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Deakin connection runs deep for a mechatronics graduate

For Dr Asher Winter (BMechtEngHons ’21 / PhD ’24) – one of Deakin University’s newest PhD graduates – our University isn’t just a place he studied, it’s a huge part of his family’s history.

By Louisa Ragas 

Not only did Asher’s parents study together at Deakin – his mum studying arts and his dad among the University’s first engineering students ‘when you basically had to drive through a paddock to get to class’ – but five of Asher’s siblings are also Deakin grads.

And the family connection doesn’t stop there.

Asher’s great-great-uncle lived in the spot where Deakin Waurn Ponds student accommodation now sits, with his farmland stretching down to Waurn Ponds Creek. In fact, his house was used as Deakin’s first student residence!

Asher’s dad and grandparents lived nearby in what is now Grovedale but was known as Germantown when their ancestors first settled in the mid-1870s. The ancestral property originally reached from Boundary Road all the way to Cobbin Homestead.

Fast forward one hundred years and they watched Deakin University be built over the fence.

Black and white image of a large, multi-level industrial building surrounded by open fields. The structure features a flat roof and geometric design, set against a cloudy sky backdrop.
The Applied Sciences building, one of the first on the Waurn Ponds Campus in 1977. Source: Deakin Archives

‘I knew I wanted to stay within Geelong, close to family, and the great thing about the [Deakin] facilities at Waurn Ponds is that right here I can be involved in creating things from scratch.’

Asher Winter with Deakin IISRI’s centrifuge simulation technology, CYCLONE. Source: Freyla Ferguson.

So, when Asher was weighing up where to study after high school, it was almost a no-brainer.

After an undergraduate course in mechatronics engineering Asher graduated with first-class honours, and then was thrilled to be able to stay on at Deakin Waurn Ponds to complete his PhD at the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (IISRI).

‘I knew I wanted to stay within Geelong, close to family, and the great thing about the IISRI facilities at Waurn Ponds is that right here I can be involved in creating things from scratch. We have the capability to start with an idea and then bring it to a completed reality,’ Asher said.

‘It’s the closest thing to being an inventor, which I really like. Engineers are always thinking how we can make things better. It’s incredibly satisfying to create tangible outcomes.’

As part of his PhD Asher developed and optimised a human centrifuge system, which could safely deliver high-G training for astronauts and jet pilots here in Australia.

Now Asher is working as a research fellow at IISRI as well as teaching the next generation of Deakin engineers. But his big dream is to build a centrifuge for the Australian Defence Force.

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‘Bringing things from imagination to life is my biggest passion. I love building stuff and inventing.’