes to play for the Cambridge Women's ice hockey team.

Woolf Fisher Scholarship website.

 

Transportation Engineering: Congratulations to the winning team!

Emir Roseley, Nir Kumar, Rachel van der Velden and Grant Maclean who were judged to have the best poster for general public display in the 3rd Pro "Transport Design Project" course (ENCI498).

Teams in this course had to analyse options for improving an existing real-life roundabout and prepare a client report and poster explaining their proposed design.

The winning team won $500 courtesy of the IPENZ Canterbury Branch.

L to R:
- Emir Roseley,
- Nir Kumar
- John Kirwan (NZ Transport Agency - client for "real project")
- Gary Huish (Traffic Design Group - industry mentor for group)
- Glen Koorey (Civil & Nat Res Eng - course coordinator)
- Rachel van der Velden
- Grant Maclean

The Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) is a specialty organization within the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). They have awarded Gustaf Kikkert (Recent PhD graduate), Mark Davidson and Roger Nokes the 2008 Karl Emil Hilgard Hydraulic Award.

The citation is for the paper "Inclined Negatively Bouyant Discharges" in the May 2007 Journal of Hydraulic Engineering. The award recognises their contribution to hydraulic engineering.

Poster competition award

Michelle Wild (PhD student) received a Merit Prize in the 2008 College of Engineering Postgraduate Poster Competition. She is researching Growth dynamics and management of braided alluvial river deltas in New Zealand. Well done Michelle!

---

2007 Highlights

November

SOLGM LOCAL Government Careers Prize for Excellence Awarded

Congratulations to David Sun, Jasper Fong, Jenny Haskell, and Philip Wilkinson for receiving inaugural SOLGM Local Government Careers Prize for Excellence. The winning team was awarded a $3000 prize for the best report and presentation of a critical review of Wairoa District Council Transportation Asset Management Plan.

The NZ Society of Local Government and Managers (SOLGM) prize is part of a 2nd Professional Year paper entitled Infrastructure Management course (ENCI 363). Students were divided into 31 groups that reviewed the application of theory and principles by analysing New Zealand Local Authorities Asset Management Plans. Under Dr Andre Dantas’ supervision, ENCI 363 students interviewed Local Authorities’ managers and examined asset management plans in order to critically review the current state of practice.

(From the left to right: Jasper Jong, David Sun, Jenny Haskell, Paul Davey and Pilip Wilkinson)

 

During the prize giving ceremony, Antony Crane (SOLGM Project Manager Recruitment and Retention) and Paul Davey (SOLGM representative and Selwyn District Council CEO) read a special citation from the Wairoa District Council Asset Manager

Neil Cook: “Congratulations to the team on your win - a fantastic achievement and well deserved. I was impressed with the professionalism shown by those who contacted me and I was particularly impressed with Jenny's efforts in coming all the way to Wairoa to get some first hand feedback. The background work and research done by the team before Jenny came to interview me was very thorough and ensured that the easy questions had already been answered - which put me on the spot to answer the tough ones during our meeting. With asset management becoming an increasingly important discipline - particularly where public assets are concerned - it is pleasing to see our future engineers taking an interest and getting to know what it is all about. Well done again on your win and all the best for the remainder of your studies.”

 

October

Congratulations: Academic Successes

Dr Misko Cubrinovski was recognised with the best paper award at the 10th Australia-New Zealand Conference on Geomechanics, in October 2007.  This is his third such recognition reflecting very well both on him and also on the strength of the department.

Dr Rajesh Dhakal was awarded this year’s young Young Researcher Award by the College of Engineering for excellence in research. Academic staff who completed PhD on or after 2000 were eligible for this award, and Rajesh was selected by the College Research Committee among the nominees of all Departments and Research Centres in the College.

Congratulations to both Misko and Rajesh!

September

Funding set to turn the heat up on fire engineering research

The University of Canterbury is to receive funding from the Foundation for Research Science and Technology to further develop existing fire ngineering software. More than $1.2 million was awarded to the Building Research Association of NZ Inc (BRANZ) of which the University will receive $427,500 to establish new scholarships.

