theBrief - University of BristolThe Brief is produced termly in the Graphic Design Unit, Faculty of Engineering. Graphic Design Team Carrie Wattling, Samantha Hodder. Editorial Team

theBriefthe Bristol engineering faculty newsletterAutumn 2007

Aquatest Research

Programme

Welcome to the latest edition of The Brief. This internal newsletter is intended to provide a source of information for both staff and students that will hopefully help to improve communication and awareness across the Faculty.

HTML versions and downloadable PDFs are also available from the Faculty Home page.www.bris.ac.uk/engineering

Contents

Message from the Dean 1

Newsclips and Diary dates 2

Student news 4

Aquatest Research programme 8

Faculty people 10

Research 12

Teaching & Learning 15

Faculty news 16

Focus on Professor David Ewins 18

Cover: Water pumps in action (Sean Warren/iStockphoto)

The next edition of The Brief will be published in the Spring term 2008. If you have any ideas for articles please let us know by sending an e-mail to: [email protected]

The Brief is produced termly in the Graphic Design Unit, Faculty of Engineering. Graphic Design Team Carrie Wattling, Samantha Hodder.Editorial Team Matthew King, Melissa Bevan, John McWilliams.Please direct all enquiries to: [email protected] or telephone +44 (0)117 928 9189.

The Brief is printed on 85% recycled paper by Iles (Colour Print) Ltd, Bristol.

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The Brief | Autumn 2007

In my first article as Dean for ‘The Brief’, it is difficult to know where to start.

A few months into the job and I feel I’m only just beginning to understand what

makes the Faculty tick. Having visited all of the Engineering Departments,

I have been astonished at the diversity and commitment of staff and students

throughout the organisation. In research we have areas which

are truly outstanding: vision, communication systems, non-linear

dynamics, composites, residual stresses and water. I have observed

that we almost seem embarrassed by our success in these and other

areas. We do seem to have a culture of enthused temerity, we should be shouting these successes from the rooftops.

The Brief | Autumn 2007 | 1

Along with the research activity, I have spent time with our students. The more time I enjoy with our scholars the more I am impressed. They seem to have boundless enthusiasm and ingenuity. In particular, our Engineers Without Borders society act as an exemplar to others, they really are changing societies and acting as role models across the University. The role of a university is to nurture this enthusiasm as all of our reputations depend on what our graduates do when they leave us.

I want our graduates to be the next generation of leaders, whether it is in engineering, commerce or even politics, and we need to develop courses that make our students stand out from the crowd.

Of course, the path will never be entirely smooth, both for staff or students. A comment I use that often raises eyebrows is that I like our students to make mistakes - not too many though! Let me

put this in context, I’d far rather students made mistakes with us than when they are developing their careers. I’d like our graduates to have the confidence to make changes to society and push back the boundaries in whatever career they choose. The key of course is to realise where the boundaries lie and not to hurdle over the top.

Certainly engineering is not short of challenges. I suspect it will be the task of engineers to solve some of the great societal issues over the coming decades: energy, infrastructure, transport, security and healthcare – to name a few.

At Bristol we are perhaps a victim of our own enthusiasm. We can see these challenges and would like to address all of them. However, any one of them is a global issue. I see our task as harnessing our enthusiasm to solve a few of the issues that really matter to society. We have identified that Sustainability

and Microelectronics (subjects not as disparate as it might seem) are to be at the core of our future. These topics will present us with considerable challenges both scientifically and organizationally. From my own perspective, my career has mainly concentrated on aircraft dynamics or more specifically, why bits fall off planes and helicopters (never sit next to me on an aircraft – I am very bad company). As a result of this rather narrow minded self awareness, I have spent considerable time listening to people far wiser than me. I have realised that wisdom has little to do with age, in fact it is our students that have given me greatest cause for thought. Anyone who has a good idea, let me know, as long as it is: legal, doesn’t bankrupt us and can enthuse us it is probably worth pursuing. As long as we remain focussed and have – to misquote Alan Greenspan – rational exuberance it will do us good. The door is open!

Nick Lieven

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Aerospace

We welcome two new members of staff, lecturers Dr Panagiotis Margaris who started in July, and Dr Guiliano Allegri who joined us this term (profile p.11).

Civils

Joe Symes, a PhD student in the Civil Department, was awarded joint first prize at the Wind Engineering Research Day in October, for his presentation on ‘The use of quasi-steady theory in the analysis of the “Dry Galloping” of inclined cables in turbulent flow’.

Computer Science

The Department welcomes Prof David Cliff (profile p.10)who joined the department in July. David is giving a lecture tour this autumn and winter to celebrate 50 years of the British Computer Society visiting universities at Leeds, Oxford, Newcastle, Southampton, Glasgow and London and lecturing to an intended audience of 14 -18 year olds studying Computer Science or ICT at GCSE and A-level and are considering taking computer science degrees.

We also welcome lecturers Simon Hollis and Dr Sriram Subramanian and administrative assisant Ruth Weir (profile p.11).

Electricals

The Department’s undergraduate programmes were successfully re-accredited in October by the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), which creates a special celebration for EE of 25 continuous years of accreditation. Our MSc was also successfully accredited for the first time.

Dr Jeremy O’Brien has been awarded one of the Philip Leverhulme Prizes for being ‘truly outstanding in his field, possessing

a record of proven achievement as well as telling promise for the future’ which includes secured funding of £70,000.

Dr Mike Barton and Prof Erik Dagless were awarded the 25 year teaching award by the VC in October.

We welcome Jade Player, a new modern apprentice, and Catherine Bolton who is covering for Nina Bunton while she takes a career break.

Eng Maths

Dr Yuliya Kyrychko has been awarded an EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship in Mathematics starting from the 1st October for a three year period. The Fellowship will provide funding to work on the project titled “Challenges of modelling hybrid testing for spatially extended systems”.

We welcome Dr Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova (profile p.10).

Dr Martin Homer and Prof Alan Champneys have been awarded the Department of Engineering Mathematics’ first BBSRC grant, together with Dr Helen Kennedy (Physiology, Bristol) and Dr Nigel Cooper (Keele), to study the active hearing process in the mammalian inner ear.

Faculty Central Services

We say goodbye to Janet Offer who has departed to the sunnier shores of Cyprus - we wish you a long and happy retirement Janet!

