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Winter 2013
8
Imagine that!
A TEAM of students from the University of Waikato
is waiting to hear whether a medical computer
app they’ve developed can be used by UNICEF
and another group has people lining up about a
storytelling app for Windows 8 that lets parents read
to their children when they’re far away.
The teams were finalists in the New Zealand
round of the Microsoft Imagine Cup and both came
away with category honours. The competition invites
tertiary students from around the world to create
software using Microsoft applications to find real
solutions to real world problems. This year students
were asked to choose from one of three categories:
innovation, world citizenship or gaming.
Team APPortunists, competing in the World
Citizenship category, developed a medical system
accessible via web browsers and smartphones that
allows the capture and maintenance of medical
records in the developing world. The system also
tracks vaccinations and can notify patients when
they’re due.
Management students Jess Howse and Michael
Watson had travelled to third world countries and
it was that experience that prompted the medical
app idea.
“It was an eye opener, but for many different
reasons,” says Jess. “Despite the poverty and the very
obvious need, almost everyone we saw had a mobile
phone. And most families would own at least one
smart phone, usually the father.” She and Michael
teamed up with computing and mathematical science
students Haley Littlewood and Keiran Thomson
and worked with business mentor Debbie Ireland
to create a working version of the app to enter
the competition.
“Microsoft is currently developing disaster relief
programmes for developing countries, and we see
our apps working in with these very well,” says
Michael. The concept is in front of UNICEF
to see if their project will fit alongside current
UNICEF programmes.
At the New Zealand finals of the Imagine Cup,
held in Auckland in March, teams had to do an
elevator pitch, a Q + A before a panel of 10 judges
and showcase their applications in front of the other
23 teams.
The My Storyteller team won first place in the
innovation category. The app lets parents pre-record
stories as videos so they can ‘read’ to their children
while they are away from home. Customisable stories
are provided by the application and parents are given
‘karaoke style’ prompts to read while recording.
Children can read along on-screen as the video is
played back to them.
The team of Brian Cole, Ersin Buckley, Marcel
Beetz and Shawnee Kitson now plan to launch a social
media campaign to pitch their idea to the world.
“My Storyteller is a platform for story delivery,”
says Brian Cole. “We are embracing the concept of
software as a service and providing a platform for
authors to share their stories with the public.”
Authors should email
info@coldstudios.co.nz
for more information. Parents can ‘like’ on Facebook
for more information about availability.
brian.cole@coldstudios.co.nz
TELLING STORIES:
Marcel Beetz, Brian
Cole and Ersin
Buckley
with their
storytelling App.
TAKEOUTS
The University of Waikato and the Waikato
Regional Council have pooled their talent by
signing a Memorandum of Understanding that will
see the two organisations working collaboratively
on issues of common interest for the good of the
region. Those issues could include land and river
management, agribusiness, natural hazards and
coastal planning and management.
University Vice-Chancellor Professor Crawford
says University of Waikato academics are often
working in the same areas as regional council staff,
and it makes sense to work together in those areas
to benefit the region. “We both have staff often
working towards the same end and this agreement
allows us to share and better utilise available talent
and work collaboratively to solve problems and
make improvements in the region.”
Working for the good of the region
Hamilton’s fast growth and Tainui Group Holdings’
proposed inland port at Ruakura means the city is
on track to become one of the country’s biggest
hubs of commercial activity. Freight volumes are
expected to double in the next 20 years.
Knowing that, Waikato Management School
has appointed former Hamilton airport CEO Chris
Doak as its Executive in Residence. His task is to
facilitate greater engagement with the business
sector, and in particular provide resource for
the development of a strategy in supply chain
management, transportation, and logistics.
Chris Doak spent seven years as CEO at
Hamilton airport, and before that he was with WEL
Energy Group (nowWEL Networks).
Airport CEO goes to Waikato Management School
Waikato University’s Professor of Agribusiness
Jacqueline Rowarth is one of 11 top researchers and
young scientists appointed by the government to
identify the biggest science challenges facing the
country. The panel is being chaired by the Prime
Minister’s chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman,
with $60 million set aside from last year’s Budget for
new investment into the National Science Challenges.