“We will use the money to establish one PhD and three Master’s scholarships per year for three years to enable work on developing the existing software that we currently have for modelling fires in buildings,” said Dr Michael Spearpoint, the UC New Zealand Fire Service Commission Lecturer (Civil Engineering).

“The scholarships will help to develop a much improved version of a building fire design and analysis tool that will allow users to simulate probable building fire outcomes and building performance. The current software doesn’t allow for probability. Once we have that then we can calculate the risk.”

He explained that if a meat plant or factory had a fire, it was not just the building and plant that was lost, it was also the jobs, the owner usually went under or moved on and a loss of productivity resulted.

“We want to have a tool that will help protect against that scenario.

“Calculating how much smoke, how hot the smoke is and how quickly the fire will develop or what is the chance of its spreading will help develop a risk outcome,” he added.

Such a tool was very much needed in New Zealand at the moment, Dr Spearpoint believed. New Zealand has a flexible performance-based fire safety regulatory environment which allows for fire design innovation.

“In New Zealand the regulations state that a building must be ‘safe’ in a fire — as long as the engineer can demonstrate that the building meets the regulatory fire safety objectives it doesn’t matter what the design is. That allows for fire design engineers to be innovative, but there is a risk that, like
leaky buildings, the design process is not of an appropriate standard. Having a risk-based building fire design and analysis tool will greatly assist with the design process.

“Use of the tool by end users will provide the Department of Building and Housing with confidence that appropriate methods are being used to support performance-based fire engineering designs. It will also show defined
levels of fire safety in buildings are achieved.”

It is expected the new software tool will be applicable to fire engineers worldwide.

from The Chronicle, V42 No15 (PDF)

August

Pedro Lee does it again!

Pedro Lee was again voted Best Lecturer in Engineering in the annual UCSA Lecturer of The Year Awards. These are handled by the UCSA Education and Advocacy Office, and are a chance for students, to vote for their favorite lecturers on campus.

For the second year running Pedro Lee was voted Lecturer of the Year in Engineering. Congratulations Pedro!

July

Sad News

The department is saddened by the tragic news of the untimely deaths of Jane Jerrum and Mark Emerson while mountain climbing in the French Alps. This is a double blow to the department as Jane was a former student and Mark was due to start here as a lecturer in geotechnical engineering early next year. Our condolences go out to both Jane and Mark's families during this heartbreaking time.

April

Canterbury again shines at NZSEE annual conference

Again, University of Canterbury Civil Engineering figured very prominently in the annual conference of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE). About half of the papers presented in the conference were from Canterbury researchers. Presentations from all of our students were well received.

Awards and honours for Canterbury staff and students:

• Mr Kam Weng: Best research paper
• Mr Brian Peng: Best poster paper
• Dr Rajesh Dhakal: Awarded this year’s Ivan Skinner Award for the advancement of Earthquake Engineering Research in New Zealand.
• Dr Bruce Deam and Dr Kevin McManus: honoured with a promotion to Fellow of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering.

 

19th Australasian Conference on Mechanics of Structures and Materials (ACMSM19) Report

This international conference was held at University of Canterbury from 29 November to 1 December 2006. It was organised by Drs Rajesh Dhakal, Bruce Deam and James Mackechnie, who are current staff members of the Civil Engineering Department, and Associate Professor Peter Moss a retired academic of the Department.

Approximately 200 academics, researchers and practitioners from New Zealand, Australia, and 14 other countries in Asia-Pacific and beyond attended the three day conference. There were 153 papers presented in the conference including 4 keynote papers by Prof I Gilbert (Australia), S Kittipornchai (Hong Kong), R Melchers (Australia) and R Plank (UK). 

The theme of the conference was “Progress in Mechanics of Structures and Materials”, which was also the title of the 1060-page proceedings edited by Peter Moss and Rajesh Dhakal.

March

Nat Res Student going to Eco-Minds

Chelsea Giles-Hansen is studying for a Bachelor of Engineering (honours) in natural resources with the underlying theme of the course being sustainability and holistic thinking and is currently the president of the Women in Engineering Society at the University of Canterbury.