Library

The library ran a free prize draw open to all students who took a library tour in the month of October. The lucky winners were: Alistair Strong (Aero), Hariprasath Kesavan

Raajaraajan (Adv. Micro.Sys.Eng.), Alqayam Meghji (Mech), Fei Long Niu (Elec), Amelia Griffiths (Maths), Emily Howells (Maths), George Muris (Mech) and Bridget White (Aero). It was encouraging to see so many people coming along and great to welcome the new arrivals.

Plagiarism is an important issue for students and staff of the University. To help you find useful information on this topic the Library Service has created a web page containing advice and links to useful sources, such as University regulations. Visit www.bris.ac.uk/is/library/findinginformation/plagiarism

Students also benefited from a sale of books held in the library at bargain prices. Books surplus to our stocks are offered for sale so that students can have their own copy. We hope to repeat this event so if anyone has any subject related books they would be happy to donate please let us know, we are happy to come and collect them.

Mechanicals

We welcome Dr Anthony Croxford, lecturer in Dynamics of Machines (profile p.11) and say goodbye to Alison Kuhl and good luck to Laura Gracie who is taking maternity leave.

14th Dec 2007 - End of term

The University will close for the inclusive period of 24th Dec 2007 to 2nd Jan 2008.

13th Feb 2008, 4.00 pm in the PLT, Faculty Board

14th Feb 2008, 4.00 pm in room 1.06 MVB, Colloquium organised by Computer Science - “Bioinformatics”, Michael Steinberg, London

Panagiotis Margaris

Simon Hollis

Sriram Subramanian

Diary Dates


New Supersonic Tunnel Operational

Wednesday 19th September saw a bevy of familiar faces get together in the CDO to wish Professor Dick Clements a long and happy retirement. Many former members of staff attended including (pictured left with Dick) Gordon Reece, Ronald Milne, Jon Sims Williams and, on a flying visit from New York, Jerry Wright. David Muir Wood & Jerry both gave interesting and amusing speeches.

Dick has been with the Department of Engineering Mathematics since 1973, arriving from Cambridge University with a first degree in Mathematics and a PhD in Aeronautical Engineering. At Bristol

New Enterprise Competition

Leading business man and former CEO of Marks & Spencer, Roger Holmes

visited the University on 9th November to launch its annual New Enterprise Competition. Roger Holmes studied

Mechanical Engineering at Bristol before beginning his career with the consultancy firm McKinsey. He later

became finance director of retail chain B&Q, then managing director of Woolworth’s before being headhunted by M&S, becoming chief executive in

September 2001.

The New Enterprise Competition is designed to inspire high growth business ideas and entrepreneurial talent. Launched every autumn, the

competition is open to students, staff and recent graduates. The prize fund in the region of £35,000 includes cash,

free professional advice and six months’ worth of managed office space at

the Bristol SETsquared Acceleration Centre, to help make businesses a

commercial success. The closing date for entry is 26 February 2008.

The creators of the best business

plans, as judged by a panel of experts from the sponsoring organisations

including Bristol City Council, Business West, Deloitte, Fortis Bank, STMicroelectronics, Osborne Clarke, Sulis Innovation, BOC Edwards and UBHT, will be invited to submit full business plans. The winners will be

announced at the prestigious Enterprise Dinner in the summer of 2008.

For further information please contact Sadia Haq, Research and Enterprise Development (RED), Tel: 0117 928

8676, Email: [email protected]

Retirement party for Dick Clements

EMG and Civil Department merger The Civil Engineering Department and the Engineering Management Group (EMG) formally merged on 1 August 2007. Staff and students from the EMG, currently housed in Woodland Road, will be moving up to Queen’s Building in the near future.

The merger enhances the research strength of the combined department in the key area of water management. It also brings together complementary strengths in education at both UG and PG level, to the benefit of the Faculty as a whole. Bristol is considered to be the “market leader” in its adoption of a strong systems component in the Civil Engineering UG programme, and

this is feeding through into the cross-Faculty EngD in Systems. Professional Studies, led by Mohammed Wanous, is regarded as a UK benchmark for education in this area, and contributes to the professional development of UG students right across the Faculty. The EMG team also bring with them considerable expertise in PG taught and professional education.

Colin Taylor is Head of Department, and Sally Heslop takes on the new role of Deputy Head. Peter Strachan, formerly head of the EMG, has taken over the role of Programme Director for the EngD in Systems.

A brand new wind tunnel the Fluid Laboratory purchased through HEFCE’s Teaching Equipment Initiative, is now operational. The intermittent re-circulating design from TQ is capable of generating flows from subsonic to Mach 1.8, with run times lasting for several minutes. Further information at www.aer.bris.ac.uk

he has focused on producing mathematicians with an understanding of engineering science and the will and skill to apply mathematics in an engineering industry. Our very best wishes for the future Dick.


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sOnce again the Faculty has been well represented by the achievements of its sportsmen and women this year. Bristol Reds included: Gordon Margary - Windsurfing; Philip Wright - Fencing; and Matthew Steeds - Rowing.

Several of our undergraduates were included in the University’s Advanced Sports Squad and a brief report of their progress follows.Rowing: Matthew Steeds (Civil) and Martin Herbert (Mech) Matthew started rowing at Bristol in 2004. Since then he has been selected to row for Great Britain three times namely the Canal Cup in 2005, the FISU Championships in 2006 where he won the silver medal and, most recently, in the European Universities Championships in Spain where he won the gold medal beating Germany and Italy. Martin has been the best Club Captain we have ever seen. In addition to his superb organisational and man management skills he has won this year many major rowing races including a gold medal in the BUSA championships in May, and the Elite V111’s at Reading beating a GB selection crew. Martin was

also the successful driving force behind our great victory in the Varsity boat race against UWE this year when we beat UWE 4-1 overall.Sailing: Athol King (Aero) and Hannah Mills (Mech) Athol had a very successful year as part of the University sailing crew winning the BUSA Team-racing event for the second time in 3 years. The team were also selected to represent the British Universities Sailing Association at the Wilson Trophy, team racing’s unofficial annual world championship. The top 32 teams in the world were invited to attend. The team came 8th, being knocked out in the quarter-finals by ‘Team Whishbone’ from the USA, who are the current World Champions. Hannah (above) progressed well over last year. In 2006 she was World and Under 19 European Champion in the 420 class. She has since moved up to a 470 class of boat which is the women’s

2 person olympic class and is a member of the RYA Olympic Development Squad.This year Hannah has a new sailing partner, Katrina Hughes.Fencing: Philip Wright (Mech) Philip represented Great Britain at a junior level from 2004 to 2006, and moved up to senior level last year.

