Unitec Engineering Students Impress Judges with Project Presentation
Left to right: Naresh Singhal (Auckland Branch Committee Member); first place – Lechen Liu, Dylan Maurice (Unitec); David Brierley (Auckland Branch Chair).
Unitec engineering students were the winners of Engineering New Zealand’s Auckland Branch’s GT Murray Award for the best student member presentation on an engineering research or design project.
Dylan Maurice, representing Unitec, wowed the judges and audience with his fascinating presentation on the design of a micro hydro turbine generator to power a self-sufficient leak detection system for water pipes.
His presentation took the audience on a journey through the design and testing of various models of the micro hydro generator. The tiny generator was designed to provide a 100-mA current while minimising the turbine’s impact on flow rate and outlet pressure within the water pipe system.
Dylan Maurice and fellow student Lechen Liu are graduates of Bachelor of Engineering Technology BEngTech (Electrical major). Dylan and Lechen were partners on the project and Dylan presented that work at GT Murray.
The presented project was part of ENGG MG7101 Engineering Development Project course. The course coordinator is Dr Momen Bahadornejad, and project supervisors were Wayne Holmes and Ashley Yan.
Mark Simento, one of the judges, said, “The talent coming through our academic institutions shows so much promise and it was a privilege to observe and adjudicate three fine young engineers. Each represented their institution and themselves with distinction. I wish them all the best for their next stage as engineers!”
Sabrina Naseem, judge and former winner said of this year’s recipients “passion for what they do truly shone through, captivating the audience and leaving a lasting impression” and that it was “evident that their hard work and dedication to preparing for this presentation paid off.”
Host Dave Brierley, Chair of the Auckland Branch, said, “The enthusiasm of these young presenters was inspiring. Listening to them gives me confidence in the future of Engineering in New Zealand and it was really uplifting to see a common theme of efficient engineering solutions running through all the students’ presentations.”
The GT Murray Award is presented by Engineering New Zealand’s Auckland Branch and open to Engineering New Zealand Student members at Auckland tertiary institutions. It is named for GT Murray, an early civil engineer who worked on major public projects in Taranaki, Wellington Auckland and who was one of the early members of IPENZ (now Engineering New Zealand). It was established after his death in 1947 and has a total prize pool of nearly $1000
