Deakin University’s Manufutures facility and high tech companies FLAIM Systems and UMS opened their doors last month to a dynamic group of budding engineers, scientists and advanced trades people of the future, as part of a series of manufacturing site visits and careers discussions.
GMC’s 2022 program promoting careers in STEM and manufacturing hosts Year 9 & 10 students from schools across Geelong. At Deakin’s School of Engineering in June, the groups saw how high voltage electricity works, as part of developing the skills Australia will need to design and deliver the renewable transmission systems of the future. They also toured Deakin’s Institute of Frontier Materials (IFM) where they saw how high-tech functional materials with a circular economy focus are researched and designed, and Institute for Intelligent Systems Reserach and Innovation (IISRI) where participants experienced applications of robotics, haptics and human machine interfaces.
At Manufutures, the students saw state of the art advanced manufacturers, FLAIM and UMS, experiencing what it is like to help develop and manufacture virtual reality equipment for defence and emergency services training applications.
Australia’s transition to low emissions technologies and high value manufacturing will require exponential growth in our STEM educated workforce, including engineering graduates and vocational and trades skills.
GMC’s 2022 outreach program – the Geelong Future Leaders of Industry (GFLOI) and the Girls Leading Advanced Manufacturing (GLAM) – will continue through to November with students visiting and learning more about potential career paths from a range of local industry partners including:
- Air Radiators
- Austeng
- Ford
- Godfrey Hirst
- Hanlon Industries
- Incitec Pivot
- IXL
- Thornton Engineering
- Viva Energy
- Worley
GFLOI and GLAM are supported by Skilling the Bay and in 2022 includes a new cohort interested in understanding more about Vocational Education and Training.
