Event Recap:
Visit to Fuller’s Brewery
The visit to Fuller's Brewery was considered a great success by the nine members, partners and friends who participated. The group were given an introduction to the brewery by a guide who was also a member of CAMRA. He explained the influence that CAMRA has had on brewing, not only at Fullers but throughout the UK. He also gave comments on developments in the brewing industry that are not often reported in the media – a insider's 'lowdown'.
Did you know, for example, that bottled beer is almost invariably several percentage points stronger than the same beer on draught? Important facts for the Engineers. Our group then toured the plant and were shown the current and some preserved historical brewing equipment. On completion of the tour, the group were invited to sample a wide selection of Fullers' brews, such as the highly successful London Pride - an invitation that was taken up with alacrity. The picture on the right was taken at the conclusion of the tasting session! Our guide, Geoff, is on the left, wearing his snazzy yellow high visibility attire. A successful and light-hearted event all round, and we hope our visit to Hook Norton will be as entertaining.
Editorial
This, now the third edition of the King's Engineer, is quickly becoming the chronicle which follows the slow and seemingly inevitable demise of Engineering at King's, yet by the sheer hum of activity in the past six months nobody would think that King's Engineering is anything but a thriving department.
But there is no doubt that things will wind down, and of course the general tone of this issue and underlying question is precisely that; what effects, if any, will the end of engineering have on people who have already graduated from the college and to the students who are mid-degree?
The point about the value of the degree comes very close to home. I personally have just finished my MSc in the department and my job search thus far has been very disappointing. The recession isn't helping and it's a cruel world out there for any graduate.
Distinguishing oneself with experience is becoming more of a requirement, but are companies really going to offer students at King's internships and a door into industry if they see that person is from King’s - “a non-engineering University”?
Our new website and Skype are highlights for me - the contact form now allows people who are not even familiar with e-mail to direct a message to the key people on the committee. I would also like to stress that if you can manage to leave a small message on our Facebook page with a few words of moral support or a suggestion or two, it would help the current students and myself immensely.
Events and activities are very much ongoing with increasing frequency. I urge all readers to e-mail in with a comment or two.
--Nigel Sharp
Honorary Editor
What is KCLEA?
KCLEA is the (free membership) graduate association for engineers who have studied or worked at King's. It's aims are the following:
- To facilitate communication between members
- To facilitate communication between the College and the members
- To provide support for the College and current engineering students
- To provide support for the King's College London Engineering Society
If you have any stories you would like published in the next edition of the King’s Engineer or just want to find out more please contact the Editor.
KCLEA Events Schedule 2010
22 May: Walk and pub lunch: St James' Park to Holland Park
A walk has been arranged from St James's Park tube station to Holland Park on Saturday, 22 May 2010. The full walk is about 6.25 miles long but there will be opportunity to leave at intermediate points. Estimated duration is about four hours. The walk will pass through some of the delightful parks in Central London and by several of the Royal Palaces.
The walk will start at St James's Park tube station exit, 1.30 pm.
Please let the Events Secretary know by 15 May if you are interested in joining the group.
11 June: Engineers' lunch @ King’s
17 July: Visit to Brooklands (Weybridge, Surrey) motor and air museums.
14 August: Visit to BBC TV centre, White City, London
11 & 15 September: Visit to Hook Norton Brewery
7 October: King's Engineers' Day
TBA: 2nd KCLEA Lecture
It has also been suggested that a visit to the Kirkaldy Testing Museum, Southwark, would be of interest to members and this is under review. Other suggestions are that visits suitable for families and different age groups should be arranged. Any other suggestions along these lines are welcome.
We hope everyone will make a special effort to attend at least one of the above events. In particular we would love you to attend the Engineers' lunch as it is our target to attract enough engineers and family to fill the Great Hall, we hope special discounts will be in place for KCLES members.
Please notify your interest to Keith Newton, KCLEA Entertainments Secretary and further details for the visit will be sent to you as they become available.
A Message From The President:
The Realistic Outlook And Duties Of The KCLEA
Further to the very sad pre-Christmas tidings regarding the future of Engineering in the College, things have moved on slightly and the future is beginning to take shape. Of the 35 members of staff in the Division of Engineering at present, 16 were deemed to be 'no-fit' within the proposed school structure while 19 were seen to fit in, essentially on the basis of their research areas and ratings. Although three members of staff have already resigned, it is thought the main exit time will be around June 2011 - giving one or two years of the undergraduate courses being taught, possible with a reduced full-time complement of staff. This will obviously take some very good management of the Division and I am very pleased to be able to tell you that Dr Mike Clode who, besides being our Membership Secretary and Senior Tutor to the Division for many years, has now been appointed as Head of Division to essentially oversee the rundown. Knowing Mike's very strong concern for both the students and the staff, I can honestly not think of a better and more qualified person to oversee this onerous duty. Mike knows that the Association will do everything in its power to support him in this role.
