A national engineering design competition on Friday will feature three USC student projects, including a water filtration proposal that was judged the best entry from any Queensland university.

All four students in the top-scoring team – Martin Baartz of Burnside, Laura Clifford of Little Mountain, David Layton of Scarness and Naomi Shanahan of Palmwoods – are on their way to Melbourne for the annual Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Challenge Showcase.

USC Senior Lecturer in Engineering Materials Dr Ayodele Olofinjana said it would be the first time that three USC teams had been invited to present at the exciting event.

He said student teams from across Australia and New Zealand would display their projects to representatives from an organisation called Live and Learn Vanuatu, vying for awards while participating in workshops and networking with peers.

The aim was to encourage humanitarian engineering and community development.

USC’s top team used the visualisation technology of the Cave2 on campus at Sippy Downs to develop the concept, ‘A water filtration proposal for East Santo communities’. The team was awarded $2,000 to travel to the event.

The other two USC teams gained wildcard invitations and $1,000 travel allowances for their projects: ‘Improving water accessibility in East Santo’ and ‘Development of a smoke-reduced wood burning cookstove’.

Team members included Shiden Green, Josh Hoschke, Matt Alberts, Simon Cassidy, Liam Fraser, Jordan Webber, Tina Osterkamp, Lea Kraus, Tomke Hafermann and Nora Hofmann.

Dr Olofinjana said EWB aimed to create positive social outcomes using engineering skills, research, technology and design to solve global challenges.

“Every year we use EWB Challenge as part of the teaching activities in USC’s Introduction to Engineering Design course, and this is fantastic success for the students,” he said.

— Julie Schomberg