Congratulations to engineer, author and TV presenter Dr Shini Somara, the recipient of the 2024 Rooke Award, one of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s (RAEng) top awards. Dr Somara will be presented with the accolade at the Academy Awards dinner in London on 9 July.

With a career spanning over twenty years, Shini has greatly influenced the engineering field, especially in inspiring young people and marginalised groups to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) careers. Her YouTube series "Crash Course Engineering" and "Crash Course Physics" have nearly 60 million views and are used in educational syllabi worldwide.

Shini’s latest book, "Engineers Making a Difference," celebrates diversity in engineering and was published last year and distributed to 16,000 UK secondary schools. She also produces and hosts multiple podcasts and produces digital media content promoting underrepresented groups and women in STEM. She was recently announced as the presenter of "Masters of Reinvention," a six-part series on the factual channel Yesterday by UKTV Play, produced by Air TV magazine for the 21st century.

A graduate of Brunel University London, Shini holds an engineering doctorate in computational fluid dynamics and a first-class honours degree in mechanical engineering. She currently serves as Pro Chancellor of Brunel University London and her influence has fostered a more inclusive engineering sector and aims to strengthen relationships between academia and industry, promoting innovative, conscious and sustainable engineering solutions through a spirit of inclusion.

Previous winners of the award include engineer and founder of EqualEngineers, Dr Mark McBride-Wright MBE CEng MIChemE FEI in 2022 and astronaut Major Tim Peake CMG in 2019.

Named after RAEng Past President and Academy Fellow Sir Denis Rooke, the Rooke Award is awarded to an individual or small team based in the UK that has supported the Academy's aims and work and promoted engineering to the public.

For further information on the Rooke award, please visit the Royal Academy of Engineering website.