In the previous edition, I mentioned the proposal of a working group to help in the run-down. It was sensibly decided that only one such group would be formed and this has been done under the leadership of Joe Sherwood, a recent MEng graduate and now a PhD student. The Association will naturally help in any way possible but it will have a very strong natural connection in that Mike Clode is one of our most active members.
Finally, and something which a year ago was the main topic of concern within the Association, the Constitution change has now been ratified at the AGM. Membership fees have now been removed and all Engineering graduates are automatically members of the Association. I will shortly be writing to all members of the 'pre-change' Association who are paying membership fees to outline the various options available in light of the overall state of affairs regarding Engineering within the College.
- Norman Borrett
Engineering Bursary Winners 2009/2010 Year
From Left to Right:
(Back Row)
Stanislav Hahn,
Chris Wright,
Tarek Najm
(Front Row)
Adrian Ng,
Miriam Boos,
Norman Borrett
(KCLEA President)
ENGINEERING TRANSITION STUDENT GROUP
When the closure of the Division of Engineering was announced in July, it was clear that maintaining the standards of the degree, both in process and final product, for current students was of the utmost importance. To this end, I sought to create a student group which could quickly and effectively deal with student concerns generated by the closure of the division. With the support of the KCLES, KCLSU and Chris Mottershead, the Engineering Transition Student Group (ETSG) was formed.
The group is organised with a representative from Electronic and Mechanical Engineering in each year that meet regularly, along with the new Head of the Division, Mike Clode, to discuss any issues which have been raised by the students. This also serves to keep the group, and thus the students, up to date with any developments related to staff and administration. Should any action be required from the outcomes of these regular meetings, Mike Clode, KCLES and KCLSU representatives and I shall meet with Chris Mottershead to discuss relevant action. The ETSG is solely intended to deal with issues related to the closure.
At the time of writing, the group has so far had three meetings, and the most important point raised by the students has been morale. Understandably, the students are concerned about the validity of their degrees, being from
a department which no longer exists, or will shortly cease to do so. Whilst there have been offers of assurance, we require further support from the alumni and KCLEA members. If you would like to help, we would appreciate letters/emails of assurance which would be compiled and presented to the students. If you could spare the time and inclination, then a visit to the Division to assure the students in person would be more effective, especially for the civil engineers who have gone through departmental closures in the past. Hopefully, this may go some way towards alleviating the students concerns. Finally, if you are in a position to promote KCL engineering students in your field or even provide opportunities for work placements, it would be greatly appreciated by all concerned.
- Joe Sherwood
If you feel you could support these important Activities please contact the Editor
On the 1 January 2010, Dr Michael P. Clode (Mike) took over as the Head of the Division of Engineering. Mike joined King's College London in 1989 as a Lecturer in Metallurgy in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He has a BSc(Eng) in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Mechanical Metallurgy. Mike is also a Fellow of IoM3. He has taken on many roles during his time at King's but for the past ten years he has been Senior Tutor to the Division of Engineering.
Mike's biggest challenge as Head is to ensure that the Engineering students get the best university learning experience possible. Mike will be working closely with colleagues from the Division, School and College, in addition to the Engineering Transition Student Group (ETSG), to ensure this happens effectively.
Mike has also been the KCLEA's Membership Secretary for the past ten years.
The AGM Report
Those of you who attended the AGM held on 27 November 2009 will be aware of a growing liveliness among the KCLEA membership which now automatically includes all Engineering Alumni for whom the Alumni Office has contact details. Norman Borrett thanked all those who had contributed to our efforts and particularly mentioned Gerry Lawrence who had resigned as Webmaster.
Keith Newton has resurrected the events programme and although there had been some disappointing responses we can look forward to a lively summer in 2010. Nigel Sharp has been responsible for the re-introduction of King's Engineer which is now widely circulated and gaining appreciative reviews.
Students' efforts continue to be rewarded with nine prizes and five bursaries and these are listed elsewhere.