New to the squad this year are Pavlos Tourou (Elec) Volleyball and Philip Wakefield (Mech) Rifle. Pavlos is a member of U19 Cyprus National Team, and represents the University at BUSA, the EVA cup and the EVA Beach Volleyball Cup. Pavlos’ long term goal is to play for his country’s senior National Team. Philip competes in both10m Air Rifle (Standing) and 50m three position Smallbore (Standing, Kneeling and Prone). Before coming to Bristol he was a member of the Great Britain Junior Team and is currently training to move into the GB Senior Team. This will allow him to take part in competitions around the globe such as the World Cups, Commonwealth Games and hopefully the Olympics.

We wish them all the best of luck in the future.

Three undergraduates from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering have been awarded prestigious prizes this term. Einar Holst (left) was nominated for the e2v Technologies Award for the Best Electronic Engineering Student and shortlisted for his final year project, ‘Improving the Breast Cancer Detection System using Signal Processing’.

David Halls, a 2007 graduate now studying for his PhD within the Department, was awarded

the IET Lord Lloyd of Kilgerran Memorial Prize in London. David was accompanied by Professor Andy Nix to the event (right) and awarded the prize in recognition of his final year project ‘HSAP Coverage and Performance Analysis for Media Distribution to and from a Robotic Investigator’. The prize cheque of £1000 is intended to support candidates within the field of mobile communications.

And finally, Philip Anthony, has been nominated for the Sir

William Siemens Annual Medal, for demonstrating the best combination of academic and practical ability. Philip achievedthe highest overall mark in his class for three consecutive years.The award ceremony was held at Siemen’s new headquarters in Frimley, Surrey.

Student awards and prizes

Top sporting performances for 2007

EWB-UK is a student run charity of which EWB-Bristol is one of its main branches. Our vision is a world where access to technology or infrastruture is not a barrier to poverty alleviation and we have the mission to facilitate human development through engineering.

The last year has been an exciting one!Bristol hosted a water training weekend in April learning to build water pumps and sand water filters. Last month members attended a renewable energy weekend in Cardiff, training courses at the Centre for Alternative Technology in mid Wales, and ran a ‘Humanitarian and Development Principles Workshop’. In the future we hope to run many more training weekends and a water role-play developed by Arup, which raises more of the social aspects of development projects.

One of the main reasons that people join

us is to go on placements, whether in the UK or abroad, sharing their engineering skills by working on development projects. This year Eddie Matos went to a remote part of Ecuador, where he acted as project manager for a community water project (right). Mariam Niknejad spent three months at the Shelter Centre in Cambridge developing emergency shelters and guidelines for planning refugee camps. Hayley Sharp also worked in Ecuador on a water systems project funded by an EWB bursary. Bursaries are offered for students wishing to be involved in more intensive development projects. For those people who are interested in going on year long and summer placements the applications will open at the beginning of February.

I would like to thank our interim president, Ian Baggs, and congratulate Rob Cottrell on being elected as an EWB-UK Trustee responsible for outreach programmes, and Hayley Sharp,

who has been appointed EWB-UK National Research Coordinator.

For much more information about what EWB-Bristol is all about and planned fundraising and training opportunities please visit: www.ewb-uk.org/bristol or email us at: [email protected].

Andrew FranksEWB Bristol Vice President

I took time out from my degree to spend last year working for Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. in Switzerland. The company manufactures single-engine turboprop aircraft, and carries out all design, manufacture and assembly work at its site. I worked in the flight test department and was mainly involved with 2 aircraft types: the PC-12 business aircraft and the PC-21 advanced military trainer.

The PC-12 was undergoing an upgrade to a glass cockpit. As part of the certification programme, the aircraft had to be put through cold weather testing which involved sending the aircraft to Canada. I supported the planning and preparation for the trial, and had the slightly daunting responsibility of programming the critical temperature loggers before the aircraft was despatched. Thankfully, they all performed correctly and the required data was obtained.

The first prototype PC-21 aircraft is fitted with an on-board data acquisition system which stores many parameters during a test flight. This data is relayed to a ground station via a telemetry system allowing

the data to be monitored in real-time. I assisted the test engineer during flightsby keeping a radio log of all occurrencesand test pilot comments. After each flightI downloaded the data from the aircraft, and then produced data files required by specialists such as aerodynamicists and structures engineers.

I had the opportunity to work with aircraft fitters and see a huge variety of tests while taking photographs and video to provide a full record of testing. This included an engine run to check for electromagnetic interference from a telemetry system, assessments ofcockpit lighting under night conditions,

undercarriage testing with the aircraft on jacks, and structural testing for flutter and strain gauge calibration.

Apart from being a valuable and enjoyable year in industry, I have improved my German and can even understand a little of the local Swiss German dialect. I was lucky enough to be living in an idyllic area right next to Lake Lucerne so I could swim in summer, and surrounded by mountains so I could ski in winter. And yes, there were lots of cows wearing bells!

Sarah Wilde4th Year MEng Aeronautical Engineering


Year out in Industry

Engineers Without Borders

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Around the world on summer placement

Mingling with Silicon Valley millionaires in California, fighting global warming with Nobel Prize winners, liaising with governments on behalf of the United Nations in Paris, or designing engine control systems for Mercedes Benz in Germany - these were all things I was fortunate enough to experience this summer!

After months of planning earlier this year, I managed to organise 3 international work placements for the summer break.

The first summer month was spent working at the United Nations Environment Programme in Paris. Under the guidance of the Ozonaction branch director (who was recently awarded a collective Nobel prize alongside Al Gore for his work on climate change), I completed a short research project on the energy efficiency of domestic appliances and their impact on global CO2 emissions. Paris is a beautiful and cultured city with a very relaxed working lifestyle which I really enjoyed.I found that engineers have a more significant role to play within the U.N. than I had anticipated.

Two days after I finished in Paris,

I flew out to California to work with a Silicon Valley start-up company who manufacture novel high efficiency solar panels for large scale power generation. Just two years ago, the company consisted of two engineers in a garage with an idea, now they are 70 people strong with $90M of investment! I worked on various electrical and electronic engineering aspects of the solar system which involved a lot of hands on work.

