Life members
Individuals nominated by the board of directors to identify someone who has made a significant contribution to the direction and success of the organisation as a whole.
Hannah Rachmat
awarded 25 November 2011
Hannah joined Robogals in 2009 as the Schools Manager, but also branching out into other roles such as promoting the Largest Robot Dance Guinness World Record attempt, which saw Hannah interviewed in newspapers, TV and radio! She was subsequently the President of the Melbourne chapter in 2010, and then the first Regional Director of Robogals Australia & New Zealand, which was also the first time anyone had been a Regional Director of any region! Hannah is recognised for pioneering many aspects of Robogals including our first Science Fair, and the role of a Regional Director. She graduated with a double-degree in mechatronics engineering and computer science, and now works at ABB.
Kelly Chiu
awarded 25 November 2011
Kelly was a member of the founding team of Robogals in July 2008. She served initially as the Secretary of Robogals, then as President when Robogals founder Marita was on exchange, then later as Marketing Manager of Robogals Melbourne in 2010 and finally as President again of Robogals Melbourne in 2011. Kelly was always very dedicated and persistent, even through hard times, and believed in Robogals even when we were very young and very small. After graduating with a Masters degree in mathematics and statistics, she now works at the Australian Bureau of Statistics in Canberra.
Mun-Xin Lee​
awarded 25 November 2011
Mun-Xin joined Robogals when we began in 2008, and hasn’t stopped volunteering since. Several Schools Managers have cited Mun-Xin as their favourite volunteer due to her willingness to be pulled into school visits at the last minute and unstoppable eagerness to attend as many school visits as possible. In addition to having taught robotics to more girls than any other Robogals volunteer in the world, Mun-Xin in 2011 & 2012 ran the Robogals Science Challenge. She continues as a team member today.
Professor Jamie Evans​
awarded 23 March 2012
Jamie provided Marita with the initial inspiration for founding Robogals while he was Head of Electrical Engineering at the University of Melbourne. He continues to be a Board Member of Robogals Global and is a great mentor for the team, despite his unfortunate defection to Monash University.
Dr. Bronwyn Evans​
awarded 21 May 2015
Bronwyn was first introduced to Robogals at the Engineering Leadership Conference in 2010. Then the Chair of the Centre for Engineering Leadership and Management (the organising committee for the conference), as well as a SVP at Cochlear reporting to the CEO, she cut a formidable figure. After speaking to Marita on the second day of the conference, and taking a business card, Bronwyn not only looked up the Robogals website that night, but the next day mentioned Robogals onstage during the closing plenary session – telling everyone at the conference about Robogals. Bronwyn remained supportive afterwards and was instrumental in Robogals receiving a grant from the Cochlear Foundation at the end of 2010, which was a significant milestone for the organisation. Since then, her generosity towards Robogals has only grown. She chaired Robogals’ Board for four years, giving Robogals much-needed clout in the community. Bronwyn’s reputation, network and guidance were instrumental in helping Robogals form a firm foundation internationally. Bronwyn now exercises her talents as CEO of Standards Australia, while continuing to be recognised as one of Australia’s top engineers and business leaders.
Marita Cheng​
awarded 5 April 2013
Marita was the founder of Robogals and served as its Executive Director for the first four and a half years. Robogals was founded when Marita volunteered to visit Lauriston Girls School in Melbourne to teach LEGO robotics. Not content with impacting just one school, she wanted to get some students together to visit a whole heap of schools, and so Robogals was born! Over the following four years Marita expanded Robogals to new chapters in Australia, the UK and USA, and finally stepped down from her day-to- day role at the end of 2012. Marita was named the Young Australian of the Year for 2012 for her work with Robogals. She now runs her own robotics company, 2Mar Robotics, which is developing a voice-controlled robot arm for people with spinal cord injuries, as well as being a much sought-after speaker, and a board member of Robogals. Marita has a personal website at maritacheng.com
Mark Parncutt​
awarded 5 April 2013
Mark was a co-founder of Robogals, with various titles culminating in Operations Director of Robogals Global. His contributions include creating the organisational structure of Robogals, the myRobogals portal, creating the first Amplifier newsletter, putting together our operations manual, setting up our Board and running our national conferences (SINEs). Mark had the interesting distinction of being the only person thanked by name in Marita’s acceptance speech for Young Australian of the Year. He continues to serve Robogals as a board member, and is now a software engineer at start-up company Ourcast.
Sonya Chan​
awarded 13 July 2013
Sonya was a founding member of the second-ever Robogals chapter, at Imperial College London. Organised, to-the- point, efficient; with Sonya, it was always, “let’s do that!” Very open, and always willing to try new things. She soon became the chapter president. Through her acumen and leadership, Robogals London developed a strong team, and was soon running weekly robotics workshops. Amongst Robogals chapters globally, Robogals London was second only to Melbourne in the number of girls taught, and this unbroken record continued through to 2012. In February 2011, Sonya became Robogals UK Director, where she did a brilliant job of mentoring other Robogals chapter presidents in the UK, and also establishing a relationship between Robogals and the London Science Museum, whereby Robogals ran numerous workshops at the museum, including during the 2012 Olympics. Sonya was later the inaugural Robogals US Director, by remote control! After four dedicated years in Robogals, and graduating with first-class honours from Imperial College London, Sonya is now working as an electrical engineer in her home country of Singapore.
