Young Australian of the Year – Marita Cheng, Engineering Visionary

Marita Cheng - Engineering Visionary

Young Australian of the Year 2012, Marita Cheng - an Engineering Visionary

The prime minister of Australia has just announced the “Australian of the Year” awards on the eve of Australia Day, 26th January. The Young Australian of the Year 2012 is Marita Cheng, who has been hailed as an engineering visionary.

GO ENGINEERS! GO WOMEN ENGINEERS! NATION BUILDERS!

Here’s an extract from the website of the Australian of the Year Awards 2012. More comprehensive information can be found on their website.

While still a university student, Marita Cheng has demonstrated vision and leadership well beyond her years and is dedicated to encouraging young women to become interested in a career in engineering. The daughter of Chinese parents, Marita was born and raised in far north Queensland and now studies at the University of Melbourne. She founded Robogals Global in 2008, as a response to the traditionally low levels of participation by women in engineering and technology. Robogals uses fun and educational activities to teach schoolgirls about engineering and the difference that engineers make to our lives. Already Robogals has run robotics workshops for 3,000 girls across 80 schools in Australia and now has 17 chapters across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. [Read more…]

The Ultimate Seismograph + 97th Anniversary of Avezzano Earthquake

This is not only a true story, but also is timed to mark the 97th Anniversary of the devastating earthquake which destroyed Avezzano on 13th January 1915, resulting in a massive loss of life.

Have you ever been in an earthquake? I have, once, and it’s scary. Not a powerful earthquake, admittedly, and most California residents would probably have called it a tremor. However, it was enough to wake me up in the middle of the night, in the dark, and my first thoughts were [Read more…]

How to Survive an Earthquake – The Triangle of Life

Every year there are hundreds, if not thousands of earthquakes but the only ones to make the headlines are those that impact significantly on us humans. 2011 was a bad year for such events – I don’t need to name them as they will all flash into your mind as you read this.

For a while now I’ve been composing a blog post with the provisional title “The Ultimate Seismograph – How to Survive an Earthquake”. It describes an earthquake I was in and the very unique situation that transpired. While putting the finishing touches to it I realised that “How to Survive an Earthquake” demanded a separate blog post of its own, so here it is. [Read more…]