The 2017 Young Engineer of the Year is Lachlan Matchett from Rocket Lab. Matchett has led a large team of engineers to design and deliver Rocket Lab’s innovative Rutherford Engine and received his award at the IPENZ Fellows’ and Achievers’ Awards in Wellington last month.
The two finalists were Virginie Lacrosse of Tonkin + Taylor, who has been at the forefront of liquefaction work in Christchurch, and Oliver Whalley, who has been working on sustainable transport in the Pacific for the World Bank.
The William Pickering Award for Engineering Leadership, was won by Keith Turner for his outstanding career in the electricity industry, spanning technical, management and governance excellence.
Sjoerd van Ballegooy of Tonkin +Taylor won the Freysinnet supreme technical award for building and construction, in recognition of his ground-breaking work on the effects of liquefaction after the Canterbury earthquakes.
The Angus supreme technical award for water, waste and amenities went to Rex Corlett of Opus for his work on effluent pond design and construction.
Engineer and University of Auckland educator Colin Nicholas won the Turner Award, which recognises extraordinary commitment to the engineering profession and to the community.
Jack Robinson became the first software engineering student to win the Ray Meyer undergraduate award, thanks to his work on a web-based traffic management system. Robinson has completed his studies at Victoria University of Wellington and is now working as a graduate developer for Xero.
The Fulton-Downer Gold Medal, which recognises engineers’ service to the profession and the public, was awarded to Ian Fraser for his leadership, governance contributions and support of young engineers. The Fulton-Downer Silver Medal went to Dipal Raniga for her dedication to promoting IPENZ among students and graduates. And the McLean Citation went to Tiina Hall-Turner for commitment and service to IPENZ, over a wide range of its boards and groups, throughout her professional career.
Bryan Leyland, Murray Milner and Peter McCombs all became IPENZ Distinguished Fellows, while Paul Campbell, Derek Chisholm, Glen Cornelius, Joe Edwards, Tim Fisher, Gordon Hughes, Steve Jay, Charlie Price, Bill Paterson, Richard Snow and Tania Williams became new Fellows.