Although my Californian colleagues worked fairly long and hard, I found their working attitude much more friendly and informal compared with other countries, resulting in work processes being completed very quickly. It was an extremely fast paced work environment with an exciting sense of buzz that you would expect in a start-up company. From an engineers’ perspective, Silicon Valley seemed to be one of the most innovative and well paid areas to work in the world with plenty of job opportunities to go around. I was fortunate enough to interact with the entrepreneur-founder of the company, who was a very inspiring character and proved to me that

engineers can have exceptionally interesting careers, be financially successful, and still have time to pursue other hobbies.

After California, I spent a month working with the Engine Combustion Control Group at the Mercedes Benz Research Centre in Stuttgart, Germany. The site where I worked contained thousands of employees (mostly engineers) many of whom are given a Mercedes. It was a sharp contrast working at such a massive corporate company after coming from a small entrepreneurial firm. I found this to have distinct advantages such as fewer working hours & greater job security. However, the working environment was notably less dynamic & the work itself seemed less flexible. These placements have proved to me that there are a vast range of exciting and well rewarded careers that engineers can pursue across the world.

Aditya Gurtu 4th Year MEng

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Engineering the time

Having a lifelong fascination with horology and a passion for watches, Simon recently embarked on a project to create his own unique timepiece, a hand built watch unlike any other in the world. “The first thing I did was to select a watch case, the criteria being rugged good looks and sheer size – I wanted this watch to be a statement piece. The ‘exhibition’ case that I chose has a sapphire crystal glass as well as a sapphire caseback, which allows the movement to be seen from both sides. This in turn meant that the internals had to be carefully chosen, as they would be highly visible. I settled on a skeletonised ETA 6497 movement, which is manually-wound and was originally designed for a pocket watch. In order to make the transition into a wristwatch the movement is simply rotated by 90º so that the winding stem is in the 3 o’clock position.

The movement arrived in about 150 very small bits, with lots of diagrams. Thanks

to my long held interest in watches and clocks I had already built up a watchmaker’s toolkit, consisting of a whole host of tweezers, a set of pin vices (for holding delicate parts) a dust blower, gloves and a set of miniature screwdrivers. So, armed with these tools and the diagrams (and drawing on my knowledge both as an engineer and an amateur horologist) I began to assemble the movement. This was not done in one go, but spread over several days, as the work was very intricate. After assembly the movement was placed inside the case and sealed up against the elements. The finished watch draws many admiring glances and has provided me with an interesting and fulfilling project away from my studies, but best of all, in addition to its good looks and charm, it continues to keep excellent time!”

In the Summer issue of The Briefthe students who gained their MISYS Scholarships were incorrectly named.We apologise for any inconvenience caused and offer once again our congratulations to Ryan Calmus (left) and Leon Atkins (right)

James Churchman, Engineering Society President, is currently taking his 4th year out from his MEng in Electronic Engineering course to develop and launch a website he has been writing for the past 2 years.

It’s not often that you can be there for the birth of something that may become part of your every day life; that enhances and empowers you in some small, or potentially large way - however that is the possibility you may have next term. So what is it all about? Well, the detail I have to save for the Launch, but here’s a flavour.The website is a collaborative knowledge

source, in concept not unlike Wikipedia, but serving a very different, and possibly even more useful, function. It’s far from a Wikipedia with “bells and whistles” but rather, a finely structured body that can expand in an organic fashion, yet not based on collaborative text. It is “ultra collaborative” and unlike anything I have ever seen on the Web. It will allow users to collaborate at interlinked, but totally separate levels on any subject of their interest or choice.

My aim? To provide one of the most useful sites out there, as well as one of the simplest; taking something exceptionally

difficult and making it universal, intuitive, fast and very simple.Curious – I certainly hope so! I happily invite you to the Launch – a packed house is the order of the day! This site was born out of Bristol University and Bristol is where I will launch it, letting you be the very first people to ever see it. The precise date is yet to be set but it will be early in 2008 and the venue will be one of the large lecture theatres in the Engineering Building - so please watch for the announcements.

Happy Christmas to you all and I look forward to meeting you again in 2008.


Forget Stanford University and Google, think Bristol University and ……?

Errata

Simon Porter completed his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2006, and is now in the second year of a PhD, looking at industrial cereal baking.

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Water and Health Research Centre -AQUATEST Research Programme


The AQUATEST research programme aims to deliver a low-cost water test that can be used widely in developing countries by non-experts. The programme is attracting significant funding from the European Union (£0.3m) and from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (£6.5m). Bristol will lead an international collaboration in partnership with University of California, Berkeley, the World Health Organization, PATH, AQUAYA, University of Cape Town, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University of Southampton and the Health Protection Agency.

The World Health Organisation has estimated that water-borne disease causes 1.8 million deaths annually (1.5 million being children under five). If Aquatest results in just 10% of these people avoiding contaminated water, 180,000 lives could be saved each year. The Project Director is Dr Stephen Gundry

(Civil Engineering), who is also Director of the Water and Health Research Centre (WHRC). The WHRC is a cross-disciplinary, collaborative centre and a partnership between several faculties in the University of Bristol. The WHRC is based within the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS), and includes over 30 academic staff in 13 different Departments with research interests in water and health.

AQUATEST is a small, single-use device for testing water quality. It can be used in the field, without electricity or skilled technicians and is being designed for use at a target manufactured cost of 10 US cents. The device can be used by water engineers to improve the way water and sanitation are managed, as well as consumers who will know when water is contaminated and will be encouraged to treat it before use. The research will also seek to understand the impact that such a device could have on households, communities and water professionals, as

well as water governance and policy. An integral component of the project is to develop a sustainable basis for the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of the device and an action plan to promote uptake.

The Faculty of Engineering, will lead the research addressing the design and technological development of the Aquatest device. This will include engineering, design, microbiological and chemical challenges as well as future technology applications. Dr Gundry will work closely with colleagues in the University and at the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in Bristol. Professor Tony Davis (School of Chemistry) will lead research to develop an appropriate chemical reagent for the device and the HPA will lead on all microbiological aspects.

The device is still being developed, but is expected to work like this: a small sample of water (50 ml) is collected directly in the Aquatest device,

Dr Stephen Gundry

The Aquatest device

a small cylinder containing ten separate tubes. The sample is then left to rest at ambient temperature for 24-36 hours to allow microorganisms in the water to be detected. After this period, colour changes in each tube give information about the quality of the water. The more tubes that change colour, the greater the contamination. These bands of quality are important as they will show, for example, that the water might be safe for healthy adults to drink, but not safe for children or the sick.

