Kensington engineering student a national winner

Liyao Zhou, a first-year engineering student from Kensington in Sydney, has won a national design competition.

Zhou, who attends the University of NSW, was a member of a six-student team to be awarded the Thiess 2007 Engineers Without Borders Challenge prize for designing a water and wastewater system.

Team Planeteers won $3000 for their entry and will travel to southern India early next year to help develop other designs that will improve facilities and services at the Uluru Children’s Home in Alamparai in southern India.

Zhou said as future engineers it is important to learn how to use the knowledge and skills learnt to create a better world.

The Thiess EWB Challenge was open to first-year university engineering students throughout Australia. It attracted 3500 entries from 20 universities.

The final 41 short-listed designs will help Uluru Children’s Home improve their water supply and treatment systems, sanitation, wastewater management, permaculture and agriculture, rural electrification and bridges, household and medical technologies.

Team Planeteers comprised Stacey Atkinson, Antonia Shuttleworth, Nina Hames, Timothy Gotts, Daniel Cho and Liyao Zhou.

Runner up — the Australian Defence Force Academy, University of NSW — received $2000 for its sustainable water supply entry while an RMIT entry was awarded $1000 for a water supply and treatment, permaculture design.