University Medal winner restoring water to the world

Aug 17, 2005

A University of Wollongong Research Fellow working to promote sustainable water in developing countries has been further recognised for his research with the RWTH Aachen University (Germany) University Medal.

Andreas Broeckmann, who is now based in Australia, is also part of the UOW team which recently returned from Berlin with one of the most prestigious engineering awards in the world, The Mondialogo Engineering Award, for its engineering proposal and project on water supply. The proposal will involve field trials of solar-powered water treatment for remote communities in Papua New Guinea.

After completing his studies in Germany, Mr Broeckmann joined the UOW engineering team headed by Dr Andrea Schafer as a Research Fellow responsible for the system testing and optimisation of the unit used in the water supply project.

Mr Broeckmann has also been designing a trailer to attach the solar powered membrane filtration unit.

He said he was honoured and surprised to receive the University Medal from his home university in Germany, which is one of the leading German engineering institutions.

“The University Medal at RWTH is for students who passed their studies with an average mark of 1.4 which is equivalent to a minimum of 93%,” he said. “I graduated with 95% and was one of 18 Mechanical Engineering students to receive the medal.”

Mr Broeckmann’s first visit to Australia was as an exchange student.

“I loved Wollongong and was very impressed with the living quality. I returned to complete my studies in Germany but knew I would be coming back to ‘the Gong’ as soon as possible!” he said.

Mr Broeckmann said one of the highlights of his research career was delivering a presentation on the ‘Membranes in Drinking and Industrial Water Production’ in Italy, and he will soon travel to Florida in the US to speak at the Solar World Congress 2005.

*Note: The UOW team is currently looking for test sites for another round of field-testing to be carried out. A trip to Central Australia is planned for October and the team is interested in hearing from communities reliant on brackish groundwater for their portable water supply who would like to see a demonstration of the filtration unit. For further information contact Melanie Werner on 02 4221 4588.

-RP