William Menelaus Memorial Lecturers
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Sir William H Bragg KBE FRS DSc
H.C.H. Carpenter FRS MA PhD Hon DSc(Wales)
W.H. Hatfield DSc FRS
H.G.A. Hickling DSc FRS
F.S. Sinnatt CB DSc
J.W. Cobb CBE BSc FIC
C.A. Edwards DSc FRS
C.H. Desch DSc FRS
W.T. David MA ScD DSc MInstCE
B.P. Haigh MBE DSc MInstCE
C.H. Lander CBE DSc MInstCE
W.M. Thornton OBE DSc DEng
Sir Arthur P.M. Bleming CBE DEng MSc(Tech) MIMechE MIEE
Sir Lewis L. Fermor OBE DSc FRS
C.G. Morley MIEE
Douglas Hay MC BSc MInstCE
P.B. Moon MA PhD FRS
W.F. Cartwright DL MIMechE
W. Idris Jones CBE BSc PhD MIMinE MIChemE FRIC
Sir William Halcrow MInstCE
Sir Charles F. Goodeve OBE DSc FRS
T.E. Allibone PhD DSc FRS MIEE
Sir Willis Jackson DSc MIEE FRS
Sir Humphrey Browne CBE MA MIMinE
Sir William Penney KBE FRS MA PhD DSc
Sir Paul Chambers KBE DB CIE
Lord Pilkington
Dr. K. Mallanby CBE DSc FIBiol
Sir Kingsley Dunham FRS
Sir Derek Ezra
Dr. Walter Marshall CBE FRS
Sir Joseph Pope DSc (Hon) LLtd FBIM CEng FIMechE
Sir Peter Gadsden CBE MA DSc FEng
Lord Caldecott
Prof. J. Notting
Colin Kirkland
G. Adler OBE
Dr. Hugh Scott-Russell CEng FSAIMM
Sir Keith Stuart MA FRSA CBIM FCIT
Sir Robert May FRS
Dr. Elizabeth Haywood CIMgt FRSA
Dr. David Grant CBE FREng
Sir Peter Williams CBE FREng FRS
Sir Alec Broers FREng FRS
Sir David Davies FREng FRS
Sir Gareth Roberts FREng FRS
Sir John Chisholm FREng FRS
Sir Richard Friend FREng FRS
Lord Browne of Madingley FREng FRS
The South Wales Institute of Engineers
Educational Trust 2007
Chairman:
Prof. D. Vernon Morgan
The 50th William Menelaus
Memorial Lecture
Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of WISE
(Women into Science, Engineering and Construction)
“Towards a Silent Aircraft”
Presented by:
Professor Dame Ann Dowling
DBE FREng FRS
Head of the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University
6.00pm, Wednesday 2nd December 2009
In the Birt Acres Lecture Theatre,
Bute Building, Cathays Park, Cardiff
The 50th William Menelaus Memorial Lecture
Ann Dowling is Professor of Mechanical Engineering
at the University of Cambridge and Head of the
Department of Engineering. She was the Director of
the University Gas Turbine Partnership with
Rolls-Royce from 2001-2009 and led the UK activity
on the Silent Aircraft Initiative. She works primarily in
the fields of combustion, acoustics, vibration and fluid
mechanics. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society,
Royal Academy of Engineering (Vice-President
1999-2002) and is a Foreign Associate of the US
National Academy of Engineering and of the French
Academy of Sciences. She has served on a number
of industry and government advisory committees, and was appointed CBE by
the Queen for services to Mechanical Engineering in 2002, and made a
‘Dame’ for services to Science in 2007.
The South Wales Institute of Engineers
Educational Trust (SWIEET2007)
The Institute was founded in 1857 and granted a Royal Charter of
Incorporation in 1881. It devotes itself “to the encouragement and
advancement of Engineering Science and Practice”, and was
“established to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas amongst
its members, and to place on record the results of experience”.
In carrying out these functions, the Institute played its part in advancing
technical knowledge and, through its individual members, has made important
research contributions in many fields, through to 2007. In 2007, the Institute
agreed to wind up its Learned Society functions, and to transfer all its funds
into an Educational Trust. The Trust has agreed to continue with the Menelaus
Lecture and Dinner as part of its activities.
The Institute now makes Bursary, merit and other awards, to both individual
engineering students and educational establishments, and increasingly
focuses upon “youth into engineering”, expanding into schools.
25 Years of WISE
The Silent Aircraft Initiative (SAI) was launched with the aim of developing a
conceptual design for an aircraft whose noise would be almost imperceptible
outside the perimeter of an urban airport. The project has been carried out
through collaboration between about 40 researchers at the University of
Cambridge, MIT and a ‘Knowledge Integration Community’ which includes
many different stakeholders, including industry, government and academia.
Avoiding some traditional aircraft noise sources requires a major rethink about
the aircraft configuration and much greater integration between the engines
and airframe. The emerging conceptual design, SAX40, is predicted to achieve
a radical reduction in noise and to use 25% less fuel per passenger mile than
the best of current aircraft. The ideas behind the design will be discussed and
illustrated in the lecture.
In response to the extremely low representation of women in science and
engineering careers, the Equal Opportunities Commission in 1984 expressed
that “the engineering industry can no longer afford to neglect the talent and
ability which women have to offer”. Its Chair, Baroness Platt, mobilised the
initiative to collaborate with the Engineering Council to create WISE ’84, which
is an ongoing national campaign, collaborating with industry and education to
encourage UK girls of school age to value and pursue STEM or construction
related courses in school or college, and to move on into related careers.
1987 marked the launch of the five signature WISE buses. These were
inaugurated by Margaret Thatcher and offered girls the opportunity to take part
in physics, mathematics and technology experiments onboard. This, and other
activities impressed Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, who has been a
loyal supporter and Royal Patron of WISE ever since.
WISE is still going strong as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. It has a regional
committee network active in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland tackling the
challenges facing girls interested in science, engineering and construction
careers. Terry Marsh, Executive Director of WISE, shares her strategy for the
future, “The easy wins have been won. Although we have doubled the number
of female engineering students at university, this happened more than five
years ago and numbers have now stopped increasing. We must now change
our approach and adopt new creative measures to reach even more girls.”
Perhaps success would mean it does not celebrate its 50th anniversary.