Kiara Harper, a 20-year-old automotive engineering student from Surrey, has won this year’s Ford Motor Company Women Into Science and Engineering (WISE) award.
Kiara (pictured right), studying at Kingston University in Surrey, received her £750 prize at the Young Women Engineers of the Year awards ceremony, presented by CBI director general Sir Digby Jones.
Ford and the WISE campaign make the annual award, which is backed by the Institutes of Incorporated Engineers, Electrical Engineers and Mechanical Engineers, to a carefully chosen female engineering student. Kiara came first in a stringent selection process including interview by a panel of engineering professionals.
The Ford WISE prize was created to recognise and reward exceptional women in the penultimate year of studying for their engineering degree. It also promotes the potential of engineering as a career.
Ford’s European quality director, Kenna Kintrea, said ‘Kiara is an exceptional woman who is committed to the world of engineering. She not only studies the discipline but is also enthusiastic and dedicated.’
Leah Pellew, chair of Ford’s Engineers for the Next Generation (ENG) group at Dunton, said, ‘ENG works hard to increase the awareness of science and engineering as a career to all young people. The Ford WISE prize is supporting those young women who have chosen to pursue a degree in what is typically a male dominated arena.’
