Student engineer receives Sutton Award

JEREMY Lucey is the latest recipient of Federation University’s Henry Sutton Award for the best innovative project in Engineering.

Mr Lucey has been commended for his thesis, Modelling of damage formation in reinforced concrete shear walls.

“I’m extremely honoured to receive the Henry Sutton Award, given he was one of Australia’s leading early inventors and innovators,” he said.

“However, I could not have produced the thesis for this award without the guidance from my supervisor and mentor, Associate Professor Ean Tat Ooi.

“I have only been working in the industry for about eight months so far, but I have witnessed just how important innovation is to the workplace and industry, as demands are rapidly changing and we must innovate and adapt to stay ahead.”

Federation University program support officer for the School of Engineering, IT and Physical Sciences Naomi Glasson said Mr Lucey’s thesis was investigative.

“It explores affects of openings on the damage formation and damage characteristics in reinforced concrete shear walls, through adopting a numerical approach,” Ms Glasson said.

“The innovative finite element method was used in conjunction with special purpose non-linear spring elements to model the interface between the steel reinforcement and concrete matrix, as well as provide numerical values for the response of the bond between the steel reinforcement and concrete, when subject to loading.”

Mr Lucey’s award is named after pioneering Ballarat inventor, Henry Sutton, who was a scholarship student at Ballarat School of Mines, now Federation University’s SMB campus.

“He made Australia’s first telephone and invented the telephone handset.  He also created the first battery in the world to store electricity and be recharged,” Ms Glasson said.

“He accomplished some remarkable things, and it is only fitting that an award is dedicated to his achievements.”

Mr Sutton’s great-granddaughter Lorayne Branch said it is a “great honour to have an award in Henry’s name.”

He was in his early-20s and still studying when he invented his “world-famous” battery, and as a result, became an educator within the tertiary institution’s first applied electricity and magnetism course.

This was the first area of study of its kind in Australia, and took Mr Sutton straight “from student to lecturer.”

Mr Lucey received the Henry Sutton Award at a School of Engineering, IT and Physical Sciences virtual awards ceremony in recent weeks, which celebrated student achievements throughout 2020.

He also met with Ms Branch in-person. A monetary prize, a certificate, and a signed copy of Ms Branch’s book Henry Sutton: The Innovative Man, were all part of the award bundle.

With a career ahead of him, Mr Lucey loves the constant learning that comes with working in engineering.

“Technology and solutions that can be adopted in the field are always changing, and there are always new challenges arising,” he said.

“I chose engineering as I’ve always enjoyed making things in general, and engineering allows me to be a part of that process in the industry. It is also fulfilling seeing roads, houses and so forth being developed from my initial surveying of the sites.”