Scientifically, the device will detect the micro-organism E-coli in water and will be sensitive enough to detect five E-coli colonies in the 50ml sample (equivalent to finding a single coffee bean in 4,000 Olympic-size swimming pools).

Dr Patricia Lucas and Professor Dave Gordon (School for Policy Studies) and Professor Alan Emond (Centre for Child and Adolescent Health) will collaborate with the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Cape Town, the Aquaya Institute, the University of Southampton, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, PATH and Indian partners to

carry out field studies in South Africa and India. They will assess and inform on users’ needs and responses to the device including the impact the device is having on water management, behaviour change, and more generally on health. They will also assess the performance of the Aquatest device and thus inform the device design process and the development of sustainable methods of distribution, including private sector participation. The countries chosen have been selected because they are located in the two regions with the greatest water quality challenges. Both have very poor provinces with low levels of access to safe water, but they also have industrial and policy environments that could support the widespread production and adoption of the Aquatest device in a way that could optimise local health and economic benefits.

PATH, a not-for profit technology transfer organisation based in Seattle, USA will lead on market analysis and licensing and will work with researchers and the Research and Enterprise Development Office (RED) to prepare for commercialization of the Aquatest device.

The activity to promote the long-term uptake of the Aquatest device and develop an action plan for the future will be led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and will involve Dr Lucas, and Professors Gordon and Emond, Professor Bronwen Morgan (School of Law), the University of Cape Town and the University of Southampton.


I joined the Faculty in July, and I think it is great here. Previously I spent roughly half the last fifteen years in academia, and the rest in industry. The academic half involved faculty positions at the universities of Sussex and Southampton, and at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab in the USA. The industrial part involved working as a research scientist for Hewlett-Packard Labs, and as a Director in the Complex Risk Group at Deutsche Bank’s Foreign Exchange trading floor in the City of London.

For the next five years all of my time will be taken up directing the EPSRC’s national research and training initiative in Large-Scale Complex IT Systems (LSCITS), a multi-site £14M activity involving 250 person-years of effort (full details at www.lscits.org). This is going to be a lot of fun, and it dovetails very nicely with some other major activities here in Bristol

like the EngD in Systems, and the Bristol Centre for Complexity Science. I really think Bristol is the best place in the UK to be running LSCITS from.

Outside of work, I spend as much time as I can mucking around with my two small kids and cooking good food with my partner for us and our friends,

preferably washed down with some good booze too. I love mountaineering (but am definitely an ex-climber), and I’m pretty much addicted to running marathons and ultra-marathons - preferably off-road and in the mountains.

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In August I joined the Faculty of Engineering as a Lecturer in the Department of Engineering Mathematics.

I gained my undergraduate and MSc degrees in mathematics at the University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Then I did a PhD in applied mathematics at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. After that I spent 18 months as a post-doctoral fellow at the Laboratory of Biological Modelling (LBM) in the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA followed by 15 months as a post-doctoral

fellow at the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Biology at Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS) in Paris, France.

The area of my research is mathematical biology. In particular I work on problems of cellular and molecular biology. Although I was trained as an applied mathematician, due to the highly interdisciplinary nature of my research, my work often involves biophysics, biochemistry and data analysis. Interaction with experimentalists is of highest importance to my research and is the primary driving force behind the synthesis of new modelling

ideas. I am looking forward to working with colleagues in the Engineering Faculty as well as in the other faculties across the University.

David CliffComputer Science

Krasimira Tsaneva-AtanasovaEngineering Mathematics

Anthony CroxfordMechanical EngineeringI have just joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering as a Lecturer, before which I was working as a PostDoc in the Department. My main research interests can be grouped within the areas of “Dynamics of Fluid Systems” and “Structural Health Monitoring”. While appearing disparate and unconnected these two themes are related to the fundamentals of engineering, namely improving our basic understanding of complex systems. I am looking forward to continuing this work with colleagues within the Faculty and the wider University and region.

I enjoy living in Bristol but have to get out in the countryside regularly to go walking, or biking. These activities are ably supported by my van, which has been to the moon (230,000 miles and counting). Hopefully it will make it back again.

Dan MannFaculty Central ServicesI graduated from UWE with first class honours in Music Systems Engineering in the summer of 2006 and, after a six month hiatus of casual work and earnest musical creation and performance (my own version of the stereotypical post-uni backpacking adventure), I tentatively entered into my first “real” job here at the Faculty of Engineering. I mainly look after multimedia computing and video-conferencing facilities, as well as offering support to Macintosh users and creating & editing video & audio content to support teaching.

When I finish a long day of editing audio files here in Queens Building I like to go home and edit more audio files. I first got my teeth into music production and recording at Miloco Studios in London, where I was fortunate enough to cross paths with and learn from, among others, Suggs from Madness & Beth Gibbons from Portishead. I’m currently in discussion to work on some tracks with Bristol’s own Katey Brooks (www.myspace.com/kateybrooks), something which I’m very much looking forward to.

Ruth WeirComputer ScienceI joined the Department of Computer Science as a part time administrative assistant, a very varied role which includes, amongst other things, co-ordinating admissions on behalf of the PhD Admissions Tutor, providing support to PhD students and marketing for the department’s postgraduate programmes.

Before moving to Bristol I lived in Leicester, working for six years as a Marketing and Communications Officer for Home-Start UK, a national charity supporting young families who are struggling to cope. I am married to Darren and we have a daughter, Evie, who is nearly two. We are currently living in Somerset with my parents and commuting but look forward to finally moving to Bristol and experiencing city life again.

I spend as much of my spare time as possible in the countryside - walking, camping and cycling. I also enjoy reading (when I get a chance) and photography.

Guiliano AllegriAerospace EngineeringLast October I joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering as a Lecturer. I have a Masters Degree in Aeronautical Engineering and a PhD in Aerospace Engineering, both earned at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. After my PhD I joined Cranfield University, initially as a post-doc and later as a Lecturer.

My main research interest is in the development of finite element techniques for modelling the damage onset, accumulation and propagation in composite materials; these are now finding increasing application in the aerospace industry, due to the need to save weight for reducing fuel burn. Recent applications involve employing composites in aero-engines; this actually represents the core topic of my research activity, which is supported by Rolls-Royce through the Bristol Composite University Technology Centre.

In my spare time I enjoy travelling and cycling; I am also a motorsport enthusiast.


