Complete Report - University of New South Wales

strand is to provide students with broader engineering backgrounds important for the
cross-disciplinary nature of photovoltaic applications. UNSW’s Sunswift Solar Car project
is one example of the cross-disciplinary nature of photovoltaic applications, requiring the
skills of mechanical engineers, biomedical engineers, and electrical engineers in addition
to photovoltaic engineers. Since the commencement of the program, the Electronics and
Physics strands have been the most popular, with Architecture, Mechanical Engineering and
Computing also popular choices among students.
5.1.2 Goldman Sachs Recipient
One of the Centre’s outstanding undergraduate students,
Nicole Kuepper, was one of eight students in 2005 to receive an
Australian fellowship as part of the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders
Program. Nicole received a New South Scholarship for achieving
a UAI of 100, and is heavily involved with community activities
including volunteer projects with indigenous Australians, teaching
English in the Phillipines and fundraising events. She is enrolled in
the Photovoltaics and Solar Energy program and hopes to bring
sustainable improvement to disadvantaged communities through
engineering and education.
The Goldman Sachs Leaders Program, which is run by the Institute
of International Education and the Goldman Sachs Foundation,
acknowledges the outstanding achievements and abilities of
students across a range of disciplines. Nicole joins a group of 100
outstanding students from around the world to be awarded the
fellowship, which recognises academic performance and community
contribution.
Nicole Kuepper with English
student in the Phillipines
5.2 Undergraduate Student Projects
In the second year of the Photovoltaics and Solar Energy program, students have the
opportunity of undertaking a year long project in the photovoltaic or renewable energy areas.
The main emphasis of the second year project course is hands-on “projecteering”, or project
engineering. The course has a lecture component covering projecteering skills and practice,
and each project has a research component, a planning component, a hands-on component
and a reporting component. This course helps to prepare students for their fourth year
thesis, which is generally undertaken by all students enrolled in both the Photovoltaics and
Solar Energy and Renewable Energy Engineering undergraduate programs. While in the past
projects in developing countries have been the most popular among students, in 2005 there
was a swing in popularity towards laboratory-based projects with the introduction in 2005 of
a new project on Screen Printed Solar Cells.
5.2.1 Biodiesel Trailer
The Biodiesel Project aims to construct a small-scale, portable chemical factory to convert
used vegetable oil, from UNSW’s food outlets, into diesel fuel for UNSW’s fl eet of diesel cars.
The project has now been running for four years and is at a stage where completion is in
sight. In 2005, four second-year students who undertook the Biodiesel Project implemented
two key subsystems:- the pneumatic fl uid handling mixing subsystem, and the fl uid handling
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