She is one of three New Zealand students selected to join like-minded students at the Eco-Minds Youth Forum in Bangkok. They will join representatives from eight other Asia-Pacific countries to work together to develop creative and practical solutions for addressing the challenge of sustainable development.

The forum is part of a global partnership between Bayer and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It will be held in Bangkok, Thailand from May 31 to June 3.

Eco-Minds activities include a tour of Bangkok, a river cruise, attending sustainability forums, team case study assignments, an eco-walk and tours of provincial sustainability sites.

February

Fire Engineering Posters take two Merit Prizes

Keryn Gobel and James McBryde, each won a $200 merit prize in the reent College of Engineering Postgraduate Poster Competition 2007. Both Keryn and James are Fire Engineering Master's students. Well done!

Book launch: 22 February 2007, Wellington

Challenging the Future: Risk Communication – Connecting the Words is a recent CAENZ publication. It is intended as a practitioners reference, providing a combination of risk communication theory and examples of how risk communication has been implemented across a variety of organisations in New Zealand.

Among the contributing authors Erica Seville and David Elms.

 

2005

22 December

Congratulations Prize Winners

Three Civil Engineering students were awarded Senion Scholarships from the University. There are approximately 25 scholarships offered each year to students who are either in their final or penultimate year of their undergraduate degree. These scholarships are awarded on merit by recommendation of the Academic Board and are valued at $2000 per year.

The Department congratulates the following students

• Megan Roper - Senior Scholarship for 2006
• Hamish MacKinven - Senior Scholarship for 2006
• Brendon Bradley - Senior Scholarship for 2006
• Hsuan-Hsien Peng - University Prize
• Gregory Cole - University Prize
• Department prize winners

10 November

New Prize established - focusing on sustainable engineering

A prize has been established by the Canterbury Branch of Engineers for Social Responsibility (ESR). The purpose is to encourage excellence in the major final-year project in the final year of study of a BE(Hons) at the University of Canterbury.

The project must have a clear focus of sustainable engineering practices and constitute either a required or elective course in the degree. The current value of the prize is $300. First award will be for a project carried out in 2006.

12 October

Canterbury once again in Top 10

Jason LeMasurier's 3rd pro students have once again come out on top. For those who do not know, MERIT is a computer simulation that provides the essentials for construction professionals to augment their technical knowledge with the managerial skills required to run a modern construction company.

Participants learn how to manage their own fictional construction company by making decisions that affect the key functions of the business, such as marketing, tendering, finance, overheads, personnel and construction, over 8 periods in the life of the company.

The main competition is aimed at training construction industry graduates in the UK and this year 175 industry teams took part in the UK.

In NZ we run a joint competition with University of Auckland which is sponsored annually by Fletcher Construction. This year the winning NZ team 'T&A Construction' comprised:

• Jason Fox
• Nathan Brooking
• Hayden Pipe
• Adam Tennant

and their performance would have placed T&A Construction 3rd out of the 175 UK teams - another awesome performance, matching previous years when our top team has consistently finished in the top 10.

Comments from the MERIT coordinator were as follows:

"After leading for virtually the whole competition, "T & A Construction" (Canterbury University) were the emphatic winners of the Fletcher Construction sponsored Merit 2005 Competition for Canterbury and Auckland Universities. Their impressive final score of 3,215 points would have booked them a place in the national Merit 2005 Final, starting in 3rd place.

As with last year, the overall standard of the competition has been extremely high, and all teams have improved their overall score since the beginning of the Early Years, reflecting the effort and skill that has gone into their decision-making."

The performance of all Canterbury teams means we beat Auckland overall on aggregate so the 'Fletcher Construction MERIT Shield' will be coming back to Canterbury. Prizes for the top teams will be presented by Fletcher Construction Thursday 13 October.

Well done to all who took part.

