Women remain underrepresented in engineering, yet they continue to break barriers and drive innovation across industries. SAE Media Group is proud to announce the second year of the Women in Engineering: Rising Star Awards program, following an incredible inaugural year that saw over 200 entries from around the world and eight outstanding winners.
This awards program recognizes and celebrates the women engineers who are not only excelling in their fields but also inspiring the next generation. Honoring contributions to both industry and society, this year’s awards program features six categories:
- Aerospace/Defense
- Automotive/Transportation
- Electronics
- Manufacturing/Materials
- Medical
- Robotics, Automation & AI
Do you know a woman engineer whose work is making an impact? Help us spotlight her achievements! Nominations for the 2025 Rising Star Awards now open.
All entries will be evaluated by a panel of judges selected by the SAE Media Group editors. The 2025 Rising Star Awards winners will be announced during a live online event in October 2025. Winners will be honored with a plaque as well as spotlighted across SAE Media Group’s publications, websites, e-newsletters, and social media channels.
For more information, contact
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Transcript
00:00:02 go hello and welcome to our first ever rising star awards online event I'm chatra seti editorial director at sa Media Group your attendance today showcases your commitment to recognizing the critical contributions of women in engineering so thank you so much for joining us today in the next half hour or so we will be revealed the winners of our inaugural women in engineering
00:00:25 rising star awards just a little bit of background the rising star awards program was launched in March 2024 as an initiative by sa Media Group to recognize women Engineers who are pursuing uh dispersed careers who are pushing boundaries who are demonstrating outstanding Innovation and leadership in the field of engineering as well as
00:00:49 contributing to the society in six categories including Aerospace defense Automotive Transportation Electronics manufacturing medical and sustainability in its inaugural year the program received over 200 incredible nominations from across the globe we were blown away by all the entries of of and the individual stories of women breaking barriers and stereotypes proving that
00:01:16 they have a role to play in shaping the future of engineering nominations closed in July 2024 and we had 11 judges from various industry and associations well the nominations we were like I said we were overwhelmed and that made the evaluation process both challenging and rewarding but before we announce the winners I want to thank our sponsors
00:01:41 thank you to our Platinum sponsors tlex inter power and khk USA thank you to our gold sponsors TE Connectivity amand weltech microspec aitech and our silver sponsors Crystal Maxon Modine belham Plastics and Gentex Corporation I would also want to acknowledge our supporting sponsors A3 auvsi stripes and sa International and most importantly thank you to our esteemed panel of Judges who
00:02:13 meticulously evaluated the 200 plus entries along with the editors of sa Media Group the judges whose names you see on the screen right now and their photos they're all leaders from engineering and Technology Fields who have brought Decades of experience and expertise to our judging process we really appreciate the time and effort spent on judging this year's entry so
00:02:38 thank you all judges and thank you everyone who supported this program so let's find out who the winners are uh we have selected eight winners who have demonstrated outstanding Innovation and leadership as well as enhanced the engineering profession through their contributions to the society and in the six categories that I mentioned earlier the
00:02:57 manufacturing and sustainability categories had a tie so there are two winners in those two categories so let's get the virtual red carpet out and I would like to invite the senior editor of Aerospace and defense technology magazine vro Bellamy to present the first winner for Aerospace defense or to withraw yes thank you
00:03:19 chetra and it's great to be able to present this award so this award goes to Heather Cummings she is the award the winner of the Aerospace and defense category Heather is a 27-year-old senior flight controls in autonomy engineer at Sikorski where she started as an intern in June 2018 among her career accomplishments at sakori include
00:03:43 leading the flight controls software development and flight testing program on a technology demonstrator aircraft that torski developed for autonomy and reduced crew operations um the project involved Heather dividing up subtask for the project and working with each individual on the team to Mentor them on the engineering skills necessary for completion she also served as the
00:04:07 onboard flight test engineer for the project and in addition to her role as a flight controls engineer she is also a pilot and a volunteer in Connecticut's Tango flight program where she serves as a mentor for high school students one of her career goals is to serve as the lead engineer on new technologies that form the next generation of of semi and fully autonomous aircraft and she also has a
00:04:33 major interest in electric and hybrid electric aircraft technology and is currently working on a hybrid electric aircraft system so once again congrats to Heather Cummings of sakori on being the winner of the Aerospace and defense category for the 2024 rising star awards and I'll now hand it over to our next presenter Sebastian thank you wo and hello
00:04:58 everyone it is a great honor to announce the inaugural Automotive Rising Star winner is Brook ARA Brook is a functional safety integration engineer at General Motors where she started in 2015 after making a deliberate professional shift to the automotive industry from civil engineering she's worked on various aspects of vehicle engineering at GM and uh told ESS media
00:05:24 that one of the most exciting parts of her job was being able to drive a a cool new EV with a wide open throttle uh but it also had a massage system installed in it that she helped develop in a previous role so she's getting a lot of aspects of the cars uh together for us at GM she's worked at a studio design engineer an interior issue Resolution Team co-chair and anomatic seat Comfort
00:05:48 Systems design release engineer those are a lot of different titles and her advice to young female Engineers who aspire to something more is to embrace the role of a leader no matter what title you currently have or what title they currently have have and after today Brook can add RSA winner to her CV congratulations and now back to chitra thank you Sebastian and
00:06:12 congratulations um to the winners so far and um I'm here to announce our Rising Star Award winner in the electronics category is Dr Dr laquata samter uh who is a professor at De University uh Dr Suter is an accomplished engineering Professor with over 15 years of experience in teaching technology specializing in drones coding and web design she holds a PhD in learning
00:06:37 Technologies and currently serves as a technology educator and the CEO and founder of focusing on me a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting organizations in achieving stem Excellence Dr sua's work has had a profound impact on society through her creation and implementation of the steam through drones program this initiative aims to introduce students from
