Rebecca Cook, Ground Terminal and Infrastructure Manager at Northrop Grumman Space Systems, is the UNSW Women in Engineering Ada Lovelace Medal for Outstanding Engineer winner for 2025.
“Receiving the Ada Lovelace Medal is something I never could have expected,” Cook said. "Working in intelligence and defence, you are trained to stay quiet, do the work and move on without public acknowledgement or even explanation. So being recognised here feels both strange and meaningful.
Her prize was one of four presented at a ceremony for the UNSW Women in Engineering Alumni Awards, which are designed to recognise the amazing achievements of women engineers who are mentoring, providing inspiration and impact, and being role models for the next generation.
The Ada Lovelace medal was designed by UNSW Engineering, in 2016 and is named for Augusta Ada Byron, later Countess Ada Lovelace, an English mathematician who is widely regarded to be the first computer programmer for her work on Charles Babbage’s revolutionary mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine.
Previous winners of the award include Mary O’Kane (NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer), Kathryn Fagg (board member of the Reserve Bank and Boral), and Judy Raper (chemical engineer and former senior official in the US National Science Foundation).
Cook has served as a system specialist with Northrop Grumman in support of critical space programs for both USA and Australia, and is passionate about mentoring the next generation.
She was born and raised near Chicago, Illinois, and developed a passion for math and science after being inspired by her father, an electrical engineer.
Cook joined the US Air Force at the age of 17 to help fund her education and was trained in combat communication systems. After active duty, she transitioned into defence contracting, working in the Republic of Korea for five years before relocating to Australia - where she has lived and worked for over a decade.
The UNSW Women in Engineering Alumni Awards event also saw Lucy Marshall and Grace Chung share the Judy Raper Award for Leadership.
Marshall is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Community and Leadership) at the University of Sydney. In this role she has lead the strategic direction for culture, leadership, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the university.
Previously, Professor Marshall served as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Macquarie University and her extensive leadership experience includes key roles at UNSW, where she was the academic lead for the Athena SWAN program promoting gender equity in academia.
A researcher, with expertise in environmental modelling and simulation, Professor Marshall also has extensive experience in driving cross-institutional initiatives that enhance the student experience and maximise research impact.
“I am deeply honoured to receive the Judy Raper Award for Leadership from the university that has shaped so much of my life — first as a student, and later as a professor," Professor Marshall said in a video message.
“I believe UNSW Engineering is a rare kind of place: one that sees the potential in people, and then invests in that potential. As a woman in engineering, I can say with absolute certainty that being in an environment where women’s leadership is expected, is nurtured and even celebrated has made all the difference. I carry that legacy into every role I’ve taken on since, and I try to pay it forward wherever I can.
Sharing the Judy Raper Award for Leadership is Dr Grace Chung, the Engineering Director of Google Research Australia.
Dr Chung has a track record in building strong engineering teams and spearheading major advancements in key products like ChromeOS, Chrome and Search. Her expertise prior to Google includes foundational research in speech recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning.
Dr Chung was a Fulbright Scholar and holds a PhD in Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Back in 1990 I had absolutely no idea what electrical engineering was, or what an electrical engineer did day-to- day, and I had no idea what the course in engineering would involve. But I closed my eyes, and I dove right into it," Dr Chung affirmed. "I feel like it's a big responsibility for me to be standing up here and championing the retention women, to encourage them to stay in this field."