UWA & Me
The University of Western Australia has been a part of my life since 1995 when I joined the then Centre for Water Research for a research masters on a generous scholarship. I studied under Dr David Hamilton (currently a Professor at Griffith University) who fostered a positive and vibrant environment that encouraged me to author four peer-reviewed publications during that time.
I continued to get involved with UWA since then, mostly by offering one or two lectures to David’s classes. In 2009 I joined UWA as an adjunct academic. Although I have been a professional engineer, research has been my passion. I found that as an adjunct professor I had the opportunity to mentor students and work with other academics as well. At one point in time, I had 13 students under my full supervision. I was mostly working as an independent consultant at that time. I used to spend 40% of my weekly work time at UWA, purely pro bono, until December 2015.
Giving Back to Students
Students increasingly enquired about an internship in my company, Environmental Engineers International Pty Ltd (EEI), for the fulfilment of their required practicum training as part of their studies. I started an expansion of my consulting business and began the formal internship program.
Since 2016, EEI and I have been privileged to win awards from various organisations such as Engineers Australia, Australian Water Association and Business News, for our innovative work. This has resulted in an increased demand for internships at the firm. We normally receive about 100 applications for our summer internship program, for 3 or 4 positions, mostly from chemical, mechanical, and environmental engineering students. We developed the internship program with a structure to the style of a finishing school. We ensure that students learn good skills, particularly to apply theories learnt in engineering so they can secure good employment. Over the past few years, we have trained over 60 students.
Fit For Work Graduates
Peter Rice, a Chemical Engineering and Chemistry graduate from UWA whom I supervised, joined as an intern at EEI in 2016, and he quickly developed the skills that enabled him to secure a permanent full-time position with us. More recently, we have hired intern, Enson Chen, who is an Environmental Engineering graduate from UWA.
My reflection on the students from UWA is that most can independently work to solve problems once we have given them a general direction. This is important for employers hiring graduates as a) the fresh students are expected to have a good understanding of the theoretical aspect, and b) students continue to grow with less supervision required. To have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals at a university is very important, and internships should link how this knowledge can be applied in developing practical, sustainable and ethical solutions.
Reflections from an Inspiring Intern Turned Employee
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“I first met Dr Raj Kurup in his capacity as an adjunct professor at UWA. He was the supervisor for my final year undergraduate engineering thesis project on studying the anammox process for nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment for meat processing. The project was exciting from the beginning because it was great exposure to the needs of industry and equipped me with the engineering thinking that would help me in my career as I left the university. The water field appealed to me because I could apply my love for chemistry with the unit operation, engineering design and process modelling that I had learnt in my Chemical Engineering degree from UWA.
Raj allowed me to join his engineering consultancy company EEI upon my graduation from UWA in 2016. I’ve got to work on wastewater treatment and resource recovery projects for South32, BHP, Alcoa, Water Corporation, and a range of government departments and smaller clients through EEI.
R&D is a great strength of the company, and I’m passionate about the potential for biological solutions to create valuable products from reject streams in the resources sector and beyond. I was so proud to contribute to our patented technology for carbonate recovery from oxalate waste for the alumina sector. I’m thankful for UWA for giving me that opportunity to meet Raj and for teaching me the fundamentals that are so crucial for the work I’m doing today.”
- Peter Rice BSc, BE '16
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