Additive Manufacturing – Johan Potgieter

Associate Professor Johan Potgieter, Massey University
Thursday 3 April 2014 7:30PM
Hawke’s Bay Planetarium, Chambers St, Napier

Additive manufacturing begins with computer model files which are transferred to an additive manufacturing system for building. This enables rapid prototyping as there is no need for molds or dyes. This allows design flexibility as design changes can be made at greatly reduced cost.

A wide and increasing range of additive manufacturing technologies are becoming available, covering a range of scales and materials.

PotgieterAssociate Professor Johan Potgieter completed a PhD in the areas of Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics and Advanced Manufacturing from the University of Natal South Africa in 2003.

He is an Associate Professor of Mechatronics and Robotics in the School of Engineering and Advanced Technology at Massey University (Auckland).

His current research interests are mainly in areas of Additive Manufacturing and advanced mechatronics/robotics with applications in medicine and automotive related areas.

Johan has been an avid user of additive manufacturing since the mid-90s and is passionate about the potential it offers for innovation and how it allows small businesses to much more easily reach the world market. He has a well established reputation for his work in educational robotics and has been inducted into the World Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation Hall of Fame for his work in developing world champion educational robotics teams from New Zealand. He is currently conducting consulting research with HIEFF Engine and Chrysler in Detroit.

In this lecture Johan coverered developments in rapid prototyping and technologies for additive manufacturing. These developments will have a significant influence on the New Zealand Manufacturing landscape, providing new opportunities for SME in New Zealand and abroad.

 

Lake Tutira: Recorder Of Environmental Change

On behalf of GNS Science, NIWA, Eastern Institute of Technology and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council

EIT Lecture Theatre 1, Taradale
Tuesday 8th April, 7pm – doors open from 6.30pm

Alan Orpin (NIWA) and Mike Page (GNS Science) will deliver research based presentations on Tutira.

LAKE TUTIRA: Recorder of Environmental Change

LAKE TUTIRA: Template for Past Erosion

Tutira -HBRC picOver the last 25 years Lake Tutira and its catchment have been the focus of research into various aspects of environmental change. Beginning with Cyclone Bola and concerns about sustainable land use of such erosion-prone hill country, the research expanded to focus on construction of the erosion history of the catchment and the associated sediment record preserved in the lake since it was formed by a giant landslide ~7,000 years ago.

Mike and Alan will outline this research and discuss how the erosion and sediment record has been used to interpret the climatic, tectonic, volcanic and vegetation history, and what this can tell us about how this landscape will respond to future environmental change…

If you have an interest in Tutira, Erosion, Climatology, Volcanism, Plate Tectonics, Storms and Sediment – How Lake Tutira Works – you will find the evening very informative.

Admission is free but PLEASE REGISTER YOUR ATTENDANCE with HBRC on 8359200.

Directions to the Lecture Theatre will be marked from entrance into EIT

Tutira logos

Deep-Sea Exploration

MTG Century Theatre Public Lecture

Pawson HeaderNapier born senior research scientist at the Smithsonian to speak on deep-sea exploration in New Zealand at the MTG Century Theatre

David L Pawson, Senior Research Scientist at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in the USA presented a public lecture: Deep-Sea Exploration in the New Zealand Region 1865-1965 at the MTG Century Theatre on Sunday 23 March at 5pm.

Drawing upon his knowledge of New Zealand deep-sea research, including his personal experiences in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Dr Pawson told of accounts from expeditions large and small, some of them involving Hawke’s Bay.

“Exploration of the deep sea,” says Dr Pawson, “is always exciting, often funny, and sometimes dangerous – especially in the New Zealand region!”

David attended St. Joseph’s and Marist primary schools in Napier and St. John’s High School in Hastings. During the early years of his life, Dr. Pawson spent a lot of time fishing and swimming on the Napier beach, and there he developed an interest in marine life. 

After gaining a B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in Zoology from Victoria University he joined the Victoria University deep-sea research team in the 1950’s, a time when exciting pioneering deep-sea research was being undertaken under the leadership of Professor L.R. Richardson. 

He has a lifelong interest in New Zealand marine biology, and he has maintained research programmes in New Zealand for many years.  In 1964 he was invited to join the Smithsonian Institution as a Research Curator. He has conducted research on echinoderms (sea stars, sea urchins and their relatives) in many parts of the world, especially the deep sea, and in the vicinity of isolated oceanic islands. 

His research has taken him to Ascension and Galapagos Islands, the Caribbean, the southern oceans and Antarctica, and he has made more than 200 dives in manned submersibles. Other research interests include the US Fish Commission Steamer Albatross (1883-1921) and her scientific crew, and the life and times of his eminent predecessor, Smithsonian scientist Austin H. Clark (1880-1954).

Posted on behalf of the MTG
Century Theatre
9 Herschell Street,
Napier

Sunday 23 March 2013 at 5pm
Entry by donation
No pre-bookings, arrive early to avoid disappointment