Victorian universities are renowned for their innovative research work and for their strong track record in producing a deep pool of resilient, work-ready graduates.
The Monash Nova Rover team is a great example of this, with Victoria’s best and brightest university students coming together to design, fabricate, and test the next generation of Mars rovers right here in Melbourne.
Image: The Monash Rover Team at the 2019 competition
The team finished in the top 10 globally in the 2019 University Rover Challenge and came second place in the recent NASA Tournament Lab ‘Honey I Shrunk The NASA Payload’ competition.
Team leader Rebecca Muir, a Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Science Student at Monash University, said having the opportunity to lead a group of such hard working and talented students has been fantastic.
"Being a part of this team allows us to put into practice what we learn in the classroom (or nowadays, in online meetings), cementing the technical content whilst teaching us how to interact with industry and manufacturers.
We’re able to demonstrate the quality of our education and the university’s facilities by producing a rover that can hold its own in a worldwide competition.
The fact that both the Engineering and the Science Faculties and many academics at the university continue to support us in bettering our designs and test protocols is a testament to how much the university values practical, hands-on learning with tangible outcomes for students," Ms Muir said.
Professor Elizabeth Croft, Dean of Engineering at Monash University, said she was very proud of the Monash Rover team which is just one example of the university’s resilient, world-leading engineering research in action. Professor Croft said
During COVID-19 our Monash Solar Decathlon Team were also finalists in the 2020 US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon virtual competition, and our Monash Motorsport team are currently world number 1 in the Formula Student rankings for their combustion vehicle.
Our engineering research continues to make a powerful global impact, with recent innovations including desalinating water in under 30 minutes using metal-organic frameworks and sunlight, a test that can identify positive COVID-19 cases using blood samples in approximately 20 minutes, and the world's fastest internet speed recorded here in Melbourne from a single optical chip.
Monash continues to be strong advocates for the participation of women in STEM. As one of five inaugural winners of the Athena SWAN Bronze Award in Australia, and a founding member of the Engineering For Australia Taskforce, we are closing the gender gap in university engineering education by addressing barriers to women's participation.
Victorian universities are known for a strong culture of collaboration with industry, providing it with access to the country's best research talent.
Victoria has more university course completions than any other state in areas such as natural and physical sciences, and engineering and related technologies.
For more information about our highly skilled talent, visit http://www.invest.vic.gov.au/why-melbourne/Highly-skilled-talent
Contact us to learn more about the opportunities that exist to partner with our world class universities, and tap into our culture of innovation and our R&D capabilities.
