IPENZ welcomes Queen's Birthday Honours

08 June 2007

IPENZ welcomes Queen's Birthday Honours

IPENZ Chief Executive Dr Andrew Cleland congratulated its Members whose contributions to the engineering community were acknowledged in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

"These Members have made contributions

Three IPENZ Members received Honours this past weekend:

Neil Mander FIPENZ became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to engineering and the community.

Dr William Robinson DistFIPENZ was appointed to the Queen's Service Order (QSO) for services to engineering.

Henry Van Der Heyden HonFIPENZ became a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM) for services to agriculture.

Mr Mander's award recognises an untiring voluntary contribution to establishing the Register of Engineers for Disaster Relief (RedR) in New Zealand, and his involvement in Engineers for Social Responsibility. As Director of RedR in NZ since 1994, Neil is owed much of the credit for its evolution into a stable organisation able to respond to calls for skilled professional engineers at short notice. Neil lives in Mt Roskill, Auckland.

Dr Cleland said: "Mr Mander has special ability to apply engineering and technology for the wider good. He is a shining example of the selfless volunteer, committed to contributing in worthwhile causes with no thought of self-promotion".

Dr Robinson's honour acknowledges several innovations in seismic isolation. From his Petone base, Dr Robinson is Chief Engineer at Robinson Seismic. He invented and developed the 'Lead Rubber Bearing' now used worldwide to seismically isolate structures from earthquakes. He initiated the formation of virtual 'Centres of Excellence' such as the 'Sea Ice Project' in 1981. The 'Sea Ice Project' has grown to into a multinational effort supporting the international investigations of global warming.

"This award recognises Dr Robinson's worldwide reputation as the 'father' of seismic isolation", says Dr Cleland. "His work is another brilliant example of engineering excellence".

ENDS

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