Fellow: Dr Ben Swift, Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science

Project: The c/c/c studio

Project description: The c/c/c studio is an outreach program in creative code: using code to make art, music and other cool things. Students will be part of an interactive learning community where they will be guided by instructors in creating their own new works of code-based art and music.

This program will engage with pre-tertiary level students and address the skills gaps in schools that don’t have specialised teachers or appropriate learning environments. It will provide a supportive community in which this new generation of people can learn, create, and share. More than that, it will unlock the latent potential in students who never knew their diverse interests (especially in the arts & music) could be used in engineering and computing.

Fellow: Ms Lorena Sciusco, Business Development Manager

Project: Toolkits for CECS Academics

Project description: The Toolkit will help CECS academics apply for grants and secure industry collaboration to further their research development. To be developed over four stages and ready for implementation by Semester 1, 2021, it will also be made available to HDR students who are interested in collaborative projects with public and private partners.

The Toolkit will benefit academics and the College more broadly by contributing to better developed proposals and funding applications that meet basic due diligence considerations.

It will help the College engage effectively with both public and private sectors and will save time and resources by improving the decision-making process prior to investing both in applications that do not meet the values of the University or the College.

Fellow: Assoc Professor Jochen Trumpf 

Project: Reimagine Fellows Project: Building the ANU Software Innovation Institute

Project description: The Software Innovation Institute is an ANU flagship initiative comprising an expert cross-disciplinary team of researchers, research engineers, software engineers and students to solve complex client problems at scale.

The Institute undertakes software development projects requiring the development and linking of new research techniques to build solutions for clients. It currently specialises in machine learning and data science, expanding out to other areas of CECS competitive advantage, with an initial focus on the higher education and security and intelligence sectors.

The project will provide research translation services at scale through software engineering in areas where ANU research has a competitive advantage and it will establish an ANU Software Engineering teaching hospital providing real-world project-based learning for students.

Fellow: Dr Catherine Ayres, HDR Services Team Leader

Project: Future Leaders in Engineering and Computer Science

Project description: Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students commencing at CECS right now will be the leaders of the engineering and computing disciplines in 2050. CECS produces PhD and MPhil graduates with extremely high-quality research and technical skills.

However, meeting the challenges of the future will require extraordinary leadership – as well as technical and research skills. Providing our HDRs with a strong foundation in leadership will ensure that ANU is recognised as an institution that produces intellectual and cultural leaders.

The proposed 12-month pilot involves a series of 12 workshops, seminars, and forums themed around leadership. Half of these will involve guest speakers from within the ANU community, known for their leadership. The other half will be developed, run, and built upon by FLECS participants themselves. The pilot will target current and new female HDRs, as building leadership capabilities in this group is of critical importance to meeting some of the diversity challenges in engineering and computing.

Fellow: Mr Neil Kaines, Technical Services Manager 

Project: Technical Services Consolidation

Project description: The Technical Services project could have a positive impact across all areas of CECS with a particular focus on education, applied research and infrastructure. The idea is to broaden the foundation currently established in RSEEME to a College-wide entity that delivers comprehensive services to schools, institutes, student groups, collaborators and start-ups. 

Students will be provided with comprehensive facilities and expert guidance in their project work, from not only their tutors but also special interest groups. This will foster creativity and diverse interests in an applied way. This approach will help build a culture of close cooperation between students, technical staff and course convenors along with the development of teaching spaces and equipment.

Improved compliance tools will reduce the administrative burden and provide a safer work environment and ready accessibility to adequately resourced and multi-disciplined support staff will enable research and milestone completions. Offering a College-wide service will mean sufficient mass in the technical team to offer continuity of service during periods of absence.

Fellow: Mr Jeremy Smith, Lecturer, Research School of Electrical, Energy and Materials Engineering

Project: E+i: Engineering Positive Impact

Project description: The E+i Hub will provide a visible outward facing portal to foster collaborations across the ANU campus and with external groups for education, research and outreach, to provide expertise to partnerships across health, education, economic participation and social inclusion. The Hub will utilise existing CECS expertise, supplemented by strategic interventions and targeted funding from research, impact, and philanthropic sources.

This Hub will bring together input from across the College to explore new approaches to harnessing the potential of engineering and technology to contribute to long-lasting positive human impact. It will bring new and existing expertise in CECS to bear on challenges of disadvantage, marginalisation, and vulnerability, to improve quality of life and human well-being in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.