UNSW engineers a sound choice
26th September 2006
UNSW engineering graduate Andrew Botros and third year engineering student Luke Spitzer have been honoured at the 2006 Engineering Australia Awards.
26 year-old Andrew was named Young Professional Engineer of the Year, while Luke has been named Engineering Student of the Year.
Andrew is a chief designer of a smart software program that allows cochlear implants to automatically "tune in" to a person's auditory system. The intelligent system, called AutoNRT(tm) analyses neural activity in the auditory nerve, makes it simpler to fit a cochlear implant to an individual's hearing requirements.
As part of Cochlear's design and development team, he has worked on a number of software components that are currently used by audiologists worldwide, including methods to reduce power consumption of implant systems.
A senior engineer at Cochlear Ltd, Andrew is a part-time PhD candidate at UNSW, where he did his undergraduate and masters degrees in engineering. "My research is focused on creating intelligent software that will hopefully make cochlear implants more effective and easier to use," Andrew says.
Not content with a demanding day job and a PhD to complete, he is also a part-time researcher in music acoustics at UNSW, where hopes to simulate clarinets and saxophones for the benefit of performers and composers.
This builds on his undergraduate research on flute acoustics that won him the 2002 Siemens Prize for Innovation and the 2003 Australian Acoustical Society's Excellence in Acoustics Award. In that project Andrew created The Virtual Flute, which offers players alternative fingerings for awkward passages, trills and multiphonics.
Andrew completed a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering and a Master of Biomedical Engineering at UNSW in 2001, receiving the University Medal for his bachelor degree in computer engineering. He completed a Master of Engineering Science at UNSW in 2004 and joined Cochlear Ltd as a graduate engineer in 2002.
Luke Spitzer was inspired to study engineering following his work in the construction industry, including time spent rebuilding a zoo while living on a kibbutz in Israel. A qualified surveyor with a love of mathematics and the outdoors, Luke won the NSW Surveying Medal as a final year at Wollongong College of TAFE. He plans to complete his UNSW engineering studies in 2007.
The Virtual Flute - see here.
Media contact: Dan Gaffney, UNSW media office, 0411 156 015.
26 year-old Andrew was named Young Professional Engineer of the Year, while Luke has been named Engineering Student of the Year.
Andrew is a chief designer of a smart software program that allows cochlear implants to automatically "tune in" to a person's auditory system. The intelligent system, called AutoNRT(tm) analyses neural activity in the auditory nerve, makes it simpler to fit a cochlear implant to an individual's hearing requirements.
As part of Cochlear's design and development team, he has worked on a number of software components that are currently used by audiologists worldwide, including methods to reduce power consumption of implant systems.
A senior engineer at Cochlear Ltd, Andrew is a part-time PhD candidate at UNSW, where he did his undergraduate and masters degrees in engineering. "My research is focused on creating intelligent software that will hopefully make cochlear implants more effective and easier to use," Andrew says.
Not content with a demanding day job and a PhD to complete, he is also a part-time researcher in music acoustics at UNSW, where hopes to simulate clarinets and saxophones for the benefit of performers and composers.
This builds on his undergraduate research on flute acoustics that won him the 2002 Siemens Prize for Innovation and the 2003 Australian Acoustical Society's Excellence in Acoustics Award. In that project Andrew created The Virtual Flute, which offers players alternative fingerings for awkward passages, trills and multiphonics.
Andrew completed a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering and a Master of Biomedical Engineering at UNSW in 2001, receiving the University Medal for his bachelor degree in computer engineering. He completed a Master of Engineering Science at UNSW in 2004 and joined Cochlear Ltd as a graduate engineer in 2002.
Luke Spitzer was inspired to study engineering following his work in the construction industry, including time spent rebuilding a zoo while living on a kibbutz in Israel. A qualified surveyor with a love of mathematics and the outdoors, Luke won the NSW Surveying Medal as a final year at Wollongong College of TAFE. He plans to complete his UNSW engineering studies in 2007.
The Virtual Flute - see here.
Media contact: Dan Gaffney, UNSW media office, 0411 156 015.
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