Anthony Croxford

Dan Mann

Ruth Weir

Guiliano Allegri

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... with this grant we

will be able to develop a unique

collaboration between thirteen

departments across the University


Bristol Centre for Complexity Science

£4M has been awarded to the University of Bristol to set up the Bristol Centre for Complexity Sciences (BCCS).

Complexity Science deals with large networks of many smaller elements that interact to produce behaviour that cannot be predicted by looking at just one or two elements. Examples of such problems are:l Biology: how to identify what causes diseases such as Alzheimer’s by looking at the activity of individual neurons.l Engineering: how the mobile phone network adapts to maintain its quality of service when too many people want to use it.l Chemistry: how to make ‘designer’ molecules that benefit mankind without unpredictable side-effects.

Professor John Hogan, Director of the EPSRC funded Centre, said: “These practical challenges are at the heart of the need to develop new theories and algorithms that have the capacity to revolutionise the world we live in. With this grant we will be able to develop a unique collaboration between thirteen departments across the University.”

The aim of the Centre is to provide a highly interdisciplinary four-year training programme for extremely high calibre and motivated postgraduate students. They will have a year of training before commencing their doctoral studies. During the training period, they will be exposed to leading-edge theoretical techniques (in mathematics, statistics and computer science) as well as attending lectures in areas to which the theories can be applied.

Uniquely, they will also be allowed one false start should they find they don’t like their first choice. Each project will be jointly supervised by experts from both the theoretical and application areas. This will foster links between a theoretical hub and many application areas so that students emerge ‘speaking two languages’ - of complexity theory and the challenges it addresses.

Pictured above are the first 12 students who began their training in October. The Centre has funding for four years covering both student stipends and the salaries of academics, two of whom (Karoline Wiesner & Ayalvadi Ganesh) have already joined the University, working in the School of Mathematics.

Dr Steve Burrow in Aerospace Engineering has received funding under the EPSRC First Grant Scheme to research into the generation of electrical power from ambient vibrations using resonant structures with non-linear elements.

Power harvesting from vibrations to generate power has been a topic of much research over the past decade, led by the desire to break the dependence of wireless electrical systems on batteries. This latest research is in collaboration with the Department of Engineering Mathematics, which has expertise in the analysis of non linear systems. The goal is to develop energy harvesting devices that can generate power from vibrations over a wide frequency range by exploiting the characteristics of non-linear resonant systems. Conventional vibration harvesting devices have a limited bandwidth, and the wider bandwidth of the proposed designs makes the technology of energy harvesting more widely applicable and also makes the devices easier to manufacture by relaxing tolerances.

Energy Harvesting from Vibrations


EPSRC grants Engineering a Sustainable Society - Forging Links for Future Success

Research Reception 2007

On July 17th the Faculty held its annual research reception, attended by over 140 staff and students and was deemed to be a great success. During the event the six Heads of Departments gave an overview of the ongoing research in each of their sections. Postgraduate students also had the opportunity to enter a Poster Competition and present their work to the Faculty. The quality of the entries was so high that 2 extra prizes were announced on the day in order to reflect such remarkable standards. The posters can be viewed at: www.bris.ac.uk/engineering/research/reception2007

The Faculty will be hosting another research reception on the 9th July 2008 which will be open to industry. In the evening there will be a networking reception with guest speakers in the Victoria Rooms. As with previous years, coordination will be done centrally, so if you have industrial contacts who you would like to invite pleasse pass on their details to [email protected]. If you would like to present a poster please contact your departmental research director.

Mustafa Rampuri

Following on from the success of events held last year, a new series of sustainability seminars is running during the Autumn and Spring semesters. These seminars have three main objectives:

l To identify new opportunities for academia within the sustainability sector.l To promote an increased number of collaborative projects between the University and relevant external organisations. l To inform undergraduates of potential career opportunities related to sustainability and provide them with increased access to related teaching and research projects.

The first event, ‘Sustainable Energy in the South West: Strengths, Trends and Challenges,’ featured presentations from several leading organisations and highlighted major achievements of the region within the sustainability sector, particularly in offshore energy technologies. The next seminar, ‘A sea of Promise: New Developments in Wave and Tidal Power,’ will explore such technologies in more detail. This will be held on Thursday 13th December,

5:10-7:00pm, in the Pugsley Lecture Theatre, Queen’s Building, and will include presentations from WS Atkins, Ocean Prospect and Tidal Generation Limited. Professor Alan Champneys, Head of Engineering Mathematics, will introduce the event by outlining Faculty plans for major new initiatives in sustainability.

Further seminars on specific sustainability topics will be held in early 2008, culminating in an inter-faculty ‘Global Change Day’ on Friday 14th March. Opening with a keynote speech from Gavin Schmidt, a climate modeller at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, the event will explore the range of climate change and sustainability research being conducted across the University.

Combined with other new sustainability initiatives being launched across the Faculty, these seminars will help to forge strong links, both with industry and other academic disciplines, ensuring future success within this rapidly expanding sector.

Paul Harper

Developing stronger

collaboration between India

and UK

Bristol is represented in two new EPSRC network grants announced recently.

EPSRC Network on multiScale Information, RePresentatIon and Estimation (INSPIRE) has been formed including Bristol, Imperial, Cambridge and Warwick Universities. The purpose of this network is to proactively encourage interchange between Mathematics, Statistics and Signal Processing and to focus on key problems addressing the challenges of multidimensionality, sparse and over complete signal representations. At Bristol, the partner Departments are Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Profs Bull and Canagarajah) and Mathematics (Prof Nason).

The purpose of the EPSRC INTERACT Network on Next Generation Networks Systems and Services is to develop stronger collaboration with India and the UK. The partners of this network include Universities of Cambridge, University College London, Surrey, Southampton, Ulster, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, BT Exact and Infosys. This consortium has also won a separate UKIERI Research Grant to facilitate exchange of graduate students between the UK and India.

For more information please contact Prof Nishan Canagarajah ([email protected])

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Dento-Munch Dental Robotic Testing Simulator

““

The design inspiration is based

on a human skull,

spider and aircraft

simulator

Many aspects of biological systems are mechanical in nature. Studying biological systems gives me an understanding of biomechanics leading to ideas for new products, development of better diagnostic procedures and improvement of medical and rehabilitation devices.

