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We are entering the second half of 2020 and, during the past month, the Materials and Manufacturing Futures Institute (MMFI) has made several important contributions to support  UNSW’s “2nd Stage Return to Campus”.  We are also looking for feedback on how to improve MMFI to further benefit members.  As mentioned in May’s ENews,  no full scholarships have been awarded this year due to the suspension of industry engagement, but we have allocated 2 half year scholarships for 2020.  Further funding will be allocated to seed funding which will strengthen collaboration across faculties and schools.

Call for Proposals

One of the goals of the UNSW MMFI is to develop interdisciplinary, cutting-edge solutions for advanced manufacturing in Australia. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has brought widespread disruption to the global supply chain resulting in an MMFI initiative which will look to bring critical manufacturing industries back to Australia. 

MMFI will call for proposals that can demonstrate a move towards a more sustainable future by developing innovative interdisciplinary solutions for advanced manufacturing. We are particularly interested in providing support to junior academics to assist them with the continuation of their research activities during this difficult time.  MMFI will fund a total of 7 research projects under two different schemes. The call for proposals will be open to investigators of MMFI and their teams:

Post COVID-19 Grant Scheme:

Allocation of 4 projects with each project being funded to the amount of $20,000 with a focus on the development of advanced materials and advanced manufacturing technologies post COVID-19.  Research Areas, Funding Rules and an Application Form can be found in Appendix A (Funding Rules) and Appendix B (Application Form).

COVID-19 Horizon Grant Scheme:

Allocation of 3 projects with each project being funded to the amount of $20,000 with a focus on tangible solutions to ease the current global pandemic. We encourage the submission of any applicable unsuccessful applications previously submitted to the UNSW COVID-19 Rapid Research Response Scheme. The Funding Rules and Application Form can be found in Appendix A (Funding Rules) and Appendix B (Application Form).

The Second Python Virtual Townhall Workshop

Based on the enthusiastic response to the Python virtual townhall entitled “Tracing the COVID-19 Curve: Uplifting your data visualisation with Python”, in order to further enhance their learning in machine learning, we have sent out a survey to gauge interest in a second Python virtual townhall.  The following four options were provided in the survey:

1. A walkthrough example of optimizing a machine-learning model using scikit-learn
2. Data-mining LEGO blocks
3. Playing 1 Million Sudoku games
4. Winning Tic-Tac-Toe with Machine Learning

The response was 70% in favour of option 1 so our second Python virtual townhall will be entitled “Machine Learning 101 using Python” and be held in mid-July 2020.  An announcement with the time and a link to access the workshop will be provided shortly.   Below is the abstract.

Machine Learning 101 using Python - Dr. Jack Jianliang Yang

At the end of our first Python virtual townhall on visualising COVID-19 with Python, we briefly demonstrated how Python has made machine-learning (ML) easier with some simple codes. However, to further understand the ML model, more is involved to gain a better understanding of the concepts and procedures behind ML.

To help our researchers overcome the initial learning barrier when entering the field of ML, our next virtual townhall will walk through training with a simple ML model using Python.

Factory Lab

One of MMFI’s strategic goals is to establish itself as a self -funded sustainable research institute by 2025. The usage rate of the materials fabrication facilities at UNSW is less than 50% which means there is an opportunity to provide a unique service to the community by utilising these facilities.  MMFI will look to establish the “MMFI Factory Lab” and use their expertise in materials and manufacturing to produce high-end, small volume materials and develop and manufacture products based on interdisciplinary research that focus on current economic needs e.g. transparent stretchable conductive substrates, functional gradient materials and customize targets for RF sputter and Pulse Laser Deposition etc.

Hand Sanitiser

400 bottles of high-quality hand sanitiser have been produced by MMFI and delivered to UNSW Estate Management Office to support the "Stage Two return to campus”.  A product  brochure can be supplied upon requested, In summary, the hand sanitiser is compliant with NICNAS cosmetic standards under TGA’s exemption of manufacturing hand sanitizers and is safe for use.

Python Virtual Townhall Workshop

The first virtual town hall by Dr Jack Yang was held on 15^th June 2020 entitled  “Tracing the COVID-19 Curve: Uplifting Data Visualisation Skill with Python”.  Dr Yang received very positive feedback on the workshop and many requests for copies of the video transcript and, even though the event was only announced internally, he received quite a few external requests for information on this topic from ANSTO, Kirby Institute, and Turramurra High School to name a few.  There were a total number of 115 registrations which demonstrated the demand and interest for the workshop.

Have You Had A Recent Success?  Do You Have Something You Want To Share With The MMFI Team?  We Want To Hear From You!  Please Contact Us Directly With Any Feedback Or News Items At: mmfutures@unsw.edu.au