Sir Peter Blake Leadership Awards 2010

2010 Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award Recipient 

Karen Willcox aspires to become New Zealand’s first astronaut, and – already a finalist in the 2009 NASA Astronaut Selection – has demonstrated her unshakeable commitment to realising this dream. 
As Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Co-Director at the Centre for Computational Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Karen is a leader in the development of computational methods for engineering systems and is making a significant impact on a global scale through her research and teaching.

Karen leads two multi-institutional research teams: one funded by NASA to develop methods for the design of environmentally sensitive aircraft; the other funded by the Department of Energy, focussing on new approaches to model uncertainties in the tools that support complex systems.  Her research is highly inter-disciplinary and draws upon Karen’s strong collaborative skills in bringing together industry partners, government, national laboratories and other academics.

“When I build teams, I seek diversity - people from different technical backgrounds, with different problem-solving styles and different viewpoints on the end solution. I believe we make our best advances on a complex problem when we tackle it from many different viewpoints”.

Karen has given over 50 invited lectures internationally and supervised 29 theses for graduate students.  Committed to continually improving student learning, she has developed several pedagogical innovations and, in 2004 and 2005, was recognised with an MIT Teaching Award.

As a teacher, lecturer and mentor, Karen is dedicated to playing a significant part in developing and motivating the next generation of engineering leaders and strives to support others in realising their own ambitions.

Passionate about engineering and her chosen career, Karen seeks to inspire and nurture an interest in mathematics and science in the next generation of young women.  She has played a mentoring role for a number of primary school maths students, for the Science Club for Girls Rocket Team and for a number of undergraduate and graduate students at MIT.  During Karen’s last tenure at the University of Auckland in 2008-2009, she visited many primary and secondary schools to promote engineering, with a particular aim of increasing female participation in engineering, mathematics and science.

“Even today, mentors continue to play a large role in my career development. The opportunity to be a mentor myself is one of the things I love best about my job as an academic”.

While working overseas, Karen remains committed to New Zealand and serves on the Advisory Board of the Department of Engineering at the University of Auckland and on the Board of the New England Chapter of Kea. 

Karen’s enthusiasm for her work is mirrored in her sporting pursuits, and she has represented New England and MIT in rugby and is a successful marathon, ultra-marathon and trail runner and an experienced mountain climber.

With a desire for constant improvement, Karen has made time to learn three other languages and is on her way to attaining her private pilot’s license.