00:07:00 underserved communities to stem education using drone technology by providing Hands-On learning experiences Dr Suter has inspired countless students to pursue careers in stem our one notable example of her impact is the Drone Quest discovering drones with engineering summer camp this program not only teaches students about drone technology and its applications but also
00:07:23 instills critical thinking problem solving and teamwork skills when we ask Dr Suter what's the most exciting part of her work she said to quote her it's witnessing the moment when students grasp a complex concept or skill and realize their potential it's incredibly rewarding to see them connect the dots especially in Technology and Engineering where abstract ideas come to life
00:07:45 through Hands-On projects empowering students to create innovate and solve real world problems fuels my passion for teaching she said congratulations Dr Suter and now our first winner for the manufacturing category is Jessica fuling horn from Apple Jessica began her career developing work processes at Hinson technology Inc in Minnesota she went on to be a manufacturing engineer at Graco
00:08:14 in her home state on south of South Dakota before joining Apple in 2013 where she's currently senior manager Jessica holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering and an MBA from the University of su falls her business priorities continue to bring groundbreaking innov ation in consumer electronic space and equally are focused on environmentally sustainable design
00:08:35 and Manufacturing her nomination highlighted that in her tenure of over 10 years Apple she has demonstrated strong technical leadership and brought a variety of different technologies that have pushed limits on Material Sciences manufacturing processes and quality of products she has also demonstrated cross functional leadership across several
00:08:55 teams to drive decisions on critical product features as well as Champion environmental effort Jessica told us that she loves a career because she's passionate about making things and it's her privilege to have contributed to products that are seen and felt by a wide audience and the icing on the cake she says is being able to do that with people who are just as
00:09:16 passionate as her congratulations Jessica our second winner in the manufacturing category is Stephanie deu from Germany she's vice president where she's vice president General man of Emerson's Factory automation business with over 10 years at Emerson she has led roles in product marketing strategic planning and customer service implementing growth programs and leading
00:09:40 business Transformations prior to immerson Stephanie spent six years in procurement and continuous Improvement in the packaging industry Stephanie holds an engineering master's degree from insta Paris and an MBA from ncad Stephanie join emmerson's medical business in 2019 6 months before covid this business manufacturer walls for medical ventilators a critical component
00:10:02 of a medical device that all hospitals worldwide desperately needed more of in 2020 she was instrumental during the crisis and supported her manag in requesting a swift addition of production capabilities she kept the team together taking care of each one who was under extreme pressure answering their needs making sure they served through the crisis they best could when
00:10:23 we asked uh Stephanie about what excites her most about her work she said it's the opportunity to collab collaborate with cross functional teams globally the diverse backgrounds and perspectives within these teams enhance Innovation and drive better business outcomes she's particularly proud of co-sponsoring an employee Resource Group at immerson that promotes cultural diversity and supports
00:10:45 colleagues working away from their home country congratulations Stephanie and now I will hand it over to the editor of medical design brief Sher trick to announce the next two winners thank you chitra and hello hello everyone I'm Sherry Trigg editor and director of content for medical design briefs and we have two inaugural medical Rising Star Award winners uh the first
00:11:10 is Asha perk Asha is a PhD biomedical engineer and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Frontline medical Technologies a leader in Innovative medical devices for bleeding control and resuscitation her career began with the distinct desire to improve the lives of those in need which drove her to explore engineering and medical device in Innovation with the ultimate goal of
00:11:38 translating new technologies into the real world to create impact she told us that the most exciting part of her work is the true realization of the impact that they make at Frontline a pivotal moment in her career was launching front line where she was embarking on an un unexpected entrepreneurial Journey while also taking a leap of faith so congratulations Asha and our
00:12:06 second medical winner is unaa hasset unaa is a product and program manager in the medical device industry with 20 years of experience in engineering program management business strategy and product management she has worked in global positions on developing programs and executing strategy driving new product development commercial activity Global operations transfer programs and
00:12:33 m&a integration programs with Boston Scientific te medical and integer currently she is program manager for symphasis medical and needs Le company developing Innovative Technologies that treat a range of chronic diseases her advice to young women Engineers is to embrace the groundbreaking and exciting nature of your work stay focused on your goals but remain open to expected
00:13:00 opportunities so congratulations una and now I'll move on to uh the sustainability category and the inaugural sustainability Rising Star Award winner is rid P Pia rid recently held the position of senior controls engineer at heirloom a direct air capture company featured in Time magazine's top 50 green tech companies of
00:13:31 2024 previously she spent four years at Tesla playing a key role in deploying the Tesla MEAP pack line model 3y battery module lines and the 4680 cell manufacturing line Ry has also served as a judge at the United Nations cp28 hack for Earth and is a board member at the international Society of automation for three divisions her empowering advice to young women Engineers is if you can't
00:14:02 have a seat at the table build your own table if you can't get through the door break it down never stop be relentless being a woman is a superpower just like nature we women excel at nurturing and leading others so congratulations ridy and now I will turn it back over to you chetra thank you Sherry and congratulations to all the winners of this prestigious Rising star awards
00:14:30 inaugural year we are very excited and very happy for you and your hard work your edication and Innovative Spirit are not only commendable but truly inspiring for the next generation of uh women Engineers we will also be honoring the remarkable achievements of these 2024 rising star awards winners in our Publications Tech briefs medical design briefs Aerospace defense technology and
00:14:53 automotive engineering magazines and also all our websites through this month so if you want to learn more about about these inspiring women check out our Publications and Tech briefs website at www.tbs.com so congratulations again to all the 2024 Rising Star Award winners we look forward to seeing uh how you continue to shape the future of engineering thank you everyone for
00:15:16 tuning in today