Australian Maritime College Pasta Bridge Competition

Can you imagine a bridge made only out of pasta and glue holding more than 300kg? AMC’s Maritime Engineering students hold a record of 327kg. This year (2021) you could watch the annual Pasta Bridge Competition virtually as 9 teams competed for the strongest bridge.

The pasta bridge competition is problem based learning activity in Mechanics of Solids, a second year unit offered by AMC’s National Centre for Maritime Engineering and Hydrodynamics. Each team of 4 students spends 2 months use their engineering knowledge and skills to design, build designing and constructing a bridge from pasta to see how much weight it could withstand before ultimately breaking into a thousand pieces.

The bridges are designed and constructed according to an international set of rules developed by the Okanagan College in Canada. The bridges must be exclusively made from pasta and glue, must span over a 1000 mm gap and weigh less than 1000 grams. The bridge which holds the largest weight before failure is declared the winner.

Congratulations to Team Gnocchi Balboa for being crowned 2021 AMC Pasta Bridge Competition Champions with an amazing competition load of 156.55kg at  Australian Maritime College in Tasmania.

The competition was kindly sponsored by Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) Perth Branch.

Subsea Competency Framework Launch

Ian Wilson receiving his well-deserved Certificate of Appreciation.

Last week Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) Perth Branch and Engineers Australia launched the long-awaited Subsea Competency Framework to the public – an event originally planned to be held early 2020. It was a fantastic night, and it was great to see so many professionals and companies acknowledged for their tremendous efforts in launching this framework (view full list here).

This development has been a voluntary collaboration between experienced subsea engineering professionals and companies involved in Subsea Engineering in Australia and abroad. This Framework was developed with the intent for Subsea Engineering to be recognised as an Area of Practice (AoP) by Engineers Australia.

The initial Framework has been designed to recognise Chartered Professional Engineers and it is in the process of extending to encompass the entire career of all involved in Subsea, from students through to Subject Matter Experts including Engineering Technologists and Engineering Associates.

One of the benefits of this Framework is it can be used as a career planning tool and personal recognition as a competent subsea engineer, which is recognised in Australia and Internationally. The SECF provides individuals and engineering graduates considering a career in subsea engineering with a framework from which a personal development plan can be formulated. Individuals can create their own personal development plan (49 profiles within the SECF – see more here) and align it with their employers training and development program if appropriate.

Thank you to all who contributed along the way and a special thank you to Ian Wilson for his dedication and continued efforts to make this happen.

Photos from last week are on the website: https://lnkd.in/gdEgcRg

Kindly sponsored by: Woodside Energy