Mr Mark Wakabayashi, Bachelor of Information Technology (Honours 1), 2006, and Bachelor of Arts, 2005, says:
I've always had an interest in computers and programming, but I didn't want to be limited to purely technical work. I combined an IT degree with cognitive science because of an interest in artificial intelligence. IT is becoming a critical factor in researching various aspects of biology, and there's lots of interesting work to be done there. I worked on projects with a couple of my lecturers that apply computer-based modelling and prediction to problems in biology.
I say to students firstly to follow your interests. When you love what you're doing, you'll do well because you won't have to fight to motivate yourself. Secondly, set high goals and don't settle for 'good enough'. When you're motivated, you can achieve, and UQ gives you the opportunity to excel. The courses go beyond the basic technical IT skills and the staff always encouraged and supported me. And it's a really nice campus at St Lucia.
I managed to receive Dean's commendations for high achievement, and in my honours project I developed a computational model of an organism's physical motion and its neural circuit, and used it to show how it could work in real life. The program I wrote won 'best software project' at the School of ITEE's annual student innovation expo, which was nice.
Since I graduated, I've started work as a software engineer on an international research project here at UQ. Down the track, I'm keen to keep applying robust software engineering processes and design practices to a range of problems. I don't feel limited to any particular domain - the theory and skills I learned at UQ have opened doors to areas I never dreamed of.
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Mr James Friend, Bachelor of Engineering (Mechatronics) (Hons 1), 2007, says:
I had no idea what I wanted to specialise in after finishing school, and Mechatronics stood out to me - it covers many different disciplines of Engineering. The UQ Engineering degree has exposed me to a wide range of areas - more than other universities can - and as I've progressed, I've been able to focus on the ones that interest me the most.
Automation/Control Systems/Robotics is now my main interest. I've received Dean's Commendations for consistent high achievement and won an award for the best industrial thesis project in the School of ITEE in 2006. I got an industry placement with a fresh food producer and developed an automated visual image grading system to allow for robotic selection of broccoli heads. A course I did in my degree called Signal and Image Processing was very practical and helped with my real world project.
I originally came from Gladstone, and being able to live on the St Lucia campus at one of the residential colleges was a great help.
Doing Engineering at UQ opens up so many options and will definitely lead you to a rewarding career.