Monday 30 March 2015

Thinking Outside the Box

Last weekend I celebrated 21 years on earth, but also 21 years in my hometown, Canberra. In those years I’ve seen Canberra develop from somewhat of a large country town into a vibrant city. We’ve even got a snazzy new catch phrase! (CBR. Confident. Bold. Ready). And we totally are!
On one of my rides around Lake Burley Griffin, I noticed a new construction site. It looked like it was in its really early phases because everything was still packed up in shipping containers. Six months down the track, I learnt from a friend that the shipping containers weren’t part of the construction phase, they were the actual structure! These containers make up Westside Acton Park, one of Canberra’s solutions to the perennial problem of getting more people to the Canberra lakeside.

They wanted an events centre, so they created this as a place for a rooftop bar, a pop up cafe, drive through coffee shop, some restaurants, a gym and even a BMX bike shop. This kind of out of the box (pun intended) thinking is super exciting to me from management, manufacturing and materials engineering perspectives. 
From a manufacturing and materials angle, it’s a really creative challenge and I’m definitely attracted to projects as special and uncommon as this one. A large steel structure is part of the design and they tried to use ready-made or recycled materials. What’s more, it will be demountable so in the end they can just pop it all on a semi-trailer or two! 
In terms of project management, this was a collaboration between government, architects, engineers, city planners, construction workers, retail and hospitality outlets. As a systems engineering student, my degree is preparing me to work in diverse teams like these and also work on projects that live in uncharted territory.

#NotJustANUtherEngineer
Love,
Emily

(Originally published on the ANU CECS Student Blog Page: https://cecs.anu.edu.au/studentblogs 12/03/15)

E is for....

Emily.
That's me! My name's Emily Campbell and welcome to All Things E! Here is me in my natural state: surrounded by males. However, they don't usually treat me like a princess, these ones just have to because we're genetically related.

Engineering.
I'm currently a third year Engineering student at ANU, however I wouldn't really classify myself as a typical engineer. Don't get me wrong, I love maths, taking things apart and breaking down complex problems, but I also do an Arts degree where I major in Philosophy and I enjoy girly activities like straightening my hair, going shopping with friends and painting my nails horrible shades of pink.

Elements.
To be more precise, I study Systems Engineering. For those who aren't familiar with it, it basically means we look at every element in a system. We work on projects over their whole lifecycle and get to learn about a huge variety of engineering disciplines.

Exploration.
This is the place where I want to share cool engineering projects and experiences of my own, from Canberra and around the world. I want to make everyone look at the world from a Systems Engineering approach!

Each Week.
Yep. And more than once! What a special treat! I hope you don't get sick of me.

Everyone!!
While I do hope that younger students will take some valuable insights away from the blog, I really want this to be something that everyone can enjoy and contribute to. We all have something to learn, a cool new project to hear about or a person to be inspired by and I'm going to find all these things for you.

Wish me luck!

Love always,
Emily

P.S. Here's my name on a breadboard in case that helps you remember it :)




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