The meeting was delighted to learn that Joe Sherwood had been awarded the accolade of Best Mechanical Engineering Student nationally in 2009.
The 13 Club Trophy was presented to Stanley Earles (photo above left) in recognition of his services to the Division, students and staff, and the KCLEA over many years. Of particular regard was his success in keeping Mechanical Engineering alive at King's, at least for 19 years, when previously threatened in the early 1990's.
After all these encouraging items the meeting turned to a more disappointing topic. Chris Mottershead (Vice Principal, Research and Innovation) had been invited to defend the rationale behind the recent decision to close the Division of Engineering with the winding down starting this year.
The ranks of engineers, whose usual calm had been ruffled by the closure of the Division of Engineering, began a 50 minute onslaught of questioning.
Chris Mottershead started his defence by pointing out some painful facts that have led to the winding down of Engineering, now already underway. Five out of six disciplines in the School were rated in the lowest quartile in the country, and while it may be possible to do something to revive poorly performing Physics, the Engineering Department was considered too small, even when compared with other small departments such as Oxford's. Somewhat contentiously he gave an opinion that £50 million investment (based on 50 staff at £1m each) would be required and could not be justified. The objective is for King's to be a research led university and as such has to be in the upper quartile to maintain the desired reputation.
The room full of enthusiastic engineers could hardly wait to vigorously challenge all these points but to little avail. However, Chris did make the point that no viable alternatives had been proposed to save Engineering over the past nine months whilst the Division was open. This sounded like an invitation which will be explored by Dr Mike Clode who has been appointed to Head of Division of Engineering.
The meeting felt that there have been serious deficiencies in the way assessments are carried out, without taking into proper account the value of all departments and wider effects on the College's reputation. This was one of the lessons that should be learned for the future. John Dougill made the point that no decision is without a cost and we must ensure the cost is paid for by the College and not the staff and students. Stanley Earles, who had saved Mechanical Engineering in the early Nineties, related the efforts that were made then to find acceptable alternatives for staff.
There is a serious concern among students that their employment prospects will be badly affected and alumni are asked to write with assurances to the contrary to help maintain morale and the enthusiasm for study. The KCLEA are happy to facilitate this communication and contact should be made via the website or by the usual e-mail.
Ron Marsh reminded us that KCLES is the oldest engineering society of its kind in the world and efforts must be made to ensure its continued existence.
The meeting concluded with a fiery buzz of engineering chatter, pragmatic and fair points being made by both sides.
Afterwards, as has become tradition, some members opted to go to Salieri Restaurant on the Strand and continue the discussion over some good food and a bit more wine.
- Graham Raven
The New Webmaster joins us through Video Conferencing
The January 2010 meeting of the KCLEA Committee was a watershed event, as one Committee member was able to attend from afar using a video conference link over the internet and the freely available Skype software.
At the 2009 AGM Gerry Lawrence, the Webmaster for KCLEA, retired after many years of exceptional service. He was replaced by Alistair Steger-Lewis, previously a Committee member in the 1990s, who now lives on the west coast of Ireland.
"I am delighted to be rejoining the Committee and look forward to playing my part in shaping KCLEA's online presence” commented Alistair on his election. “Attending the Committee meetings is going to be rather difficult, though!"
Always ready to rise to a challenge and being engineers of high calibre, the Committee soon came up with a solution. A video camera and projector were set up in the meeting room and, as if by magic, Al's ghostly image was able to float over proceedings.
Since then Alistair has revamped the www.KCLEA.org website, now with the addition of an archive section (shown right) for old newsletters and previous editions of the King's Engineer, which is highly worth a look, as well as up-to-date event listings.
We hope to have a new Logitech auto-tracking webcam for the next committee meeting on 28 April, and we invite any KCLEA members to join and watch the meeting. Please send your Skype username via e-mail to the committee and we'll attempt to get more details to you for this and other meetings.
KCLES ‘Business As Usual’
"The coming demise of the Division of Engineering, How does this affect the KCLES this year? Not much at all! We are of course very upset about the news but the society still has a role to fill as a service provider for its members as a contributor to student life!" states the www.KCLES.org website.
The Xmas Party was a great success with over 150 attendees, and before that KCLES has hosted pool, chess, computer gaming and football tournaments, whilst helping with the KCLEA Lecture, also introducing new initiatives such as the newly popular Book Fair.
Where Are We Now?
