Q&A with Stephan Arndt

NAME
Dr. Stephan Arndt

TITLE
Head of Technology & Innovation at Mining One

QUALIFICATIONS   
Masters in Aerospace Engineering, Ph.D. in Fracture Mechanics, FAusIMM

Everyone has a story to tell, and this month we asked Mining One’s Head of Technology & Innovation Stephan Arndt the hard questions. 

What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

Most days, my cat, who wants to go on the balcony. If not that, the bicycle. In today's world of electronic shifters and carbon frames it is a thrill that never tires and cycling is a great way to clear my head. Living in Brisbane you have to go early to beat the heat. Cycling and coffee done and I’m curious about what awaits, always keen to learn something. My days are never predictable.

Why did you choose your current career and how did you get to your current position?

I have been doing what I love to do since my university days. It started with enthusiasm for Aerospace Engineering for many obvious reasons, combining early-days computer experience and programming knowledge back in ’83. I then specialised in numerical methods and simulation. When I had the opportunity to apply these skills in research and industry, it became an obvious pathway that connected me from one role to the next.

What is your favourite part of your job? 

Solving complex problems. When you ‘see through the noise’ and start putting the pieces together, whether it is building large-scale models or virtual twins, or even establishing new ways of working. Moments that make it most enjoyable include, for example, when you find that a group you were teaching new skills starts to use these in ways that surprise you.

What do you find most challenging about your role? 

To be honest, people's behaviours and habits – including my own. I think that whatever people skills I have, I only learned them late in life and not necessarily in the most intuitive ways. This is a gap in engineering education that I still see frequently. I had manager responsibilities early in my career and then, in global roles, indirect reporting was added to the mix. This part of my responsibilities didn’t come naturally to me, for a long time I perceived it mostly as an effort. Over time I read some insightful, even entertaining, books on the subject, such as Kahneman’s ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’.

What is one thing you would like to change about the mining and geotechnics/rock engineering industry?

For twenty years now I have struggled get my head around the fact that people would limit their geotechnical assessments to what can be done with the method that is easiest and familiar - or by using computers and software readily available – not actually assessing if it is fit for purpose. I find the common conception that ‘It’s not rocket science’ entirely wrong. Advanced simulation has as much of a place in mining projects as in the design of an A380 aircraft. Right now, a $5000 workstation can provide a more detailed simulation (and faster) than the cluster of computers that cost over $100,000 back in 2006, when I started with large parallel execution. These workstations should be a standard tool under a geotechnical engineer’s desk as much as a Pickett slide rule was in the hands of NASA engineers in the 1960s.

What areas of the industry or trends do you think will become more important in coming years?

We’ve been talking about machine learning and AI for the past decade, expecting miraculous changes. We’re still waiting, but I think we’re close to a tipping point. ChatGPT can soon read geotechnical reports and digest other data to answer questions about design. Will it be safe? Hard to answer, but I think it is more a ‘When?’, not an ‘If?’. Right now, the big trend I see is the shift in industry drivers. Topics like Sustainability, Zero-Carbon, Automation, Electrification, start to interact and provide the seed for everything to change all at once. If we are still designing mines with the mindset of 5 years ago, these will not match the demands and requirements of 5 years from now.

If you could invite three people, alive or dead, to dinner – who would they be and why?

Barrack Obama. He really is cool, has a great sense of humour and demonstrated some of the most positive, inclusive leadership in our generation. Alan Turing, I would love to hear his thoughts about how technology evolved. Robert A. Heinlein, to talk about the worlds he created in his Science Fiction.

What moment of your life would you want to relive – and would you change anything?

This is too deep. There’s lots of moments to relive but I wouldn’t change anything. If Science Fiction books and movies have not taught us enough lessons about the many unexpected outcomes of changing the past, alternative realities, and multiverses then … beware.

Now, I do have to insist on the link of this question to my passion for simulation and using virtual twins. By adding Scenario analysis and Design of Experiments you can accomplish better outcomes and avoid having to change things late in a project at high costs or risks.

What is the best advice you have ever been given? 

Be good with numbers and learn math! The motivation here was that you can be confident with money and independent in your business dealings, private and work related. I received this advice from my dad at an early age and it played well with my affinity for STEM topics.

What advice would you give to someone considering geotechnical or rock engineering as a career?

Do your homework before you dismiss this career as dirty, not leading edge, or not saving the planet. It is one of the greatest opportunities that no one told you about.