The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities. Research Project Title A novel measurement system of waves and currents in Gulf Saint Vincent Supervisor Dr Graziela Miot da Silva, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 2146 Professor Patrick Hesp, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 3538 Project Summary To date, there has been a significant gap in the wave information available to researchers, managers, developers and policy makers needed to guide the sustainable management of regional and metropolitan coastlines of the Gulf Saint Vincent (GSV). The provision of accurate wave data is critical to improve our understanding of variations in the hydrodynamic processes that shape our coastlines, to inform best coastal management practices, drive the development of marine industries, and to promote and support tourism. The successful applicant(s) will be involved in the initial data collection and analysis from a newly established system of wave buoys that will provide real-time wave data from 4 sites in GSV. She/he will learn about marine data collection, how this is used to solve real-life problems and will be involved in this exciting and pioneer system of wave observations in South Australia.
Transcript
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
A novel measurement system of waves and currents in Gulf Saint Vincent
Supervisor
Dr Graziela Miot da Silva, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 2146
Professor Patrick Hesp, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 3538
Project Summary
To date, there has been a significant gap in the wave information available to researchers, managers, developers and policy makers needed to guide the sustainable management of regional and metropolitan coastlines of the Gulf Saint Vincent (GSV). The provision of accurate wave data is critical to improve our understanding of variations in the hydrodynamic processes that shape our coastlines, to inform best coastal management practices, drive the development of marine industries, and to promote and support tourism. The successful applicant(s) will be involved in the initial data collection and analysis from a newly established system of wave buoys that will provide real-time wave data from 4 sites in GSV. She/he will learn about marine data collection, how this is used to solve real-life problems and will be involved in this exciting and pioneer system of wave observations in South Australia.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Assessing forest health utilising very high resolution multi-spectral satellite imagery
Supervisor
Associate Professor David Bruce, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 2321
Project Summary
The Australian and New Zealand plantation forest industry seeks to characterise tree health at the individual tree, plot, stand, compartment and whole of forest levels. At the tree and plot level this is currently undertaken via expensive and risky human in-forest measurements. These ground measurements also include dimensional data used to estimate wood biomass. At smaller scales airborne remote sensing with LiDAR and multi-spectral imaging sensors are used, but these are again expensive, thus leading to irregular sampling and lack of complete coverage. High spatial resolution multi-spectral sensors carried on low earth orbiting satellites provide regular and complete coverage of the large extent of forest areas and the opportunity to observe tree leaf vigour at the individual tree level. Computer based analysis will be undertaken of these satellite images at pixel and object levels in relation to forest health. This project is contingent upon access to images from satellites, such as World View 3, and to ground truth data from forestry organisations. Students should have a strong background in Earth Observation and GIS.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Determining sea spray compositions
Supervisor
Professor Gunther Andersson, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 2309
Project Summary
Sea spray aerosols alter climate and the environment in remarkable ways. Marine aerosol particles are created by breaking ocean waves. This top region of the ocean is rich in organic molecules. The breaking waves transfer this biological soup into the droplets as they are jettisoned from the ocean surface. Water droplets can act as miniature catalytic converters for interfacial reactions. The aim of this project is to determine the composition of water droplets directly. Our depth profiling method will be applied in collaboration with Prof Gilbert Nathanson (Madison, USA).
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
MRI-compatible device for simulating activity loads for patients with lower limb amputation
Lower limb amputation results in lifelong impairment and restricted mobility. Prosthetic limbs are designed to restore mobility and function, however, prolonged contact with the prosthetic limb exposes the residual limb to constant risk of soft tissue damage. Information on the biomechanical response of soft tissues in the residual limb to activity loads can help improve prosthetic limb design for patients with lower limb amputation.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), when coupled with in-vivo mechanical testing can provide accurate information on the biomechanical response of soft tissues in contact with prosthetic limbs. However, application of loads representative of daily living activities to supine patients while inside the MRI scanner remains a challenge. This is primarily due to special constraints and restrictions on materials allowed inside the MRI scanner.
This project aims to develop, manufacture and test an MRI-compatible device for applying loads representative of daily living activities during MRI scanning of patients with lower limb amputation.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
EEG is a commonly used modality for understanding how the brain works. It has significant advantages in terms of ease of data collection and in the time resolution that can be achieved. However, the collected data is very noisy. There are many standard techniques that are used to clean EEG data, some with complicated mathematical foundations. This project is designed to provide a student with a strong interest in neuroscience and signal analysis the opportunity to learn about EEG data collection and signal analysis. This would be of significant benefit as preparation for a student who is interested in undertaking an honours project in this area.
