Research Quality, Publications and Impact in Hydraulic Engineering into the 21st Century. Publish or Perish, Commercial versus Open Access, Internet versus Libraries

One of the main objectives of the first International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures is to provide an opportunity for young researchers and engineers to present their research. But a research project is only completed when it has been published and shared with the community. Referees and peer experts play an important role to control the research quality. While some new electronic tools provide further means to disseminate some research information, the quality and impact of the works remain linked with some thorough expert-review process and the publications in international scientific journals and books. Importantly unethical publishing standards are not acceptable and cheating is despicable.

Impact of Commercial Search Engines and International Databases on Engineering Teaching and Research

For the last three decades, the engineering higher education and professional environments have been completely transformed by the "electronic/digital information revolution" that has included the introduction of personal computer, the development of email and world wide web, and broadband Internet connections at home. Herein the writer compares the performances of several digital tools with traditional library resources. While new specialised search engines and open access digital repositories may fill a gap between conventional search engines and traditional references, these should be not be confused with real libraries and international scientific databases that encompass textbooks and peer-reviewed scholarly works. An absence of listing in some Internet search listings, databases and repositories is not an indication of standing. Researchers, engineers and academics should remember these key differences in assessing the quality of bibliographic "research" based solely upon Internet searches.

Hydraulic engineering in the 21st century: Where to?

For centuries, hydraulic engineers were at the forefront of science. The last forty years marked a change of perception in our society with a focus on environmental sustainability and management, particularly in developed countries. Herein, the writer illustrates his strong belief that the future of hydraulic engineering lies upon a combination of innovative engineering, research excellence and higher education of quality. This drive continues a long tradition established by eminent scholars like Arthur Thomas IPPEN, John Fisher KENNEDY and Hunter ROUSE.

The new craft skills of engineering: The impact of innovation technology on engineering practices

This chapter explores the impact of innovation technologies such as simulation, modelling, and rapid prototyping on engineering practice. Innovation technologies help redefine the role of engineers in the innovation process, creating a new division of innovative labour both with and across organizations. This chapter also explores the boundaries of experimentation and inertia within particular domains of problem-solving to create new opportunities and value.

Making the link between engineering management and undergraduate research

This paper describes and analyses an innovative engineering management course that applies a project management framework in the context of a feasibility study for a prospective research project. The aim is to have students learn aspects of management that will be relevant from the outset of their professional career while simultaneously having immediate value in helping them to manage a research project and capstone design project in their senior year. An integral part of this innovation was the development of a web-based project management tool. While the main objectives of the new course design were achieved, a number of important lessons were learned that would guide the further development and continuous improvement of this course. The most critical of these is the need to achieve the optimum balance in the mind of the students between doing the project and critically analyzing the processes used to accomplish the work.

Optimum coal properties and engineering processes for CO2 geosequestration in Coal

CO2 Geosequestration is seen by many worldwide scientists and engineers as a leading prospective solution to the global warming problem arising from excessive CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. CO2 geosequestration in coal seams has two important strategic benefits: the process has an extremely low risk of leakage, due to the adsorbed state of the CO2 and the known reservoir context of essentially-zero leakage into which it is be injected; the second benefit arises from the valuable by-product, clean burning coalbed methane gas. This paper presents the authors’ experience, knowledge and perspective on what coal properties and engineering processes would favour implementing a demonstration or commercial CO2 storage-in-coal project, in Queensland, Australia. As such, it may be considered a template for screening studies to select the optimum coal seam reservoir, and for preliminary studies in designing the injection system and predicting production response to the technology. The paper concludes by examining the current knowledge gaps of CO2 geosequestration in coal, identifying further basic and applied research topics.

Dilemmas in Framing Research Studies in Engineering Education

There has been considerable debate about the need for more empirical, evidence based studies of the impact of various interventions and practices in engineering education. A number of resources including workshops to guide engineering faculty in the conduct of such studies have emerged over recent years. This paper presents a critique of the evolution of engineering education research and its underlying assumptions in the context of the systemic reform currently underway in engineering education. This critique leads to an analysis of the ways in which our current understanding of engineering, engineering education and research in engineering education is shaped by the traditions and cultural characteristics of the profession and grounded, albeit implicitly, in a particular suite of epistemological assumptions. It is argued that the whole enterprise of engineering education needs to be radically reconceptualized. A pluralistic approach to framing scholarship in engineering education is then proposed based on the principles of demonstrable practicality, critical interdisciplinarity and holistic reflexivity. This new framework has implications for engaging and developing faculty in the context of new teaching and learning paradigms, for the evaluation of the scholarship of teaching and for the research-teaching nexus.

Factors affecting transition to second year of an engineering degree

Much research has focused on students’ transition from secondary school to university. Less is known about the transition from first to second year of a university degree programme. Given the difficulties that many students face at this stage of their education, research into the relevant factors is required. Through questionnaires and focus groups, views of second- and third-year aerospace and mechanical engineering students in our university have been gathered. A large majority believed that both the volume and difficulty of work increased in second year. Many stated that first year was slightly too trivial and could have been made more challenging to prepare them better for second year. Different teaching and assessment styles in second year were considered to affect attendance and performance. The survey revealed that students were generally very well settled into university life by the end of first year and were happy with their choice of course and only 23% reported that financial responsibilities have had a negative effect on their academic performance. Differences were observed between male and female students. Male students believed that transition was helped by having regular assessments and by worked examples in lectures. Females found the teaching staff were the most helpful factor for a successful transition. The results indicate that males require more structure and guidance whereas females are more independent and settle in better.