Hooman Mehdizadeh-Rad PhD CPEng NER has received two noteworthy accolades this month, after being awarded the Engineers Australia Young Mechanical Engineer of the Year 2022 and the Sir George Julius Medal. 

A well-known figure in the Northern Territory engineering community, Hooman is a lecturer in mechanical engineering and course coordinator of Master of Engineering at Charles Darwin University. 

Hooman is a Chartered mechanical engineer with a research focus on efficient and effective ways to cool a tropical city with sustainable engineering. He has enhanced the public image of mechanical engineering and contributed as an Engineers Australia volunteer. 

The Young Mechanical Engineer of the Year 2022 was awarded by the Board of the College of Mechanical Engineers to recognise Hooman’s achievement and contribution in the profession. 

Hooman says, “it’s such a recognition of my profession. It makes me believe how important your passion, knowledge, and faith in volunteering and serving the community is.”  

The Sir George Julius Medal is a prestigious award conserving the memory Sir George Julius who practised in Sydney as a consulting engineer in the mechanical and electrical field.  

The Board of the College of Mechanical Engineers announced Hooman as the winner of the Sir Julius Award earlier this month for his publication: ‘Heat mitigation in perovskite solar cells: The role of grain boundaries’. 

Hooman was the lead author on the paper, which was published in the Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells Journal.  

“We have developed a novel, comprehensive and rigorous mathematical model and the relevant computer code to simulate the operating temperature of perovskite solar cells and the factors that influence their operating temperature,” Hooman says. 

Find out more about the Engineers Australia Excellence Awards.