Dr. Steve Mackay is the founder of the Engineering Institute of Technology. He firmly believes in Nelson Mandela’s mantra that, “Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.” His leadership has inspired EIT’s unique and distinctive approach to engineering education.

Since 2008 three core objectives define the essence of the institute:

Collaborating comprehensively with industry to ensure graduates are job-ready.
Employing platforms of learning to facilitate student accessibility and engagement.
Keeping the business of education student-centric.

Dr. Mackay has enjoyed a varied career in engineering, having worked in automation, data acquisition, instrumentation, data communications, and process control throughout Australia, Europe, Africa, and North America over the past 35 years. He has successfully pioneered the application of new technologies in Australia and overseas, installing industrial data communication systems and implementing live online education, (including remote laboratories), for engineering students worldwide. Dr. Mackay has been involved in a range of industries, including power stations, mining, mineral processing, oil/gas/petrochemical plants, and platforms. He has presented courses on industrial data communications, data acquisition, instrumentation, and process control to over 30,000 engineers and technicians worldwide for clients such as NASA, Rolls Royce, and BP. He has also co-authored and edited 25 engineering books that have been published across the world. Dr. Mackay is a Fellow of Engineers Australia with a license to practice as a Chemical, Mechanical, and Electrical Chartered Professional Engineer. As Dean of the Engineering Institute of Technology, Dr. Mackay leads the institute in providing microcredentials and engineering qualifications to over 2000 students per year from 140 countries. He has an unswerving focus on student outcomes and on excellence in education.

Engineering Ethics is Always of Paramount Importance

March 21, 2012 8:57 am
I believe we get exposed to challenges to our ethics on a daily basis. Most of the time; we ignore these challenges but occasionally the price is high and we succumb ever so slightly (and silently). In the nutshell – ethics is about - as the National Society of Professional...Read More

Leading Engineering Careers of Quiet Desperation

March 7, 2012 8:55 am
I am sometimes inclined to agree with Thoreau who noted that ‘most people live lives of quiet desperation’ - people who are unhappy personally and in their careers. As far as the engineering or technology field is concerned - for some of us, it is working in technology-intensive environments (design/installation/configuration),...Read More

As An Engineering Professional - What are you really worth?

March 7, 2012 8:54 am
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence’ can really gnaw at you. How can you make sure that you’re being paid what you’re really worth? Theoretically, your remuneration is based on the contribution you make to the business you work in. Other factors that impact...Read More

Building outstanding engineering problem solving skills

March 7, 2012 8:54 am
Many of us get well rewarded for solving problems. In fact; arguably that is one of the top paying tasks in engineering. A good example - in the field of aviation - is that of Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenberger who saved hundreds of lives by bringing a passenger airliner down safely...Read More

As an engineering professional what do you do with your rubbish?

February 20, 2012 8:52 am
As I looked down our street and saw the rows of rubbish (or garbage) bins neatly parked with military precision waiting for them to be taken away, I wondered at the millions of other examples of rubbish throughout the world. I am also acutely aware of the massive increase in...Read More

Why Wireless (sadly) won’t replace the landline

January 23, 2012 8:51 am
Many of us tolerate unbelievably bad ‘broadband’ in remote locations with so-called DSL. Very high speed fiber-to-the-kerb is only a dream. There is thus much animated discussion about the possibilities with the relatively new Long-Term Evolution (LTE) Wireless standard that is going to be the solution to all our problems....Read More

Use the Engineering Know-how at your Fingertips Wisely

January 18, 2012 8:48 am
I watch my 14yo son with some bemusement when he expertly uses Google to search for information for school projects or simply to find out about something that intrigues him. He is reluctant to use my favourite source of information – books. There is a massive paradigm shift that is occurring...Read More

Do you do a ferociously good Engineering Presentation?

January 18, 2012 8:46 am
Yesterday I was slumped listening to a highly experienced engineer doing a rather mediocre presentation for motivating the development of a new product. He received a rather cool response although I know his product concept was excellent. He would have got far better results if he had followed some simple...Read More

How the collapse of manufacturing in the western world will impact on you

December 21, 2011 8:44 am
Many of us work in manufacturing and probably wonder where this sector is headed. I am not an economist and I would be the last to confidently predict the future. But a few thoughts here. As engineering professionals we are all acutely aware of how rapidly changing technology continues to...Read More

Apps and more apps for engineering professionals

December 21, 2011 8:33 am
First of all – best wishes for the Christmas festive break. I hope 2012 is a fearsomely good year for you and the world economy starts to grow strongly again. Whether you are a brickie, fitter or chief electronics design engineer you will have undoubtedly heard of ‘apps’. There is...Read More

Personal Manufacturing is finally coming of age

November 28, 2011 8:30 am
Jay Leno, the ubiquitous and entertaining but abrasive (?) talk-show host uses his ‘Big Dog Garage Team’ to maintain his fleet of very old cars and motorbikes. Recently his team had to fabricate a feedwater heater for his 1907 White Steamer. An innovative approach was done using a 3D scanner...Read More

Have you ever considered becoming a Systems Engineer?

November 21, 2011 8:27 am
Have you been working for a number of years as an engineering professional and have steadily moved into interdisciplinary practice? Where you examine the total system rather than simply one element of it. Further to this; are you proactive, demonstrate leadership & initiative, can communicate well, think laterally and outside...Read More

Are we automating ourselves out of a job?

