UNSW Engineering

Last night, we had the privilege of celebrating the remarkable achievements of our scholarship recipients and Dean’s Award winners.

A special thank you to Harrison Crisp and Prof. Maria Skyllas-Kazacos for sharing their personal stories and reflections. Their journeys are a powerful reminder of the importance of not only opening doors to higher education, but also providing the support and opportunities that help students flourish during their studies.

To all of our scholarship recipients and award winners, congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. 👏

How do we create a more inclusive future for engineering?

Join us for a cross-institutional symposium featuring leaders, educators, and industry professionals who are driving meaningful change across the engineering sector.

Together, we'll explore practical ways universities and communities can partner to remove barriers and accelerate equity in engineering.

🗓️ Tue 7 July, 9AM-7PM
📍Ilumina, Sydney
🎟️ https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/engineering-the-future-aligning-action-accelerating-equity-tickets-1988449639399?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true

💬 "Gateway gave me the flexibility to be able to showcase that I have skills outside of my school grades. I have passion, I have a plan to do things and I want to influence the people I live around.”

Just four years after moving to Australia from Bangladesh, Rifah Tamanna is pursuing her dream of studying engineering at UNSW, made possible through the Gateway Program. More than a pathway to university, Gateway provides practical workshops, on-campus experiences and online learning opportunities that empower students to build their confidence, strengthen their skills and prepare for success at university and beyond.

Read more 🔗 https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2026/05/gateway-to-success-unsw-celebrates-student-equity-milestone

💬 "There’s a limit to how much you can improve a country's productivity just through labour productivity alone, because I'm sure people probably don't feel that they can work that much harder than they currently are."

In the latest Engineering the Future podcast, Dr Sue Keay says AI could help address labour shortages in key industries, enabling organisations to do more with limited resources.

How artificial intelligence can best boost Australia’s future living standards Dr Sue Keay, Director of the UNSW AI Institute, says there is a limit to how much productivity can be improved by human effort alone.

Congratulations to Prof. Cyrille Boyer and Prof. Andrew Dzurak who have been elected 2026 Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science. 👏

Prof. Boyer is recognised for his pioneering new ways of using light and specialised chemical catalysts to create and manipulate polymers. Prof. Dzurak is a leader in the field of spin-based qubits, driving major advances in the quantum computing field.

Read more 🔗 https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2026/05/pioneering-unsw-researchers-elected-to-australian-academy-of-science

💬 "I really care about keeping Redback alive and preserving what makes it special, so future students can have the same opportunities."

When Chelsea Tran started her mechanical engineering degree at UNSW , she never imagined motorsport would become such a big part of her life. Five years later, she’s the Team Lead of UNSW Redback Racing, leading more than 150 students as they build not only a high-performance race car, but also a thriving community.

Chelsea's journey from Redback Racing member to team leader Student Spotlight is where we hear from UNSW students about their uni experience and their story of growth, resilience and development.

💬 "From the day I first stepped onto campus all those years ago, we were taught how to think differently: how to approach uncertainty, solve problems, and work as a team through complexity.

I still remember one particular group project where we were designing pipelines for a wastewater treatment plant. As I watched the debate unfold between my peers - people defending ideas, challenging assumptions, and weighing compromises - it suddenly hit me: we weren’t just students trying to finish an assignment anymore. We were already thinking and working like engineers. That was the moment I really felt the shift from student to engineer.

Looking back, I realise engineering was never just about learning technical content. It was a mindset that slowly became part of who I am. Even now, when I’m working on a policy piece, I still catch myself seeing everything as a process flow diagram. I instinctively break problems down into systems, look for bottlenecks, and think about trade-offs - and that’s the chemical engineer in me showing up again. I keep telling my wife that once you're an engineer, you're always an engineer." - Thomas Gao, Senior Manager Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer and UNSW School of Chemical Engineering alumnus

💬 "Getting the scholarship was one of the most life-changing things that has happened to me."

Mahmoud Qaddorah arrived in Australia in 2019 and once believed university was out of reach.

Now, with the support of the HMJ Sassafras Scholarship - which covers tuition, accommodation and living expenses for students from refugee and asylum-seeker backgrounds - he is pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering at UNSW.

$6m gift to UNSW opens the door to university for refugee students The HMJ Sassafras Scholarship covers tuition, accommodation and living costs for students from refugee and asylum-seeker backgrounds.