On Monday 16th April the faculty held its 2012 UTS:Engineering Scholarship Forum, representatives from 10 sponsor companies were introduced to new scholars and met with past scholars. Jonathon Meagher, a past scholar and recipient of the Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Outgoing Undergraduate Award spoke of his experiences as a scholar and the degree. Guest speaker, Martin Cooper, Director Technology, Alcatel-Lucent provided an overview of the National Broadband Network (NBN) and its implementation.
Jonathon Meagher a 2010 Scholar majoring in Civil engineering and now in his third year of the degree, spoke of the benefits he has experienced as a scholar and how he was appreciative of the opportunities he has received through attending events such as this one to network and develop industry contacts. Jonathon spoke of the other benefits of developing strong friendship with his fellow scholars and how this has provided a valued support network to study the degree, along with the prestige of the scholarship and the financial component. Jonathon also received a UTS:Engineering Junior Scholarship in 2011, which included an internship with the sponsor company. As a result of receiving the Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Outgoing Undergraduate Award, Jonathon will travel to India in June for an exchange semester and will also look to complete his second internship there.
Martin Cooper, Alcatel-Lucent, is a member of the faculty’s Industry Advisory Network (IAN) and has over 33 years of experience in the industry. Martin spoke of the history surrounding the NBN, the objectives the NBN will deliver on, the technology involved and the benefits the NBN will be capable of providing for Australia’s future use.
The NBN will be made up of Fibre to the home (FTTH) (making up to 93% of the network), fixed wireless and satellite Ka band, with the aim of providing a uniform 12mb speed coverage throughout Australia no matter the location. The telecommunications marketplace with NBNCo aims to foster competition between Retail Service Providers, drive cost effective products and provide a wide choice for the consumers.
The NBN is set to change the way we integrate services in the home and work place and may shape the way we conduct business in the future. Some examples, could be the way medical support is provided to rural areas, the way we interact socially through different forms of media or a change from the need for businesses to be located near customers and suppliers.
Following Martin’s presentation, the scholars and sponsors at each table were given a question relating to their engineering area to discuss and comment around the NBN theme.