6 October

2 out of 3 Dollars for Scholars prize winners are Civil students

Engineering, planning and project management consultancy Beca awarded a total of $6000 in prizes to three of the University of Canterbury’s outstanding engineering students at a function in Beca’s Christchurch office recently. Electrical and computing engineering student Jane Man, and civil engineering students Gregory Cole and Kristen MacAskill were presented a $2000 scholarship each.

The annual prizes, established in 1990 to promote excellence in engineering, are awarded to third-year engineering students of the University of Canterbury’s College of Engineering, based on academic performance, personality, contribution to community and potential to contribute to professional engineering. Each student had to submit an application and go through an interview process.

While presenting the award, Beca’s regional manager for South Island, Craig Price, said, “Not only are the winning students excellent academic performers, they are also outstanding young members of the community who have shown real all-round potential to make a great contribution to engineering profession. We look forward to them becoming professional engineers and leaders in their fields.”

Beca is also in discussion with the University to increase Beca’s support to the College of Engineering.

6 October

Summer Scholarship Awarded

Congratulations to Brendan Bradley, under the supervision of Rajesh Dhakal, for being awarded a $4000 scholarship for his project entitled: Pseudo-dynamic testing of beam-column sub-assembly.

19 August

Ian McMillan Prize awarded to Brendon Bradley

Brendon Bradley, a civil engineering student, is one of four students recently awarded an Ian McMillan Prize. The prize value is $3,000 per annum for a period of 2 years.

The funds for these prizes are provided by the income from a bequest in 1966 from the estates of Ian McMillan and Mary Mona McMillan. The prizes are awarded each year to outstanding students completing their 1st Professional examination for BE(Hons).

Congratulations Brendon!

18 July

"Why I want to be a Professional Engineer"

Ben Drake won the IPENZ Foundation Scholarship this year with his essay, and is doing Intermediate at present.

Congratulations Ben, and thank you for letting us share your winning essay with others.

22 June

Tsunami management strategies were the theme for a group assignment this year in the Engineering Systems 3rd pro class. 

Each group was required to develop and present a proposal for managing one aspect of tsunami risk in Christchurch.  Strategies proposed included recovery options for the sewage treatment plant, detailed evacuation plans for vulnerable sectors of the community, installation of sirens and loudspeaker warning systems, and community education campaigns.

The groups presented their proposals to Wayne Rissman and Murray Sinclair, the Emergency Management Officers from ECan and Christchurch City Council who are currently tasked with developing the tsunami risk management strategy for the city. 

Wayne and Murray are pictured along with students from the winning group: Sarah Stevenson, Callum Streeter, Kirsten McAskill and Alistair Mitchell.

17 June 2005

Scholarships Awarded

Congratulations to the following students who have all been awarded scholarships recently:

• Violette Edwards (Natural Resources) - Brian Morrison Scholarship in Engineering
• Kaley Crawford-Flett (Civil) - Femineers Scholarship
• Lisa Woods (Civil) - McCallion Engineering Scholarship

25 May 2005

NRE ENews released

The first issue of NRE News has been released as an ENews document. In it there is information about students, facilities, research and staff. There are also opportunities for you to be involved with us so please have a read and get in touch with us.

25 May 2005

Women In Engineering

Be sure to check out the updated calendar and the photos from the recent successful WIE cocktail party.

28 April 2005

Future Buildings Research Scholarship

Congratulations to Roberto Anaya for being successful in winning the The Future Buildings Research Group scholarship.

Roberto will have his international fees for up to 3 years paid for and will be required to work with, and become a member of, the research team that is carrying out research for the Future Building Systems. In particular he will be working in the area of semi-active control for buildings when subjected to earthquake excitation.

The Selection criteria was:

Essential: background in structural dynamics

Additional preferred: capable of passing the fundamental theoretical material in the post-graduate courses on Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering and Advanced Modern Control Theory.

Academic supervisor: Athol Carr

15 Mar 2005

3rd Pro Scholarship winners

Congratulations to the following students who have won 3rd Pro Scholarships for 2005.

