As CQUniversity's new Dean of the School of Engineering and Built Environment, Professor Euan Lindsay is excited to take his school's prestige to the next level.

Professor Lindsay joins the University from Western Australia's Curtin University, a single-campus institution based in Perth.

CQUniversity's new Dean of School of Engineering and Built Environment Professor Euan Lindsay

"It's been a real change going from having everything and everyone in the one location to having them scattered along the Queensland coast" he said.

"That said, having these delivery sites in Mackay, Gladstone and soon Bundaberg, as well as Rockhampton, allows us to tap into a lot of industries and engage with numerous communities, which is what the University wants to do across the board. I can see it works for CQUniversity and I think it will continue to do so."

The new precinct at Rockhampton campus and the proposed facility for Mackay are some of the latest developments in an area that is going from strength to strength at the University, and Professor Lindsay is keen to keep the momentum going while at the same time expanding on what has been done before him.

"These developments make a lot of sense, and the University has a sustainable vision of growth. It's meeting a demand, not just growing for growth's sake. It's the right direction to be going in" he said.

Yet one of Professor Lindsay's key goals in his new position is to increase research and PhD opportunities for students, particularly in the Engineering area.

Professor Lindsay says he wants to see more knowledge creation as opposed to knowledge transmission in the discipline, and wants to make more students experts on their personal interests.

No small feat, considering that most students of the Engineering Co-op program have two or three job offers before they even graduate.

"It will definitely be a challenge to get these graduates to consider postgraduate study and research, but I have no doubt that the potential is there" he says.

"Our students are passionate about what they're studying. I bet there's quite a few students here that would love to spend their week researching something that really interests them instead of working in the mines or for an energy company."

He also believes a larger research cohort will be beneficial to undergraduates.

"These individuals are a vital link between students and academics. They give these programs vibrancy in that they can do tutorials and lectures, and are a great resource for those in earlier stages of their study" he says.

"Research is essential to a university, and I think having more going down this path in the Engineering and Built Environment disciplines will make more people sit up and take notice of CQUniversity".

Euan earned his own PhD from the University of Melbourne, and investigated whether remote and simulated access alternatives to the traditional in-person laboratory experience could provide the same learning outcomes for students.

His other research interests include engineering education, telecontrol, artificial neural networks and rehabilitative technologies for people with sensing impairments.