It is our intention to have AT LEAST one article in each edition from an engineering alumnus showing what has happened in his/her career since graduating from the Faculty/Division. To this end, if you would like a full article in a future edition or have a career update, could you please contact Norman Borrett.
Note: we are also happy to publish articles from more recent graduates who may just be starting on the career ladder but have stories of inspiration and interest for others.
This issue follows the life of Colin Brown and his endless encounters with other Alumni across the globe.
Colin Brown’s story
I entered Kings in 1950 and graduated in the middle of the BSc/Eng's in 1953. The attraction was always London; all my leaves whilst in the army were spent there and I was determined that was where I would spend my time in university. Hence King’s was a perfect location for all that interested me. It was a great success and additionally I was surrounded by the other 38 King’s Engineers who proved to be a splendid group. I have no recollection of what was taught but I presume it was the same as elsewhere. Certainly in subsequent life I felt that I was as well prepared as other professionals. Nick Lee, who now lives in Bali, helped me get a job with his father (a King's man of an earlier vintage) and I settled into structural engineering. The two years in London was a professional delight. In the midst of this I got married. Stan Earles was the best man. Fifty-five years later I still enjoy the lady's company.
In 1955 we moved to Lincoln. The engineering problems of Lindsey County were not overwhelming but the ecclesiastical life was fascinating. Our next door neighbour was Reggie Askew. Many years later he became Dean of King's College London. This delightful inertia was broken when we decided to move abroad. In complete ignorance we decided on Canada and arrived in Victoria in April, 1957.
The next day I started in the design office of the bridge group of the British Columbia Department of Highways. The other engineers had been educated in 13 different countries. We got on with our work with no regard to those formative years. There was a lot to do and the number of bridges a month designed must have been impressive. Later, it was into the field as a Resident Engineer to what seemed to us a wilderness north of Prince George. There, Ron Switzer from my years at Kings appeared. Subsequently he moved to Calgary and started a consultancy, which still flourishes today. The bridges were constructed before the highways and access was a continual problem. My contact with the crews would have been better served if I had been fluent in either Italian or German.
Whilst there, the USSR put Sputnik into space and universities in the USA offered fellowships in Engineering to those who could count moderately well. It was clear that the doctorate was the union card for employment in academia. Also it seemed reasonable to learn new material.
The Aeronautics and Engineering Department in the University of Minnesota is where I landed, the experience in Minneapolis being a great introduction to American life and the academic environment. The academic world was not the sleepy, contemplative one that I had imagined. It proved to be an exercise in time management. Raising grant money where necessary to support research and the consequent students, as well as to pay the institutional affairs. The next 32 years proved to be satisfying. Four years were spent at Berkeley, and in the meantime we had two daughters born to us. Then to Columbia University in New York where we watched the student revolt on campus, and finally to the University of Washington in Seattle for 25 years. I was lucky at Columbia and Berkeley to have colleagues who were giants in their games. One was Harry Seed in Seismic Geotechnical Engineering. Harry was from King's in the Bristol era and was indubitably the doyen in his field. At Washington I was punctual in taking leave every seven years. A couple of these were at Imperial College, and one at Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand where I met Joe Baty from my class at King’s.
The work in Seattle covered the whole gambit of academic duties. For over five years I chaired the department of 40 colleagues, and for a couple more I lead the Faculty Senate and represented the interests of over 3000 faculty in a range of disciplines from medicine to education with the President and Trustees of the university. The rest of the time I kept at the usual faculty duties. It was fun and allowed visits to other parts of the world, especially the Orient, in some comfort.
Retirement came in 1994 and we moved to Corvallis, Oregon in the Willamette River Valley. The libraries are good and the additions to my publications go along at about one a year. Our daughters are nearby, one 50 miles south and the other 300 miles north. Every few years some type of connection with the extant members of the class of 1953 occurs such as meeting Mike Morris in San Francisco. The 40 and 50 year reunions which Mike Handcock organised were reminders of splendid people who handled their worlds with skill.
- Colin Brown
Ideas or Suggestions
This is a publication for King’s Engineers and therefore your suggestions are very welcome. Please try our new contact form and drop us a comment. Our current distribution reaches international doors and you never quite know what contacts an article in the King’s Engineer may spark up.
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The Engineering Association would like to once again thank the KCLA for their continued financial support towards the King’s Engineer printing costs but we would also like to stress to our readers that the KCLA's sponsorship was not conditional upon content and does not signify agreement or otherwise with opinions expressed within this publication.