Dentistry is one area of medicine where biomechanics of a human (e.g. chewing) can be studied to improve patient care. The UK spends £2.5 billion each year on dental materials to replace or strengthen teeth. Lack of an adequate method of field testing is hindering dental development. Despite the frequent use of metals, polymers and ceramics for tooth restoration, properties such as modulus of elasticity, flexural strength, hardness, wear and fatigue are often poorly understood. Without this knowledge the likely long term performance of the materials cannot be judged. The randomised clinical trial is time-consuming and expensive, and by the time a new material has been evaluated the market has often moved on. Current laboratory simulators utilise only 2-3 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) and are unable to reflect true clinical performance. Indeed, results from different simulators are often inconsistent.

I therefore invented a Dental Robotic Testing Simulator called “Dento-Munch” to act as surrogate mouths with a 6-DOF to emulate the human neuromasticatory system, which via feedback control of the robot actuators, will accurately replicate the forces and dynamics sustained by the teeth in-situ. It was necessary to study and analyse the biomechanics of human mastication and come up with a design of a

bio-robot to mimic human chewing. The designinspiration is based on a human skull (structure), spider (general look) and aircraft simulator(dynamics and control of chewing).

The potential and merit of the Dento-Munch has already been patented in the US, published in New Scientist (28 June 2007), Medical Engineering Journal 2007, at the 5th World Congress of Biomechanics 2006 and in the Proceedings of the 29th IEEE EMBS 2007. Ormco (US orthodontics specialist) and Renishaw have also shown a great interest.

Kazem Alemzahdeh

In October, the EngD Centre in Systems welcomed its second cohort of Engineering Doctorate Research Engineers (RE). The induction included a workshop on “Capturing Complexity in Engineering Systems” in which REs, industrialists and academics participated. This was an opportunity to demonstrate alignment between the EngD Centre in Systems, Bristol Centre for Complexity Sciences and Bath’s Centre for Complex Systems.

In its pamphlet “Creating Systems that Work” the Royal Academy of Engineering points out that “Engineers are increasingly concerned with complex systems, in which the parts interact with each other and with the outside world in many ways – the relationships between the parts determine how the system behaves. Intuition rarely predicts the behavior of novel complex systems.” Dealing with complexity is a key driver for most of our 25 systems research doctorates.

Excellence in collaboration and networking are two processes that are part of a systems engineer’s skill set.

The first half of the workshop was networking focused around a poster display of the first cohort’s research. The progress they have made over their first 9 months impressed everyone. Evidently the alignment with industry injects energy and challenge.

Speakers from SystemsEngineering, Mathematics, Computer Science andManagement Sciences, shared their understanding of Complexity with participants. Much common ground was identified. The key debate hinged around whether judgement of fitness for purposeis a sufficient measure of quality when modelling complex issues

that elude the science process.

At the end of Induction Week the RE’s presented their research to a ‘Dragon’s Den’ to attract ‘monopoly’ money. The winner was Marc Chevalier (above) who is researching Reliability of Systems Subject to Change in Demand for British Energy. Closely followed by Bob Ioannides researching Functional Coverage Balancing for Broadcom and Jeremy King researching Development and Optimisation of Tidal Energy Systems for Tidal Generation Ltd.

Patrick Godfrey


teac

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& le

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Languages Gateways into the ProfessionsThe University of Bristol Language Centre, Aerospace Engineering and Airbus UK have teamed up to provide a new dimension to language teaching for engineers at Bristol. They are collaborating as part of a project funded by DIUS, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, to provide profession-specific language tuition for Aerospace Engineers.

The project is led by CILT, the National Centre for Languages, and involves four universities: Kingston, Loughborough, Salford and Bristol. Professional bodies, the Engineering Council UK (ECUK) and ConstructionSkills, are also represented. The aim is to develop and highlight good practice in the design and

delivery of profession-specific language teaching. It also aims to raise awareness among potential entrants within these two professions of the value of language in their future careers.

The team at Bristol have focused on material for undergraduate Aerospace Engineering students studying French at post A’ level. Over the course of teaching block 1, language staff have been developing an online course which is blended with the existing face-to-face tuition offered on applied foreign language open units. The package will include a history of aerospace, specialist terminology, vocabulary and grammar exercises, interviews with professionals, the language of meetings and the work place, plus information and links to careers in Aerospace Engineering.

Although the initial focus of the project is Aerospace Engineering, the outcomes will be fed into the language tuition given to students all across the Faculty.

Language professionals need no convincing when it comes to the value of languages for all aspects of life, work included, but the inclusion of employers and professional bodies in this project is vital. The project will highlight languages as an important employability skill which helps students of other disciplines to be more competitive in the global market, regardless of whether they eventually work abroad or not.

For more information please contact Ray Satchell in the Language Centre or Steve Burrow in Aerospace Engineering.

EngD in the Dragons Den

facu

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Stuart Cullimore, known to many friends and colleagues simply as ‘Culli’, and to his wife as ‘Mac’, died in a nursing home in Cornwall in early May 2007, his wife Yvonne having predeceased him.

He was a Gloucestershire man, born in September 1920, who spent much the greater part of his life successively as undergraduate, postgraduate, lecturer and finally reader in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Bristol. The only interlude was during the Second World War when he served in the Army in North Africa. He was wounded in both legs but this misfortune had its compensation because one of his nurses was Yvonne, whom he subsequently married.

As a postgraduate student at Bristol he was one of Sir Alfred Pugsley’s team which also included Henry Chilver, John Caldwell, Philip Bulson and Tony Flint, all of them reaching high positions in the structural engineering field. This immediate post-war period saw aluminium being used for structures other than aeroplanes, and Stuart’s research was part of this, specifically the behaviour of aluminium beams under combined bending and torsion. But he will be remembered chiefly for his study of friction-grip bolted joints, a topic which he made his own by a mixture of very careful experimentation and corresponding numerical analysis, guiding his own group of research students in this work.

In his teaching at Bristol he could be severe on students who did not respond to his efforts to enthuse them in the sometimes demanding aspects of structural engineering, but, as is often the case, many of them have since expressed their gratitude for the secure foundations which he gave them.

Stuart was also a meticulous administrator, particularly in dealing with the Department’s finances, and from 1968 onwards until he retired, he collaborated with the present writer in leading the Department to the high level which it achieved in the University Grants Committee’s research assessment exercises.

Alongside his university work, Stuart made significant contributions to the Institution of Structural Engineers, becoming a Fellow in 1966. Earlier, he had been Secretary (1961-64), Vice-Chairman (1965) and Chairman (1966) of its Western Counties Branch. These contributions led to his election to the Council of the Institution in 1967, a role which required participation in many of its sub-committees.

