Environmental Engineering graduate Alana Mosely knew she wanted to create a positive impact in the world during her studies at Griffith while she undertook her work-integrated learning placement at a consulting firm which allowed her to expand her knowledge and skillset within her chosen major. Alana now puts her skills into practice working as a Senior Floodplain Management Engineer for the Moreton Bay Regional Council.
Working in a small passionate team of Floodplain Engineers, a typical day for Alana involves meeting regularly with her team and other stakeholders to discuss important environmental issues such as new infrastructure being built like sporting grounds or proposed drainage infrastructure. One of her main responsibilities is to develop models to understand the extent of flooding within the Moreton Bay region and identify the impact human infrastructure has on these areas.
Alana studies hydraulic models to understand how rivers and creeks interact with bridges and culverts and uses these model results to determine how she can make it safer for the general public during a flood event. She also gets involved in the installation of road signs which may help inform members of the community when a road is not safe to cross.
Some days, Alana will head out on-site to look at different traffic conditions in a particular area or meet with the roads team to discuss a new camera being installed which will be used to monitor any flooding that overtops a road. She also monitors and manages rain gauges which send important data to her team when a large amount of rain is forecasted to occur. This enables Alana and her team to activate flooding alerts and set up road closures if necessary, in order to keep the members of the community safe.
To hear more of what a typical day looks like in Alana’s job as a Senior Floodplain Engineer watch this video:
To learn more about studying Engineering visit the Griffith University website.