November 13, 2011 8:28 am
Recently, there have been some rather twitchy concerns that the current high levels of unemployment in many countries such as the USA and Europe are here to stay. And there has been much discussion that the high levels of automation of tasks (from IT to industrial automation) are the main...Read More

Engineering better Sporting Instrumentation

November 13, 2011 8:27 am
I must confess that I was always faintly disparaging of motor sport as a ‘real’ sport but driving with forces of more than 4.5g, heart rates exceeding 180 beats per minute, dehydration an ongoing threat and gigantic leaps in blood pressure (~50%) must surely mean that as a rally driver...Read More

As engineering professionals we have to sell ourselves again and again

November 13, 2011 8:26 am
have always maintained that we don’t sell ourselves enough. And let’s face it; selling yourself isn’t about simply flogging a product or service or trying to schmooze yourself on a disbelieving recipient. But about being adept on promoting ourselves in terms of one’s skills/a pet project or simply one’s abilities...Read More

Nonsense Patents

October 27, 2011 8:25 am
The first patent was granted in Florence in 1421; a few years later King Henry VI of England granted the first modern patent for making coloured glass for cathedral windows.  And recently, one of the most sweeping changes to United States Patent Law was signed into law by Barack Obama...Read More

Engineering the drones for peace as well

October 23, 2011 8:24 am
A few weeks ago, an al Qaeda operative sitting on his pick-up truck deep in Yemeni desert was taken out by a missile from an American drone. There has been a rapid escalation in the use of drones which are also referred to as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Typically with...Read More

Engineering Smart Structures and Bridges

October 17, 2011 8:23 am
I never realised how protracted and complex the litigation would be when I was approached by a contractor to support them as an expert witness in securing payment for a massive installation they had done for a so-called 'smart bridge'. The client felt the bridge wasn't smart enough (and was...Read More

How to nab a thief OR engineering a better way to avoid ‘em

October 14, 2011 8:22 am
It happened in a flash, a few months ago. A colleague and I were vigorously debating some engineering issue in a little café on the sidewalk, and there was a commotion next to our table. He turned to refer to his laptop computer to and it was gone. Stolen and...Read More

Old Industrial Communication Networks Never Die - although they sometimes look that way

September 29, 2011 8:21 am
It is often refreshing to rip out old technology and replace it with a state of the art system when the bean counters (unwittingly, perhaps) sign off on a new project. As we know, it is often a frustratingly slow business interfacing new equipment to an existing system; so starting...Read More

Outsourcing and offshoring engineering

September 19, 2011 8:20 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Engineering salt out of water

September 19, 2011 8:19 am
Most of our planet comprises seawater and with a salt content of 3.5% this needs to be reduced to <0.05% (or less) to make it drinkable. Some of the older processes used distillation which requires about 10 kWh of energy per m3 of seawater. The seawater is heated up and...Read More

Informal training is the most powerful form of engineering education

September 19, 2011 8:18 am
People learn 70% of what they know about their jobs through informal means (US Bureau of Labor Stats – 1996). So stop pouring your money into formal training without pausing to consider these other more powerful options. Not through formal courses. Or training workshops. Formal training accounts for only 20%...Read More

Simply engineering a copy of a product or service is not enough

August 31, 2011 8:17 am
Last week's announcement by HP that it would stop making tablet computers – not particularly long after it had launched them - was a shock for many of us. In their early days, HP were always a company strongly focussed on engineering professionals. In the past year, mainly in response to the overwhelming...Read More

Handling conflict in engineering teams

August 31, 2011 8:16 am
Conflict is a key part of our lives as engineering professionals. Especially these days with so much change occurring. Conflict is a verbal (or indeed non-verbal) expressed disagreement between individuals or groups. It may occur, for example, between an engineering supervisor and employee, or manager and supervisor. And, as you...Read More

Engineering Professionals Collaborate Virtually

August 31, 2011 8:15 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Power over Ethernet touches all of us engineering professionals

August 31, 2011 8:00 am
There is a technology that touches all of us – no matter what area of engineering you are active in and that is of course – good old Ethernet. And one of the biggest and dare, I say useful changes has been Power over Ethernet (PoE) and this note is...Read More

Absolute Basic Skills for Engineering Professionals we should all have gained when twenty years old

August 2, 2011 7:59 am
Dear Colleagues One of the best investments I ever made in my basic skills was learning to touch type thirty years ago (yes - on a typewriter). Admittedly, being the only (geeky) boy in the class, I was somewhat intimidated by the dozen girls in the class; but a mere...Read More

The Myth of the Airgap in Industrial Automation Se-curity

July 27, 2011 7:56 am
Dear Colleagues I used to jo-ke (mistakenly) that the only secure way of protection of your control system from cyber att-acks is having an ‘airgap’ (i.e. your industrial control system has no connection to the internet or the ‘outside world’). As we all know, one of the enduring myths of...Read More

Engineering the Cloud

July 25, 2011 7:58 am
As far as I am concerned, the 'Cloud' everyone is talking about these days, is potentially some used car operator next door to your premises offering you rental of his computer system so that he can make a quick buck. Perhaps an unfair accusation. No matter whether you are a...Read More