School of Engineering

Michael Betschart

BE in Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical Engineer
Tetra Pak, Hamilton

Michael Betschart spent time in Zambia during his final year at university, using the knowledge from his studies to build shelters and classrooms for children who lived on the streets. Now a mechanical engineer, Michael works in the drawing office at Tetra Pak.

 “A normal day usually involves problem solving, drawing and designing dairy processing equipment using 2D and 3D CAD packages, and making construction drawings to send to workshops for fabrication.”

“My degree gave me a solid knowledge base from which to build my career. It also helped me to develop the people skills required to work with the diverse range of people and organisations in the global marketplace.”

Mel Slade

BE in Electronic Engineering

Systems Engineer
CTEK Combined Technologies

Mel Slade hit the jackpot when he scored a job at one of New Zealand’s largest automation and integration companies, straight out of his BE degree.

The Whangarei Boys’ High School old boy has found himself involved with exciting projects after just a few months with the company.

CTEK is based in Hamilton and specialises in food and beverage, pulp and paper, and chemical industries. The company provides services to Fonterra, NZ and Australia, Dairy Goat, Ravensdown, and other food and beverage projects with CTEK’s partner SAGE Automation in Australia.

Mel’s main duties fall within the dairy industry, designing software which tells Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) how to manage a process or plant. The PLC allows the machine to use sensors such as temperature and pressure, to control outputs such as motors and pumps. He also designs Human Machine Interface (HMI) software, so people can communicate with the machinery.

These skills were put to use recently, when Mel was involved in the addition of an oil cooler to the gearbox of a roller motor at Fonterra Edgecumbe.

“What I enjoy most about working at CTEK is the new challenges that come with each project and the opportunity to be involved with work at a range of sites rather than working exclusively in an office.”

 “Mel has merged well into our organisation and has an excellent future with opportunities in large complex projects both in NZ and Australia. He is showing great technical strength, we are pleased to have attracted him into our organisation,” says Bob Stokes, Managing Director of CTEK.

Varun Dennis

BE in Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical Design Engineer
RML Engineering, Hamilton

"Watching my designs come to life is a real highlight."

From a childhood spent playing with Lego and tinkering with remote control cars, to teenage years spent fixing his own car, Varun Dennis describes his choice to study Mechanical Engineering as a natural progression.

While at Waikato University Varun took advantage of the WESMO (Waikato Engineering Student Motorsport) team. “WESMO provided me with the initial exposure to the practical side of engineering. I really enjoyed the challenge of building an open-wheeler race car with a good bunch of mates.”

“I’m currently part of a team that designs end-of-line automation solutions to a wide range of clients. My main duties involve designing concepts on SolidWorks (a computer program used for design), developing them into components and creating final drawings ready for manufacture.”

“I’m trying to absorb as much as I can as a design engineer, in the hope of progressing into engineering management in the future."

Timothy Walmsley

BE in Materials and Process Engineering

PhD Materials & Process Engineering Student
University of Waikato

Talented Waikato engineering student Timothy Walmsley is making the most of his time at university.

While studying towards a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in materials and process engineering Timothy earned a number of prizes and awards. Following his second year at university he was offered the opportunity to join the Metals Research Group in the School of Engineering over the summer break. “As part of my research I travelled to and stayed at Harbin Institute of Technology in Harbin, a city in north eastern China. Although the weather was below freezing, the experience I gained has been very valuable.”

Most recently, Timothy won a University of Waikato Doctoral Scholarship and the Todd Foundation Scholarship in Energy Research. Both scholarships will support Timothy through his three years of study towards a PhD in engineering

“The overall goal of my PhD research is to increase energy efficiency of powder production by recovering energy from hot humid exhaust air streams. In many industries recovering this energy is technically challenging because the air is laden with a small amount of powder. This powder raises concerns of effectiveness, fouling and blockages, which can lead to plant down time. The research will address each barrier, with the goal of formulating a new low fouling design energy recovery exchanger to apply to major New Zealand companies such as Fonterra”.

“Once I finish my PhD I’d like to find a position as an engineering lecturer. I enjoy teaching at a tertiary level and I love researching complex problems. In the long term, once I have gained sufficient knowledge, experience and connections to New Zealand industries, I would like to start a consultancy with a focus on energy.”

Bayleigh Petchell

BE(Hons) in Mechanical Engineering

Graduate Mechanical Engineer
Meridian Energy Ltd

Waikato graduate Bayleigh Petchell is experiencing the highs and lows of renewable energy – but not in the way you may expect. Climbing wind turbines and venturing underground to hydro stations is all part of the job – a job which she’s loving every minute of.

As a graduate mechanical engineer for Meridian Energy in Christchurch, Bayleigh has spent the last seven months in a programme which will give her the opportunity to rotate around the varying business units at the company.

Meridian is New Zealand’s largest electricity generator, with seven hydro stations in the South Island and four wind farms including Te Uku, its newest one in the Waikato region.

“A typical working day could be spent working up an 80m high wind turbine on one of our wind farms, 200m underground at our Manapouri hydro station, onsite on one of our hydro stations in the Waitaki Valley, or in our new Christchurch office.”

“I’ve been working in the Engineering Strategy team. Our focus is on foreseeable opportunities 5-10 years in the future and therefore the projects we work on tend to be big and run over a long time period. I’m also working with our Wind Asset Maintenance team, which involves helping out with turbine inspections on site and with some minor projects.”

Bayleigh was attracted to engineering due to the creative problem solving aspect of the profession. She enjoyed maths and physics at school and wanted a degree which would lead to a job that would allow her to get out of the office and into the field. After attending the Faculty’s Engineering Open Day and meeting with staff, she decided that Waikato was for her.

Norzahirah Ahmad

BSc; BSc(Hons) in Materials and Processing

Research Officer
Herbal Medicine Research Centre, Institute for Medical Research, Ministry of Health, Malaysia

Exciting research, rewarding work placements and lots of traditional Kiwi adventures were the highlights of student life at Waikato University for graduate Norzahirah Ahmad.

Norzahirah completed a Bachelor of Science majoring in biotechnology and a Bachelor of Science(Hons) majoring in materials and processing at Waikato University. Following her tertiary studies in New Zealand, Norzahirah returned to her home country of Malaysia, where she is now employed as a Research Officer at the Herbal Medicine Research Centre. The centre is part of the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), which is one of the research arms of the Ministry of Health, Malaysia.

“I’m involved in research on local herbs and herb products and evaluating their efficacy and  toxicological effects. Much of the work I’m involved in is confidential, which means I can’t go into greater detail,” says Norzahirah.

“The highlight of my job has been meeting people from different fields of expertise and discovering the types of research being done to help improve the wellbeing of Malaysians.”

Norzahirah completed her schooling in Malaysia and received a scholarship from the Malaysian government to complete her tertiary study in New Zealand. She chose Waikato University as her base due to the relaxed campus environment and the proximity of the campus to several large research facilities such as AgResearch and Hill Laboratories.

Norzahirah enjoyed the Kiwi way of life. “I loved travelling around New Zealand and made the most of the New Zealand lifestyle; going camping, fishing and horse riding, and enjoying the beach and summer barbeques. I even managed to do the Tongariro Crossing trek!”