PROFILE OF A PROJECT ENGINEER

Nic grew up in Cobram on the Murray River. Towards the end of his secondary schooling, he went to boarding school in Melbourne. He found these years to be a fantastic experience and made lasting friendships as a boarder.

After school, Nic enrolled in a Bachelor of Education program majoring in Chemistry. In his final year, Nic decided that teaching was not for him so returned to first year to study chemical engineering at RMIT. During this period, Nic worked part time in supermarkets. He believes that this experience working with people has helped him develop his communication skills.

During his course, he worked with the Dairy Process Engineering Centre on an industry based project during the final vacation

Nic comments that having grown up at Cobram a town with large dairy processing operations, some would say he was destined to work in the dairy industry. He believes it was plain luck as he had not considered the opportunities in the food processing industry until the vacation experience.

At National Foods, Nic finds the work challenging. The company is constantly developing new products and improving old ones and improving the efficiencies of production. He works with a wide range of people across the company. Nic's role provides a link between the Production, Research and Development and Engineering departments. His work has necessitated trips to National Foods plants in South Australia and Sydney plus numerous trips to the country Victorian plants. Being in a dairy production facility, not always knowing what challenges tomorrow brings, is one of the more exciting aspects of his work.