 

 

 

16 Feb 2005

Welcome Tom Cochrane

Dr Tom Cochrane is joining us as the third Natural Resources Engineering academic. Tom, his wife, Belle and son Tom arrived this morning. Tom intends to start work next Monday, 21 February, but will probably be around the Department before then.

Tom is a New Zealand citizen who has had an international upbringing and education, completing his PhD at Purdue University, USA , about 8 years ago. He and his family have been living in Santa Cruz, Bolivia for the last 6 years, with Tom working there and elsewhere in South America.

His expertise is in hydraulics, hydrology, sediment transport, soil erosion, irrigation and GIS.  Tom and David Painter will be doing most of the surface hydrology teaching in the Department [both BE(Hons)(Civil) and BE(Hons)(NatRes)] this year.

 

 

18 January

Tsunami reconnaissance

On 23 January a New Zealand team, which included Dr Erica Dalziell of the Civil Engineering department, left for Thailand on a reconnaissance mission. The visit was conducted with the purpose of assessing the impact of the December 26 tsunami on infrastructure and communities along the west coast of Thailand. There are topographical and infrastructure similarities which make this area of interest for a team looking for lessons applicable to New Zealand.

---

2004

Professor Park Dies

On November 3, 2004 Professor Bob Park passed away at the age of 71, ending a long career in civil and earthquake engineering. His contributions to structural engineering and the Profession was outstanding, and was recognised many times over by awards and honours from around the world.

He will be sadly missed in the many fields to which he contributed so generously.

His contributions to research and education will especially be felt here in the department.

Some tributes and biographies of his life.

Obituary from the University of Canterbury Chronicle.

Short biography on the NZ Society for Earthquake Engineering website.

Biography (pdf) editted by Bob days before his death.

Merit Competition

Again Canterbury teams show their expertise! The 2004 MERIT competition results are in with one of Canterbury's 12 teams taking top honors. Congratulations to all who participated and many thanks to Jason LeMasurier for organizing this event again this year. Read the details here

 

Christchurch Earthquake - 5 Sept 2004.

A magnitude 4.3 quake was experienced last night about 30Km north of Christchurch. Did you feel the earthquake? You can help the GeoNet people by filling in a short questionaire about what you experienced. Check out all the details here.

top

2nd Pro Students Workshop on Reinforced Concrete Design and Behavior

As part of Design 2 Concrete Lab, the workshop was held on the 15th September (Wednesday) from 5-8 p.m. (C1 room).

Anyone interested in seeing what these 2nd pro students are capable of doing (construction, design, prediction, tests of cast-in-situ, prestressed or unbonded post-tensioned beam, beam-column joints representing older construction practice, pre-1970, NZS3101 seismic design provisions as well as jointed precast hybrid systems, following the special provisions in the Appendix B of the revised version) then please come along, in particular industry representatives.

The programme is available to download and there is no charge for attendance. Light refreshments and a prize giving will be held immediately after the workshop presentations.

top

Reunion — Class of 1969

22-24 October 2004, University of Canterbury

A dedicated and enthusiastic group had a weekend of fun and nostalgia for fellow alumni of the graduating Civil Engineering class of 1969 (1st Pro class of 1967), and other interested Civil Engineering alumni who overlapped these years.

 

Transportation Engineering Conference

The Second International Symposium on Transportation Network Reliability was held here at the university in Christchurch and in Queenstown, New Zealand from 20-24 August 2004.

top

2003 Highlights

2003 Management Camp

A great success! Sand, water, students, rain - who could ask for more? Details and a few photos available now.

Seminar Series

Tuesday seminars are presented throughout the year. All interested students, technical and academic staff, and practising engineers are invited to attend. Postgrad students are expected to attend.

Soccer Highlights

The Civil Engineering Soccer team images are now available!! View them now :)

Transportation Professional short course:

Fundamentals of Traffic Engineering. The University of Canterbury and University of Auckland are pleased to jointly offer a five-day course covering the Fundamentals of Traffic Engineering at the School of Engineering at the University of Canterbury in February 2003

Special Symposium and Gala Event - PandP

Commemorate the lifetime contributions of Tom Paulay and Bob Park, July 2003.

---