QUT alumnus Deanna Hood has won the Young Professional Engineer of the Year award at the 2022 Engineers Australia Excellence Awards, held in Sydney on October 5.
Hood is an electrical engineer whose work focuses on altruistic applications of engineering and robotics, with projects spanning sustainability, education and healthcare.
She said the award facilitated conversations about engineering paths, because otherwise the field can be too broad to explain.
"When choosing a career, young people don't get inspired by options, they get inspired by stories, of what real engineers have done. Looking at the finalists and nominees - it's great to see their stories; it's like a picture book of engineers' lives and the impact we've made," Hood said.
An impressive array of achievements contributed to Hood being chosen as the Young Professional Engineer of the Year, but she said the fact NASA's VIPER mission to the moon will use the robotics software ROS 2, that she was one of the core Silicon Valley software engineers on, was usually what made people's eyes light up.
"That same software is used in robots for penguin conservation and robots helping to reduce food waste in fruit harvesting," she said.
Hood also used that software herself to pioneer the CoWriter robotic partner, which allows children with handwriting difficulties to benefit from learning-by-teaching.
"You don't have to be a doctor, occupational therapist or teacher to help people; I've worked with all of them as a roboticist."
Another career highlight for Hood was working, as senior robotics engineer, with world-renowned burns surgeon Professor Fiona Wood, inventor of spray-on skin and 2005 Australian of the Year, on Inventia's Lig skin-printing robot.
"This device is designed to improve the lives of burns survivors, by regenerating healthy functional skin instead of scar tissue. Doing it with 3D bioprinting reduces treatment times by three weeks, so for critical burns it might also save patients' lives," she said.
"Co-designing the engineering for that device with a biomedical/mechanical engineer friend of mine Zack Artist, whom I met when we were volunteering repairing medical equipment in Nicaragua with Engineering World Health, was an incredible two years of both fun and growth."
Since her first internship at age 17, Deanna – a member of the Institution of Engineers Australia (MIEAust) - has been driven to apply engineering to many of society's most exciting, life-changing and rewarding challenges.
Before Lig, Hood worked in a majority-woman engineering team on the hardware that makes the RASTRUM 3D bioprinter come to life. RASTRUM prints 3D gel structures that include living human cells for medical researchers to understand and develop new treatments for cancer, pre-eclampsia and other diseases.
Engineers Australia CEO Romilly Madew said the Engineers Australia Excellence Awards recognised the nation's top engineers, but also provides a platform for winners and finalists to be advocates for the profession and mentor the next generation of talent.
"They give us a forum to shine the spotlight on the best of engineering, setting standards of excellence and leadership for the profession and blazing a trail for the future," Madew said.
Deanna Hood graduated with both the University Medal in Maths and the Engineers Australia Electrical Branch Medal for her Bachelors of Engineering at the age of 20.
"It's amazing how quickly time can pass - it still feels like just yesterday I was graduating from QUT. I can't believe the career I've had so far, given that I didn't even know about engineering when finishing school," Hood said.
"I was the only girl in my year 11 physics class, but I'm glad that I never let that stop me, because that's where I first got a taste of circuits." Hood was age 13 at the time, after skipping two years in high school.
"Grab a simple electronics/soldering kit if you're interested - the kits teach you everything you need to know. You only have to be curious and motivated to learn, no one starts out an expert. I certainly didn't."
Hood is currently based in Sydney but returns to Queensland regularly to see her family and to visit her old QUT stomping ground.
"As well as providing top notch industry-focussed education, QUT has a fantastic support group for women and gender-diverse students that seems to never stop growing."
As president of GEMS (Gender Equity in Engineering Makes Sense) Hood saw the power of bringing together students who are accustomed to being the only one in the room.
"I've kept that approach into my career as a support strategy for myself - it trained me to seek out environments like that to 'recharge', and as a result I have had a lot of support over the years. I didn't get this far alone."
Fellow QUT alumnus Brody Clark, also a Young Engineer of the Year finalist took out the state award for Queensland. Brody (MIEAust NER) is the acting Pavement Team Lead for WSP based on the Sunshine Coast.