The panel met in late February to consider the
challenge proposals and make recommendations
on a number of challenges. Cabinet was expected
to make a decision on the final challenges in April.
The Ministry of Business Innovation and
Employment will then work with the science sector
from May to August to develop detailed themes
and projects and decide how selected challenges
will be led.
To see the panel’sTerms of Reference and criteria
for selecting the National Science Challenges go to:
www.msi.govt.nz/update-me/major-projects/
national-science-challenges/
Professor on National Science Challenge Panel
Honours for Waikato staff and students
Waikato University’s Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith,
Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori and Dean of the School
of Māori & Pacific Development, and Emeritus
Professor Ian Pool were both named Companions
of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2013
NewYear’s Honours.
Professors Smith and Pool are also Royal Society
medal recipients. Emeritus Professor Pool, has been
honoured for his work in demography in New Zealand
and overseas and Professor Smith for her work in
inspiring and developing Māori researchers.
Olympic double sculling gold medallists Nathan
Cohen and Joseph Sullivan both studied at Waikato
and were named as Members of the New Zealand
Order of Merit for their services to rowing.
Former Black Stick Jon Tanner, a Waikato
University Foundation member, received a Queen’s
Service Medal for his services to hockey.
LOCAL authorities stand to gain from
a new PhD study being carried out at the
University of Waikato.
Chartered Accountant Annika
Schneider has decided, after four years in
practice, to return to Waikato University
to work on her doctorate titled “Accounting
for biodiversity, a reporting model for the
local government sector”.
“I enjoyed working in a practice, but I
always knew I wanted to study again. My
interest in accounting for biodiversity was
sparked while I was doing my masters at
Waikato Management School.”
She’s been awarded a New Zealand
Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA)
Leading Light Scholarship of $20,000 to
assist with her research. The scholarships
are designed to grow future academics in
the accounting profession by nurturing
bright achievers who will directly
contribute knowledge to the New Zealand
accounting profession or academic
accounting community.
Under the Resource Management Act,
councils are required to manage their
biodiversity but the legislation doesn’t
tell them how. Annika plans to develop a
framework that will enable them to manage
and report biodiversity successfully.
Her first task will be finding how
councils currently report their biodiversity
and from those results she’ll develop a
reporting framework. She will consult with
experts involved in biodiversity, including
representatives from DoC, scientists,
accountants and academics.
“I’ll also need to trial my framework
in a working environment, find out if it’s
feasible and do-able at council level, and
what roadblocks there are, if any.”
Alongside her NZICA scholarship
Annika also has a University of Waikato
doctoral scholarship which is worth
$22,000 a year for three years.
WMS-ACNT@waikato.ac.nz
Scholarship for Accounting
ANNIKA SCHNEIDER: Studying for a
PhD in accounting for biodiversity.
Commercialising Titanium
THE Waikato Centre for Advanced Materials
(WaiCAM) has been awarded Ministry of
Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE)
funding to complete research into novel
ways of producing high-quality titanium
and titanium products in New Zealand.
Titanium alloys have the highest strength-
to-weight ratio of any metal, and are used
for components and structural elements
in the aerospace, medical and automotive
industries and in the latest laptops and
cellphones. WaiCAM researchers are working
on two projects, both for two-year durations
and worth a combined value of $1.1 million a
year, looking at ways to further develop and
commercialise the titanium process industry.
The first project is looking at how
to up-scale the process of using titanium
powder to create extruded and forged
titanium products. The second is a
collaborative project with TiDA (Titanium
Industry Development Association),
Callaghan Innovation, GNS Science and
the University of Auckland, focusing on
various processing technologies for the
manufacture of products using different
titanium powder alloy compositions.
Waikato researchers are specifically
focussed on the processing of titanium alloy
powder to make high performance titanium
alloy products with good strength, ductility
and fracture behaviour.