In 2008, I founded Robogals as a response to there being hardly any other women in my engineering classes. Our organisation is run by university student volunteers, and we visit schools to run robotics workshops and speak to girls about careers in engineering. I started Robogals with no money and no resources. No one knew who I was, and I didn’t know who anyone else was. Now, Robogals is a thriving international non-profit organisation with 17 chapters in 4 countries. On the eve of Australia Day last year, I was named the 2012 Young Australian of the Year.

Being Young Australian of the Year was fantastic for Robogals. In 2012, Robogals' robotics workshops reached 3,835 girls, which is greater than the cumulative impact of our first 3.5 years (3,671 girls). Most of this impact was from Robogals’ chapters in Australia, who increased their number of students reached fivefold!

I certainly never in my wildest dreams thought that I'd ever be named Young Australian of the Year, and I'm still often surprised when I think about it and realise that I was. It has given me the opportunity to share my story and passion for engineering all over the country through an exhausting 130 speeches over 8 months and many media interviews, which I hope have served to encourage many more school students to consider engineering as a career choice. I estimate that through those 130 speeches (the list is here), I spoke to about 30,000 people including 10,000 schoolgirls, and of course, I told the latter group all about the possibilities of a career in engineering.

When I found out that I was a finalist for Young Australian of the Year, I had already planned an overseas trip for my Churchill Fellowship research and to go to Robogals’ national conferences in the UK and USA, which meant I would be away during the award ceremony. Luckily, the National Australia Day Council was kind enough to fly me back to Australia for those two and a half days.

So with that introduction, here is a brief, fast-forward overview of 2012, starting from 24 Jan:

Arrive in Canberra from Portugal. Go straight to the welcome dinner at the Governor-General’s house, and flop into bed exhausted immediately after. Meet the Prime Minister for morning tea at the Lodge the next morning. Lunch with Australia Day sponsors. Get named Young Australian of the Year that night in ceremony. Wow! What an honour! This will be great for Robogals! No dinner, doing interviews. Hotel by 11pm, then up at 4am for media. Highlight of the day: sailing into Sydney Harbour with Geoffrey Rush (who had been named Australian of the Year) to a crowd of 150,000.

Fly back to the UK the next morning. Hold the Robogals annual conference in the UK, then fly to Boston the day after to continue interviewing people for my 2011 Nancy Fairfax Churchill Fellowship to study “strategies to get girls interested in science, engineering and technology”. Learn some great stuff about that at the MIT Media Labs, and then train to New York for more interviews. Only sightseeing we do is the UN Building and 30 Rockefeller St (my travelling companion and I have to spend some time recovering, which curtails our sightseeing time). Over the next 6 weeks, we travel to another 7 cities for my Fellowship research. Hold the first Robogals USA conference at the California Institute of Technology (ranked #1 university in the world). In San Francisco, meet up with 1998 Young Australian of the Year and technology entrepreneur Tan Le. She tells me to do as many speaking engagements as I can this year as YAOTY, and so say yes to everything. This turns out to be exhausting advice.

Back to Melbourne in March and do 20 speaking engagements March 7 – 30. We had also stalled all my media interviews until I got back, so I do about 4 hours of interviews each week – for the next few months. An appearance on the Japanese TV show “Chikyu Agora” was quite fun! Fortunately that was filmed in Melbourne. Fly interstate about 2 – 3 times a week. I’m handing over Robogals at the end of the year, so I’m also talking to a lot of people to get advice on that. Do some work on my final-year project in the gaps, when I can. Do a panel with Clive Palmer and Adam Bandt, moderated by Alan Jones. I meet my idol Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple) and he agrees to be a Robogals ambassador. The deadline for my Churchill Fellowship Report approaches. They give me a three-week extension. If I don't make it, I forfeit the last part of the grant payment. During swotvac, I manage to get it finished while being away from Melbourne the entire week doing speaking engagements in Sydney and Adelaide.

