Busy days ahead for Griffith electrical engineers

By: Louise Durack on: Tue 17 of Apr, 2012

Griffith's Melissa Tremayne will be just one of the first cohort of electrical and electronic engineering students set to benefit from a strong jobs market when she graduates in 2013. 

The fourth year student is studying for a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Electronic), a program which was launched in 2010 at Griffith University's Gold Coast campus in a bid to meet increasing industry demand. 

"We established the Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Electronic) in response to the significant increase in demand for electrical engineers due to a shortfall in the number of graduates," said Dr Andrew Seagar from the Griffith School of Engineering. 

"Many of the opportunities – which often have graduate starting salaries of around $10k higher than other engineering disciplines - are falling within market sectors such as mining and heavy machinery, power supply and distribution. 

"We are therefore placing a particular focus on these skill areas within our new degree program." 

Originally from Armidale, NSW, Melissa says she is a country girl at heart who relishes the thought of an electrical engineering job at one of the big Queensland mining sites such as Roma or Chinchilla. 

"I started off studying for the Sports and Biomedical engineering degree but soon realised that the electrical based subjects were what I really enjoyed. 

"There are so many jobs available on the electrical side and what with the fact that there is only an extra six months involved to complete the requirements for the new course, it was an easy decision for me to make the switch." 

Melissa's work with Griffith's Industry Affiliates Program (IAP), which forms a part of her degree study, has also seen her excel at the university's Centre for Wireless and Monitoring Applications (CWMA). 

"My IAP project has involved me working with the CWMA in order to further my research into the use of accelerometers with hockey sticks," she said. 

"This involves measuring the improvement of players using an accelerometer to analyse their stick speed and ball control." 

Melissa's research has resulted in the publication of two scientific papers,

Thiel, D.V. , Tremaynea, M., James, D.A.,  Monitoring stick speed and ball control in field hockey drills using a stick-mounted inertial accelerometer, International Sports Engineering 9th International Sports Engineering Conference. Lowell Massachusetts, July 2012