The activities would involve
1. Learning about EEG data collection and gaining some experience in the processes
2. Learning about standard procedures for handling and cleaning EEG data
3. Learning about the world-leading data cleaning processes we use at Flinders
4. Learning about standard analysis techniques and experimental designs for understanding the brain.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Evaluation of CPT-based approach for performance-based design of laterally loaded piles in sand
The CPT-qc has been used quite successfully to estimate the shaft friction along vertically loaded piles. This prompts the question of how to use the qc to estimate the ultimate laterally loaded pile resistance pu. In this project, analytical solutions and numerical methods will be used to study measured response of laterally loaded rigid piles tested in-situ. A comprehensive database of tests on laterally loaded piles in sand with CPT-qc will be compiled and established. The research outcome will be used to establish a simple formulation for the ultimate lateral resistance of rigid piles in sand. Guidance will be also be formulated in the estimation of modulus of subgrade reaction, thus enhancing the capability to predict the performance-based design of pile foundation for both onshore and offshore structures.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Fabricating flexible polymer solar cells
Supervisor
Professor Mats Andersson, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 3585
Project Summary
Polymer solar cells have gained considerable interest during the last decades. This project is focused on optimizing printing methods for preparing polymer solar cells on flexible plastic substrates. Special emphasis will be on developing stable and efficient solar cells using environmentally friendly fabrication processes. This project offers an opportunity to learn about conjugated polymers, how polymer solar cells work, as well as getting hands on experience with fabrication and characterization of polymer solar cells.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Forest assessment using data from ECOSTRESS and GEDI
Supervisor
Associate Professor David Bruce, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 2321
Project Summary
PHyTIR (https://ecostress.jpl.nasa.gov/ ) and GEDI (https://gedi.umd.edu/ ) are two Earth Observation instruments currently operating on the International Space Station (ISS). The first of these is a prototype instrument for passively measuring plant / forest water stress and the second is a LASER instrument for estimating forest height and biomass. In this summer project a student will a) collate and review papers on the two instruments and applications, b) download data over common areas and c) apply computer analysis to assess forests. Data from ESA's Sentinel 2 satellite will be used as a reference. Students should have a strong background in Earth Observation and GIS.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Historical shoreline and dunefield changes of the Younghusband Peninsula
Supervisor
Professor Patrick Hesp, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 3538
Dr Graziela Miot da Silva, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 2146
Project Summary
The Coorong region in South Australia is experiencing significant changes throughout its 200-kilometre extent. Ranging from the low-wave energy southern end near Cape Jaffa, to the high-wave energy end at the Murray Mouth, there has been substantial shoreline recession, accretion and spectacular morphological changes to the dune systems. The erosion also encompasses the Kingston District Council region (which has had persistent and costly issues with coastal management) and the Coorong National Park that many from across the world visit annually.
This project proposal is designed to investigate historical shoreline changes within the region and aid on-going research by academic staff in the BEADS and GIS Labs at Flinders University. This project is ideal for a student who has taken Remote Sensing, GIS and/or Coastal Processes topics and will provide a prospective student an important project to hone their GIS skills developed in their coursework. The student will analyse aerial photography, satellite imagery and LiDAR datasets, collected from the 1950’s to 2020, as part of a comprehensive study of the shoreline and dunefield change.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
The goal of this project is the development of computer vision methods and autonomous abilities for our kid-size humanoid robot (Robotis OP3 - http://www.robotis.us/robotis-OP3-platform/) in order to fulfill the entry requirements for the RoboCup competition (https://2021.robocup.org/). There are five main requirements needed for development of the humanoid robot which will serve as the subgoals of this project, such as robot self-localization; robot navigation towards the ball; kicking the ball (aiming at the goal or at another teammate); fall detection and recovery.
