Luca starts designer cadetship

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Luca Felesina has a civil engineering designer cadetship with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads.
Luca Felesina will soon progress to more complex projects thanks to his new designer cadetship with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads.

From humble beginnings designing road markings, CQUniversity Civil Engineering student Luca Felesina hopes to develop a fruitful career as a designer.

Luca will soon progress to more complex projects thanks to his new designer cadetship with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, in his home city of Bundaberg.

This recent milestone follows his fruitful first year on CQUni Bundaberg Campus, thanks to a CQUni HEPPP STEM Research Experience Scholarship. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and maths.

The scholarship, supported by the Australian Government Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP), underpinned Luca’s involvement in a research project into ways to motivate school children to study maths, assisting senior lecturer Dr Benjamin Taylor.

Luca said the project helped him develop skills in research design, data analysis and preparing research publications.

“With the support of Dr Taylor and the experience I gained through the scholarship, I was able to successfully apply for the Transport and Main Roads cadetship, securing employment only 12 months into my engineering course,” Luca says.

Luca already has a strong sporting profile in the Wide Bay community, having represented Queensland in touch football.

He now hopes to develop his professional engineering profile as well.

The CQUni HEPPP STEM Research Experience Scholarship was offered to CQUni undergraduate Engineering students from a low SES background (low socio-economic status) residing in the Bundaberg region.

It was all part of the CQUni HEPPP initiative: Towards a 5-year STEM Tertiary Education Transition and Success Plan for LSES Students.

This initiative aims to improve STEM educational outcomes for students through raising awareness and providing practical experience of mathematics in engineering.

By conducting research, CQUni expects to better understand the challenges students face when studying mathematics at a tertiary level, and to improve STEM educational outcomes.