Professional honour for Professor Rosalind Archer

The announcement was made at the Engineering NZ Awards dinner last night, which celebrates the successes of professionals in the field. 16 new Fellows were elected this year by Engineering NZ, our country’s professional engineering organisational body. With over 20,000 members, Engineering NZ is responsible for the field’s regulations, accreditations, policies, and more.

This prestigious achievement follows Professor Archer’s consistent string of accolades, including being named a Distinguished Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), winning the Deloitte Energy Engineer of the Year award and being made a NEXT Woman of the Year finalist. Engineering NZ Fellows are recognised experts in their fields, often seen as mentors and are “respected throughout the industry, and by the public”.

Dean of Engineering Professor Nic Smith states, “Professor Archer is one of those rare professionals who is able to effectively transcend disciplinary boundaries – and has even pioneered connections – with ease. For many university Professors, her achievements in the academic sphere alone would more than represent a full set of career contributions. She brings passion and diplomacy to leadership roles, and possess ethical and professional standing in the field that is beyond reproach. As a leader, she is informed, objective and transparent; a highly competent manager and an extremely popular colleague. It is due to her many talents that I regularly seek to involve Professor Archer in Faculty strategy-setting, and I know this sentiment about her is true within University, as a working professional in our community, and as a Geothermal and Petroleum Engineering expert on a global scale.”

Beyond retaining her position as Head of Department of Engineering Science – and being the first female to hold this post, Professor Archer is also the Mercury chair in Geothermal Reservoir Engineering and Director of the Geothermal Institute. The latter has produced graduates in the industry worldwide, including current Hydropower Engineering partner and consultant Joachim Pott, who also received the same Engineering NZ honour yesterday.

Professor Archer is notably one of few women – and the only one in our current academic roster – from the Faculty of Engineering who has been awarded the title of Engineering NZ Fellow. Previous Fellows include Professor Nic Smith, current Head of Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering Professor Brent Young, Head of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Jason Ingham, Distinguished Professor Debes Bhattacharyya, Professor John Chen, Associate Professor Charles Clifton, Professor Grant Covic, Associate Professor Roger Dunn, Professor Richard Flay, Professor Wei Gao, Adjunct Professor Rob Kirkpatrick, Professor Professor Bruce Melville, Professor Mick Pender, Professor Pierre Quenneville, Professor Mike O’ Sullivan, Professor Peter Xu, and Professor Xun Xu.