We are incredibly proud that Dianne Blood (nee Boddy/David Elford, P'51) has been recognised in this year's King's Birthday Honours.

Dianne has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the General Division for distinguished service to mechanical engineering through innovation and robotic design, and to diversity and inclusion. 

Dianne excelled in Physics and Mathematics at School, and although awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to attend university, she needed an income. She began working as a draftsperson, which took her to California and ultimately led to a succession of world first food processing designs. Over a remarkable career, Dianne has created more than 2,000 successful designs and 40 international patents. Her work spans areas as diverse as food canning, sheep shearing, deep-sea oil drilling, vehicle suspension, robotics, and geo-mechanical research. 

In 2023, Dianne received Engineers Australia's highest award, the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal. She was also awarded Australia's most prestigious mechanical engineering award, the AGM Michelle Medal in 2010, for her outstanding contribution to mechanical engineering and her "demonstration of a balance of ingenuity and a range of theoretical knowledge and application". 

Beyond her technical achievements, Dianne is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of engineers and inventors. Among those has been Maria Cheng AM, who was named one of the World's Top 50 Women in Tech by Forbes in 2018 and 2012 Young Australian of the Year. 

There is so much more to Dianne's story, including the challenges that she has overcome as both a child and as an adult. You can read about these, and her many other impressive achievements, in the Trailblazer issue (No. 113) of the Light Blue published in February 2024 (here). Congratulations Dianne, on a very well deserved honour!