Prize-winning year for ‘Nanogirl’
This year’s Prime Minister’s Science Prize for Science Communication has been awarded to Dr Michelle Dickinson, capping
off a prize-winning year for the University of Auckland engineering lecturer.
Dr Dickinson, a senior lecturer in Chemical & Materials Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, was also named Science Communicator of the year at the annual New
Zealand Association of Scientists awards last month.
Along with her research and teaching roles, Dr Dickinson is a roving ambassador for all things science, appearing
regularly in both mainstream and social media, organising science events for school children and setting up a charity to
teach children from low-decile schools about robotics, 3D printing and coding.
“My hope is to be able to help anyone, young or old, learn that science is not only fun, it’s a vital part of everyday
life, whether we’re choosing the best sunscreen to use or helping our children decide on a future career,” she says.
Dr Dickinson is keen to see more young women go on to study the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and
mathematics), at tertiary level. This year she held a ‘100 days of science’ project for school children after being told
by a 14-year-old girl, ‘I hate science’.”
“I decided to set up the ‘100 days’ project then and there because we are losing girls from the STEM subjects in high
school yet industry is crying out for highly qualified women in the tech sector,” Dr Dickinson says.
Dr Dickinson obtained her PhD from Rutgers University (USA) and her MEng from Manchester University (UK) in Biomedical
Materials Engineering. Her research involves measuring the mechanical properties of materials from the nanoscale through
to the macro scale and she has a special interest in biological material behaviour.
Dr Dickinson is a regular media commentator, appearing on TV3 and RadioLIVE, and a social media enthusiast, tweeting
under the ‘Nanogirl’ (@medickinson) twitter handle.
Her award, worth $100,000, makes it three in a row for University of Auckland in the science communications category,
with Dr Siouxie Wiles, a senior lecturer in molecular medicine and pathology in the Faculty of Medical Health Sciences
winning in 2013 and Professor Shaun Hendy of the Department of Physics in 2012.
ENDS