On retirement from the University, Stuart and Yvonne continued to live in Bristol, but they later moved to Cornwall to be close to one of their two sons.

Professor R.T. Severn

Summer SchoolsWith the increased competition for students, outreach activities are now seen as essential to attract the top students to Bristol. Across the Faculty we engage with potential students in a number of ways including school visits by staff and current students. ‘Summer schools’ are another visible way in which we interact, and involve many people across the Faculty. Events include Dragonfly, Headstart, Insight, Access to Bristol, NAGTY and the Sutton Trust. They are targeted at a range of ages, with particular events focused on students from low-participation backgrounds and female students. (Photo - students building gliders at the Dragonfly event).

Steve Burrow

Obituary - Dr M. S. G. Cullimore


John Skinner has been with the Faculty for 40 years. He is currently employed as a Senior Research Technician with the Composites Group. He will collect his 40 year medal from the Vice-Chancellor later this month.

When I joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1967 the Head of Department was Prof Jock Morrison with Ron Boyd as Laboratory superintendent. I worked as a Research Technician for Professor Bob Adams in his Composite Research Group, together with Brian Smith who was a great character and very talented man. The total number of undergraduates taken on in the first year was 40 (today the figure is nearer 100) and there were about 30 PhD students and 26 technicians in the department. One project we tackled was to build a big vacuum chamber for the testing of carbon fibres. This later became

known as the Bacon Folly – named after the postgraduate who designed it, Gordon Bacon. The group, still with Bob Adams at the helm, started testing adhesive joints in this vacuum and was renamed the Composite and Adhesive Group in 1980.

During this time I completed an OU degree in material science and as a result attended several conferences with Prof Adams and met some very interesting scientists. On one occasion at Strathclyde University, Glasgow I won the poster prize with a student, Daniel Vogt.

I played cricket for the University Staff (1973-1977) and still play for and help organise the Mechanicals Cricket Club (MCC), the Faculty football team (The Engineers), and am playing Captain of the skittles team (The Bolts).

The highlights of the year for everyone

who can remember back to the 70’s were the Founder’s Day Fete held every year at Coombe Dingle for staff and families, and the Christmas Party for the children held in the old Refectory (now Browns), and organised by Martin West of the UBEA.

It has been an interesting 40 years working with such a diverse group of people and the students have certainly helped to keep me young!

The BLADE art project has as its aim to communicate, through thelanguage of sculpture, the art, science and excitement of engineering.

After the selection of artist Andrew Stonyer in 2006 and some initialprototyping, the present concept consists of two large slender columns that move dynamically in sequence, as well as independently. Two sites for the`Dynamic Columns’ sculpture have been selected and agreed in principle by the Bursar: the roof of the Queen’s Building Library and the `prow’ of the Merchant Venturers Building. The two columns will be illuminated at night and can be seen together at particular viewpoints through the university campus.

The project is now embedded into the University’s Public Art strategy and its External Realm Framework (view pdfs at www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Bursar/masterplan).

The next step is the development of `Dynamic Columns’ through to final realisation, which raises a number of

significant technical and aesthetic issues:l What should be the maximum angle of movement of the columns from the vertical?l How can this movement be achieved? l How best can the columns communicate with each other across the campus?l What should they be made of and how can they be illuminated at night? l What is the influence of external forces, such as the wind?

To help answer these questions we will need to draw on the Faculty’sworld-class engineering expertise.

It is envisaged that the interaction with Andrew Stonyer, who is now a Visiting Research Fellow in the Faculty, will lead to a new level of engagement between artsand engineering that will be felt across the Faculty, the University and the City.

We are presently planning a number of student projects to explore some initial ideas, and would like to invite all members of the Faculty to get involved with `Dynamic Columns’ at all levels.

Ian Duncan, Martin Homer, Bernd Krauskopf, Carrie Wattling

Blade Art Project update - Dynamic Columns

Forty years in the Faculty

I am absolutely delighted to have joined the University this year, and to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the development of one of its unique features – BLADE.

When I retired from full-time employment in London, just over 2 years ago, one of my early offers (from one of my ex-students here in Bristol) was “…to spend a few days in BLADE talking to the researchers..”. I think that this offer was made on the basis that I had moved to live in Devon and so was in quite easy reach of Bristol. By the time that I met up with the Dean-elect in Browns to discuss the idea, it had grown somewhat and after a few iterations

evolved into the present roleas Director of BLADE. In many ways, I am still slightly incredulous of my luck!

Although I have spent almost allmy working life - so far - based at Imperial College in London, it all began here in Bristol. For the 10 years prior to leaving school, I lived in Bristol and attended what is now affectionately known as ‘KGS’. As I left Bristol for university, my parents moved back to their native Devon and so taking up my present post here feels somewhat like returning ‘home’ after a very prolonged stay in London. So much of it is familiar: of course, the local bookshop is no longer called Georges, but I can still find my way to Temple Meads on foot, in the dark.

I do not think I could have designed a better job for this stage of my career than the one which I now have here at BLADE. It feels, simply, the right job at the right time and in the right place. Retiring from a full-time post at Imperial after 40 years could have meant retiring into thebackground, and carrying on some research at a gentler pace. I quickly found that I was not quite ready for that, and so the chance to get back into top gear in Bristol could not have been better timed.

I believe that it is very important for today’s and tomorrow’s engineers to find and maintain the right balance between theory and practice. In my field of Structural Dynamics, that means between the computational and experimental tools that are used to design and maintain machines, vehicles and structures of all types. The challenge is to match the dramatic developments in computer modelling with imaginative and innovative experimental strategies. The many vigorous research groups and the laboratories that are linked together through BLADE provide Bristol with the best of platforms from which to lead this important feature of 21stcentury engineering. I really hope that I can make a significant contribution to the next stage in the development of what I see to be unique facility – certainly in the UK and probably world-wide.

I am excited by the opportunity to work here, and optimistic after just a very few months’ familiarisation with the place, the people and the prospects.

Prof David EwinsDirector of BLADE

Professor David Ewinsfo

cus

on


““

Although I have spent

almost all my

working life based

at Imperial College in London, it all began here in Bristol

Documents

theBrief - University of BristolThe Brief is produced termly in the Graphic Design Unit, Faculty of Engineering. Graphic Design Team Carrie Wattling, Samantha Hodder. Editorial Team