The final aim of this project is to implement ROBOTIS OP3 with a range of enhanced abilities allowing the machine to be able to recognize its surrounding environment and interact with tangible objects, allowing it to play a game of soccer with 3 other teammates against an opposing team.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Improved drug analysis techniques
Supervisor
Associate Professor Stewart Walker, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 2406
Associate Professor Kirstin Ross, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 72218584
Project Summary
This project will explore the potential for improving the detection, identification, and quantification of drugs. Previous students have collected swabs and analysed for methamphetamine and amphetamine. This project will expand these investigations to look for traces of other drugs – nicotine, cannabis, heroin, (other opiates) and cocaine. Having the analytical ability in-house to detect and quantify an expanded range of drugs will be useful in future research and could also result in an improved, realistic practical for the undergraduate laboratories.
This project will include training for ‘swabbing techniques’ and a range of analytical instruments as required and will involve real hands-on sample and analysis. The outcomes are intended to include potential publication and presentation at upcoming conferences (including Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society International Symposium and International Association of Forensic Scientists Conference in Sydney November 2021)
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Professor Mark Taylor, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 5732
Project Summary
Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) helps in restoring mobility and function for patients with end-stage symptomatic knee arthritis. Despite the success of this surgery, the number of revision surgery due to failure of the TKA have more than doubled in less than 10 years.
Appropriate soft tissue balancing and accurate bony alignment are essential to ensure stability of the operated knee. Computer guided surgery enables accurate bony alignment, however, soft tissue balancing remains generally based on surgeons’ “subjective feel” requiring a steep learning curve for young surgeons. However, regardless of the surgeon’s experience and the technique used, instability of the implanted knee remains to be a major concern.
This project is part of a larger project to develop a novel TKA design that ensures appropriate soft tissue balancing is achieved without the need for further soft tissue balancing operation. The student will support the following: medical imaging, biomechanical modelling, 3D printing, knee motion capture experiments and material testing data analysis for the intact and implanted knees.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Latent DNA Detection on Metal Surfaces
Supervisor
Professor Adiran Linacre, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 2465
Project Summary
Research by the Forensic Biology group first identified a means to detect latent DNA. Since then this group has taken the lead in detecting DNA deposited by touch. People may touch and transfer their DNA on to metal-base surfaces of forensic relevance such as weapons including firearms and knives.
This project will look at detecting and analyzing the deposition of touch DNA on to metallic surfaces. These will include nickel, lead, zinc, copper and brass - all of which are constituents in the manufacture of firearms, ammunition and handles of knives.
DNA within the deposition of fingermarks onto the surfaces for a defined time will be detected and the number of cells counted. How the cell count varies between substrates will be determined. By keeping the person who touches the substrates the same, and normalising as much a possible such that the variable is the substrate, an indication as to whether substrates are a factor in the transfer and detection of latent DNA can be made.
The equipment in is place for this project in place and this short project can be funded. The project would give the student key skills in experimental design, DNA detection, and data analyses.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Low Flow Prediction from Remotely Sensed Land Surface Temperature Data
Professor Okke Batelaan, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 2269
Project Summary
Low flow prediction is important for water management to support ecosystem functioning and biodiversity preservation in dry season and during drought events. Low flow connects to shallow groundwater storage, which can be reflected in surface-observable groundwater dependent vegetation (GDV). For a certain low flow discharge rate, there should be a corresponding groundwater storage (Kirchner 2009), for which a portion of GDV starts to experience stress and becomes detectable (Fan 2015), for example, via canopy temperature (Liu et al. 2020). Thus, land surface temperature spatial and temporal variation likely include information of shallow groundwater storage, which can be used to predict low flow. We will test this hypothesis based on selected catchments in the Mount Lofty Ranges.
References:
Fan, Y. (2015). Groundwater in the Earth’s critical zone: Relevance to large-scale patterns and processes. Water Resources Research, 51, 3052-3069.
Kirchner, J.W. (2009). Catchments as simple dynamical systems. Water Resources Research, 45.
