K-Exchange: What made you want to be an engineer?
Adrian: I’ve always been very technically minded and hands on. While I was growing up my family and teachers just assumed I would be an engineer. Truth be told I didn’t even know what an engineer did until I did some research in my final year of high school when I had to apply for the Uni course.

KX – What made you choose civil engineering?
AS – Lack of direction initially. I couldn’t decide between electrical, software, mechanical or civil. I tried a few EE/software courses but failed them because I ended up not being interested in them. I Ultimately settled on civil because it seemed to be the broadest, and is probably the most useful discipline to have when applying for management type roles at non-engineering companies. Also my family background is in the construction industry so I spent a lot of time growing up on building sites and working with power tools in the back shed.

KX – What do you want to do after school?
AS – I have been changing my mind on this about every 6 months. My current position in this economic climate is “I’ll take what I can get”, but my long term goal is to enter into property development. An engineering degree isn’t necessary for that but it will certainly help to gain the background experience I need before jumping into that kind of self employment. I haven’t tried design work professionally, my initial trepidation to go into design was partly due to the types of assignments we were given at uni, but now that I’ve built up a good knowledge I do feel more confident about it.

What was your favorite class? Did that lead you to the career decision?
My favourite class was civil design, a year long capstone course that had us doing everything from architectural design to engineering design. It definitely softened my stance on not wanting to work in design, but I still don’t expect it to become a long term career.

KX – Do you now wish you’d started in another engineering discipline?
AS – No, I am confident I made the right decision. If I had wanted to be a design engineer I may have gone into mechanical or electrical, but I don’t.

KX – If you couldn’t be in an engineering discipline, what would you like to be studying?
AS – Anything that would help property development. Real estate, building, business.

KX – Anything specific that inspires you as a civil engineer?
AS – A project just finished in the city, Kurilpa Bridge. It is to my knowledge the first tensegrity bridge in the world. The general consensus here is that it’s hideously ugly and doesn’t suit the decor of the city. As a kid I remember building tensegrity structures out of wooden skewers and fishing line, and that’s how I see Kurilpa Bridge – giant wooden skewers and fishing line. It’s hugely inspirational to think outside the box and go against popular opinion if it means bringing your idea to fruition. Even though the concept was done by architects, I think engineers feel just as much satisfaction in seeing their design work, especially when so much of the final form of the structure is ultimately decided by the engineers.

KX – Any interesting stories, tales, failures, life lessons from your studies?
AS – The biggest life lesson I have learned was the principle of the “zone of acceptance.” There are too many “correct” designs, and not always a perfect one. You can’t be a perfectionist in engineering (it took me a few years to learn this the hard way). Define the zone of acceptance, and once you’re in it, stop. Anything else is a waste of time and money.

KX – Finally, as a civil engineer you’re uniquely qualified to answer this question. If you were a building, what building would you be?
AS – Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art:

…

Ok, you know what? I can’t do this. I was really trying to give you a snappy opening relating the shuttle to tragic child actors, but I like the shuttle way too much to do that.

With the next Space Shuttle launch coming up next week, I was looking at the launch manifest for the last 5 shuttle missions. It struck me that I’ve lived in a world where the Space Shuttle has always existed. Astronauts were always featured in videos eating food in humorous fashions. There was always another mission.

But not anymore.

September 16, 2010 will mark the final launch of the Space Shuttle and with it, it will bring to close an era of space flight. In respect to this once in a lifetime event I’ll be writing a series of articles dedicated to the most complex, high performance machine ever built. We’ll look at its development and early years, the incredible achievements of the program, as well as the tragedies that have beset the Shuttle. We will examine how the Space Shuttle changed the world. It’s a story of passion and politics. Of science and showmanship and exploration. A story equal parts danger and discovery.

It is a big story to be sure. I’ll do my best to liven up the dry parts, shed light on little known anecdotes, and side-step the controversies. (Just kidding. Controversy is the best part!)

In the Beginning…

It’s hard to talk about the Space Shuttle without first talking about the motivations behind it.

In 1969 NASA was flush with success. They had repeatedly landed humans on the moon and brought them safely home (If you don’t believe this, feel free to go here and discuss it). Serious talk had begun about long term lunar outposts, explorations of Venus and Mars and large space stations. Looking back at these ideas it’s easy to scoff at their seemingly unreachable goals, but at the time NASA had already accomplished the impossible; from where they stood, nothing seemed out of reach.

However, outside of NASA things weren’t quite as rosy. Public interest in the space program had fallen and landing on the moon signaled an end to the space race that had been vital to NASA’s funding. Add to that a government entangled in an expanding conflict in Vietnam and “less expensive” become a politically attractive buzzword.

This change in budget lead to a shift in vehicle design: Large, heavy lift launch vehicles capable of putting people and material into orbit around other heavenly bodies were replaced with smaller vehicles capable of only low earth orbit. The smaller vehicles were cheaper to build and launch and hinged on economies of scale. This system of numerous launches happening every few weeks was focused on building an infrastructure in space.

Gone were to Conestoga wagons that were the massive Saturn V’s, NASA started planning to build a rail road to space.

To be continued…

Part 2

Renewed World Energies applies time-tested engineering strategies to the design of its cutting-edge algae bioreactor…. Read More >>