Two female engineers from Stone have been recognised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) for their professional achievements and the work they do to encourage other young women into engineering.
Lucy Ackland, 27, who works for Renishaw plc in the town, was presented with the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) prize at the prestigious Institution of Engineering and Young Woman Engineer of the Year awards ceremony in London.
And Laurie-Ann Marshall, aged 20, an apprentice circuit engineer at ABB in Stone, was highly commended at the ceremony.
Lucy Ackland is a project manager in the Additive Manufacturing Products Division, currently working on the next generation of metal 3D printing machines. She holds a first-class honours degree in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering from the University of South Wales.
Lucy started her career in engineering aged 16 as a mechanical engineering apprentice and has progressed through a variety of roles at Renishaw whilst studying hard to achieve further engineering qualifications on a day release basis.
With a strong passion for engineering, Lucy has always been actively keen to promote engineering to young people, especially, but not exclusively, to females. Over many years she has run after-school engineering clubs, performed media work for Renishaw, judged STEM club projects, organised and spoken at seminars targeting young people and run hands-on activities for local schools.
She said: “I’m so happy to have won this award – it means a lot to be recognised for the work I do in a really exciting, upcoming industry. I’m pleased to be considered a role model for future generations of female engineers because I believe engineering is a really enjoyable career choice but sometimes people are put off by misleading stereotypes.”
Laurie-Ann Marshall, meanwhile, joined ABB in Stone in September 2011 and is currently an Apprentice Circuit Engineer, where she works as part of a team that designs protection and control systems, the “brains” of high-voltage substations.
As an apprentice, Laurie balances a four-day working week with one day a week studying for a Foundation Degree in Electrical Engineering, meaning she is developing valuable work experience as well as working towards a degree.
Women currently represent just six per cent of the engineering workforce in the UK today, the lowest percentage in Europe. If this trend continues, the UK will be in a significantly weakened position to find the 87,000 new engineers needed every year over the next decade (according to Engineering UK 2014, the state of engineering report).
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