The ingenuity of young Auckland engineers recognized

“Two outstanding young engineers were recently awarded the GT Murray Award from the Auckland branch of Engineering New Zealand for the best presentation by a student member on an engineering research or design project.

Sabrina Naseem, from Auckland University of Technology, wowed the judges and the audience with her beautiful presentation on the design of the future student accommodation center for AUT in Devonport.

She believes that the new accommodation center can be much more than a “set of concrete buildings”.

“People and buildings can be linked by a common mind, body and soul – the mind being the planning and design of a building project, the body being the physical end product and the soul being the comfort. spatial experience that occupants feel. “

Sabrina is majoring in Construction Engineering and is in her fourth year of study. She says, “The success of this industrial research project is the result of the collaborative mahi of four final year construction and architecture students (Jamie Venkatesh, Josh Laloli, Hayley Ngounder and Sabrina Naseem) and the advice of our supervisors.

While engineers have many of the ideas and skills needed to solve global problems, the GT Murray Award is as much about presenting ideas clearly as it is about innovation and ingenuity.

Finalist Morgan Dolfing clearly demonstrated this with his fascinating presentation, “Cultured Meat”. In 2013, the first lab-grown burger was produced at a cost of $ 280,000. Morgan’s presentation drew on his research to make the price of lab-grown meat more acceptable to mass markets.

“While we’re not afraid of lab-grown meat, there are no limits to the benefits this product could offer if it were included in the main menu,” says Morgan.

Host Scott Kelly, Engineering New Zealand Auckland, said: “The enthusiasm of these young presenters was impressive. I think the future of engineering in New Zealand is in good hands and it was really uplifting to see a common theme of sustainability run through all of the student presentations.

The award is named after GT Murray, an early civil engineer who worked on large public projects in Taranaki, Wellington Auckland and who was an early member of IPENZ (now Engineering New Zealand). It was established after his death in 1947 and has a total prize pool of almost $ 1,000.

Remarks

The GT Murray Award is presented by the Auckland branch of Engineering New Zealand and open to Engineering New Zealand student members at Auckland higher education institutions.

Learn more about the Auckland branch.

Learn more about GT Murray.

Engineering New Zealand is New Zealand’s professional body for engineers, with some 22,000 members. We represent – and regulate – our members. We also act as the registration authority for Chartered Professional Engineers.

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