1.
Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
#123, Bldg. 31, Clayton Campus, VIC -­ 3800
Telephone +61 3 9905 3480 Facsimile +61 3 9905 1825
prabhakar.ranganathan@eng.monash.edu.au
www.monash.edu
ABN 12 377 614 012 CRICOS Provider #00008C
Prabhakar Ranganathan
Snr. Lecturer
5th
April 2016
To whomsoever it may concern
I have had the pleasure of supervising Mr. Joel Voigt for six months in 2014 on his final-­year
project. The goal of the project was to develop a set of computer codes on MATLAB to
model bacterial colonies to understand their morphological patterns. This required some
aspects of differential geometry and the mechanical behaviour of structured materials,
neither of which are a part of the undergraduate curriculum in mechanical engineering at
Monash.
Joel and his colleague were given the task of validating a complex computational code
developed by another pair of students earlier. They had to learn about the underlying
mathematical model, the numerical method, and the computational algorithm and I was
impressed by Joel’s meticulous approach to the problem. He carefully studied the conditions
under which numerical instabilities would cause the code to break down, and then compiled
a library of simulations for various combinations of simulation parameters.
Joel was easily one of the most professional students I have worked. He was regular in
attending weekly meetings, and made extensive notes of our discussions. He is courteous
and very pleasant to work with. His written and verbal communication skills are excellent in
both informal and formal settings.
I have little doubt that Joel can contribute creatively in any professional role he undertakes.
(Prabhakar R.)