Inspiring female engineer, Marita Cheng, has been named the Young Australian of the Year for 2012 at a public event on the lawns of Parliament House Canberra this evening. The young Victorian member of Engineers Australia was congratulated by the Prime Minister for her leadership and vision in encouraging women to pursue a career in engineering.

Marita founded Robogals in 2008, an initiative introducing young women to robotics-engineering. Robogals aims to increase the number of women choosing engineering by empowering school-aged girls to become technology-leaders and learn about a career in engineering.

Through its workshops, Robogals has seen more than 3,000 young females participate from over 80 schools since its induction in 2008. This successful initiative has experienced rapid-growth and has since gone international - now with 17 chapters established across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Robogals has more recently extended its reach to rural and regional areas within Australia, through the Robogals Rural and Regional initiative (RRR). The initiative mobilises female university students to act as ambassadors for engineering by visiting schools within their regions to interact with female students and share experiences from within the field.

Stephen Durkin, Chief Executive Officer of Engineers Australia, congratulated Marita on behalf of the organisation for receiving this great honour.

“The incredible influence of Marita’s work has provided young women with a valuable insight into the world of engineering in a hands-on and interactive way.

“Robogals has had a profound effect on raising the overall awareness of engineering and has provided the stepping stones to lead more women to pursue their studies in the areas of engineering and technology.

“The recent expansion of Robogals into rural and regional schools is significant in raising awareness of engineering opportunities in these areas, which is only fitting with 2012 being named the Year of Regional Engineering by Engineers Australia.

 “Engineers Australia is thrilled Marita has been named Young Australian of the Year for 2012 and I congratulate her for her fine leadership and ongoing commitment to encouraging young women to consider a career in engineering,” Mr Durkin said.

Marita is studying a Bachelor of Engineering and a Bachelor of Computer Science on a Paterson Scholarship. She has a Nancy Fairfax Churchill Fellowship, an International Youth Foundation YouthActionNet Fellowship, a Creative Innovation Scholarship, as well as an Anita Borg Change Agent Award.  Marita has featured as a panellist on ABC TV's New Inventors program and she plans start her own robotics company in the not-too-distant future.

Media Contact: Sara Ross - Manager Public Relations Engineers Australia
Phone: (02) 6270 6565 mobile: 0402419962
sross@engineersaustralia.org.au

Image courtesy of Melanie Sim, ABC Local Radio