I’m not doing a very good job of running Robogals amongst all this craziness. Luckily, my Operations Director, Mark Parncutt finally returns from his holiday overseas and is able to sort out everything and basically runs Robogals for the rest of the year. After getting my Churchill report submitted, I freak out about Control Systems (a subject that 40% of students failed the year before) and get a tutor 4 days before the exam. Get another tutor 3 days before my other exam. I pass both. Phew! A week after that, attend the Mid-Winter Ball at Parliament House. The Prime Minister does a short comedy routine, which was actually very funny.

Speak at a school in Hobart during the mid-semester break, and use the opportunity to also have a nice holiday in Hobart for a week. Do some speeches in Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. Then Robogals has our Robogals Rural and Regional Ambassadors Training Weekend in Sydney. Deanna Hood does a stellar job organising; the weekend includes a site visit to the construction site under the Sydney Opera House, which is awesome. August is my biggest month of the year – this is when we have all the “Tours of Honour” organised for the Australian of the Year Awards winners. I do a weeklong tour of Perth and Kalgoorlie with the Australia Day Council and get to see the Super Pit! The week after, I visit Sydney, Brisbane and Toowoomba with Geoffrey Rush. Then it’s over to Perth for the Launch of National Science Week (I’m a National Science Week Ambassador), followed by a week of 30+ radio interviews that get syndicated onto 140+ radio shows, including a trip to Sydney to be on with Dr Karl for the whole hour! Also wrap up my year of being an International Youth Foundation Youth Action Net Fellow. I’m surprised how far I’ve come since it began. My mentor encourages me to find a successor for my role in Robogals (one of my Fellowship goals). I do immediately. YAN Fellowship conclusion: I’ve managed to achieve all my Robogals goals, and none of my personal goals. I round out my August with the Australia Day Council Tour of Northern Territory where I start in Darwin, stop in Katherine, Tenant Creek and end up in Alice Springs, before returning home on the Saturday. That trip was eye opening and my favourite tour. Back home from the tours, study for my two mid-semester tests and work on my Final Year Project. More speeches. Meet more powerful people. Then Robogals Australia’s annual conference in Brisbane, followed by a two-day Robogals retreat in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Have a lot of fun. Final Year Project Report due 4 days later.

October is all about Endeavour, the showcase of all the Final Year Projects at Melbourne University, and more speeches. After Endeavour and during swotvac, go to Canberra for the Prime Minister’s Awards for Science. While there, meet with Education Minister Peter Garrett and tell him my thoughts on getting girls into engineering. More tutoring during exam period, and again, I pass all my subjects and manage to do well on the Final Year Project! Immediately after exams, spend a week moving house to Richmond (after 3 years in Brunswick East), giving speeches, filming documentaries, and hosting the Robogals Science Challenge Awards Weekend.

Finally, off to China for the 40 Years of Diplomatic Relations between China and Australia for a two-week tour visiting universities, giving speeches, teaching robotics, touring factories and attending banquets. Five cities in 10 days. Spend the next three days (when we were planning to do some sightseeing in China) feeling very unwell. Back in Melbourne, get interviewed for a documentary for CCTV 9, which has a nightly viewership of 50-60 million in China. After 3 months of nonstop deadlines, December beats August for most tiring month of the year.

Over Christmas, visit my mum in Cairns for a much-needed break for two weeks. Nicole Brown succeeds me as the new CEO of Robogals Global from 1 January.

Today, I'm in Canberra to hand over the role of Young Australian of the Year. Then will be heading off for some more travelling (but at a much slower pace this time) to attend the Robogals annual conferences in the UK and USA for the last time, as well as going to TEDActive and SXSW, and having a holiday in Hawaii. Will then come back to Australia and start a company while finishing off my final 4 subjects (which I’ll do as 2 each semester) and finally graduate with two degrees from the University of Melbourne, and be an engineer!