Liu, N., Deng, Z., ... Guan, H. (2020). Thermal remote sensing of plant water stress in natural ecosystems. Forest Ecology and Management. 476, 118433.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Nano Clusters for Fabrication of Solar Fuels
Supervisor
Professor Gunther Andersson, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 2309
Project Summary
We are developing catalysts for converting CO2 and H2O back to hydrocarbons, thus develop processes to fabricate solar fuels. The main components are small metal clusters which act as catalysts. The clusters contain only 4 – 100 metal atoms. We can fabricate the clusters with physical methods in a cluster source or use chemically made clusters. The project is a collaboration between Flinders University, Adelaide University, University of Newcastle, Canterbury University (NZ) and the University of Utah (USA). In this project the student will work with a PhD student and deposit clusters on semiconductor surfaces, analyse the surface to determine the presence of the clusters on the surface and potentially also apply photocatalytic measurements.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
This project will feature the study of new useful materials made from sustainable resources and sulfur. The Summer Scholar can elect to contribute to and learn about any of the following research priorities in our laboratory:
• Recyclable plastic and rubber
• Materials for pollution control
• Self-healing materials
• New adhesive technology
• Novel construction materials made from waste
• Precision fertilisers
• Novel lenses for nightvision and other thermal imaging applications
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Micro-X is a based at Tonsely and is fabricating portable X-Ray devices. The emitters used are based on a glassy substance and have been shown to have a porous structure. In this project, we will determine the porosity of various glasses after ballmilling the raw material. The influence of heat-treatment on the porosity will also be analysed. A better understanding should lead to an improvement of the X-Ray emitters.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Standards and Certification of a Test Facility
Supervisor
Professor Karen Reynolds, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 5190
Professor Peter Catcheside, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 7221 8305
Project Summary
Covid-19 has impacted global society and, within Australia, has highlighted the importance of local manufacturing capabilities and industry. In response to the pandemic, a team of Flinders University staff have established a testing facility to enable local testing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for use, distribution and the development of new products. The facility is responsible for compliance testing face masks and medical gowns, according to relevant Australian Standards.
The intern for this project would have the opportunity to learn about Australian Standards and the requirements for testing to Standards. Understanding of and adherence to Standards is essential in any regulated sector such as Engineering and Medical Devices. They will have the opportunity to observe and use the equipment that has been established at Flinders, with respect to the Standards and how the tests are run. They will also have the opportunity to be part of a multi-disciplinary team leading research in this area within the facility. They will get to experience experimental testing, and signals and data analysis.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Study electrochromic properties of conjugated polymers
Supervisor
Professor Mats Andersson, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 3585
Project Summary
Electrochromic conjugated polymers can be use in smart windows, slow switching displays and camouflage applications. Under electrochemical action conjugated polymers can switch between different colours. The switching speed is a bottle-neck for application of polymer electrochromic display due to the limitation of the diffusion rate of the counter-ions into and out of the polymer during the redox process. Switching between black and transmissive states is another limitation. The focus of the project will be on studying the colour switch of different conjugated polymers and to analyse the switching speed of different devices.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Study new marine antibiofouling coatings
Supervisor
Professor Mats Andersson, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 3585
Project Summary
Fouling (the growth of marine organisms) onto ships is a serious problem that dramatically increase fuel costs, loss of maneuverability, damage and spreading of invasive species. To overcome this problem the current method uses biocides such as copper compounds in the antifouling paint. The problem with this method is that it increases the level of copper in harbors and marinas. High copper level in the water is a serious environmental concern, and such coatings are now banned in different parts of the world. The focus of this project is to study and develop coatings that can be used to prevent the growth of unwanted marine organisms onto different surfaces, for example ship hulls. This research is performed in collaboration with the defence industry in South Australia.
The College of Science and Engineering will grant up to 4 awards available over the summer of 2020-2021. This Award provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in experiencing research. The Award's sole purpose is educational. The project's focus is on enabling students to experience learning opportunities.
Research Project Title
Thin film microfluidics - fundamentals and applications
Supervisor
Professor Colin Raston AO, Email: [email protected], Phone: (08) 8201 7958
Project Summary
We have developed a thin film microfluidic platform with applications in chemical synthesis, biochemistry (eg. 'unboiling an egg' for which we received the Ig Nobel Prize at Harvard University in 2015), materials science, forensics, drug delivery, gene therapy, energy, food processing and more. These applications have resulted in two spin out companies, and other industry funded projects as part of the new ARC Centre of Green Chemistry Manufacturing. The fluid flow in this vortex fluidic device is complex, arising from induced mechanical energy in a thin film (>200 microns) in an inclined rapidly rotating tube, and understanding this is important in further advancing the applications. This aligns with a grand challenges in science, in understanding fluid flow. We have recently made a major breakthrough, in bringing together results thus far from developing the above applications, to determine the dimensions and topology of the fluid flow at sub-micron dimensions, even though the tube is rapidly rotating. This allows predicting the flow parameters for a particular application, with the research focus on fundamentals and/or applications to suite the interests of the awardee
