Andrew Thompson

Said the following about Ruth Shevelan:

“Ruth is an extremely intelligent, proactive, logical thinking graduate engineer working at Mott McDonald in Altrincham, who is responsible for the implementation of 3 new processes which have had sizeable impacts on the Group, Division, and the OLE Design Team.

In headline terms Ruth’s impressive achievements include the introduction of a completely new CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programme to the Railways division in Altrincham, development of an innovative structure loading tool, and leadership of a team to ensure work experience students experience a variety of engineering disciplines. These achievements are explained further below:

1) Ruth has introduced a completely new CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programme within the Railways Division in Altrincham. This programme has seen over 30 engineers actively volunteer their free time to participate in a series of community STEM activities. Ruth’s drive, enthusiasm, and determination, has significantly increased the number of engineers willing to undertake these activities. Ruth’s leadership and collaboration with numerous schools in the local area, for example; Murdishaw West Community Primary School, and St Anne’s Roman Catholic High School, Stockport, has facilitated these events and successfully changed the attitudes and behaviours of numerous teams, across multiple sectors of the business. All events held to date have received glowing plaudits from the students, Teachers, and existing external STEM co-ordinators. Ruth’s impressive efforts and contributions mean the total number of children inspired by these events now totals over 300, from over 15 local schools. Ruth is currently looking to expand this programme to include engineers from other companies, including our clients and competitors, to fully maximise the positive impact of such a programme.

2) The introduction of a new Overhead Line Equipment structure loading tool. Ruth has driven through the development of a new system of calculating structural loadings on OLE support structures. This innovative solution takes account of the numerous loading configurations set out in the latest Network Rail standard for OLE structural loadings. The system required Ruth to undertake extensive self-learning of computer coding. Ruth continues to instigate development activities to further automate the calculation process. This tool has resulted in significant efficiency savings when undertaken OLE loading calculations, as it has been implanted and heavily used across multiple projects with technical and commercial benefit.

3) Ruth is leading a team in the Altrincham office to enable work experience students to experience a variety of different engineering discipline functions. Using her excellent interpersonal skills, and experiences from leading the local team, Ruth is also contributing to a Mott MacDonald working group who aim to increase the ability of the organisation to provide similar work experience placements. Both activities will hopefully encourage emerging talent into a STEM career.

Ruth has tirelessly undertaken all of the above whilst maintaining a consistently high standard in her day to day engineering project work as well as her commitment to obtaining Chartered Engineer status in the future. Ruth has a passion and a flare for furthering the development of both herself and others in the field of engineering and should be commended for both her accomplishments and her ambition for continued improvement.

Ruth is a valuable asset to both Mott MacDonald and the Railway Industry in general and a prime example of a graduate engineer whom consistently delivers above expectations.

On this basis Mott MacDonald proudly present Ruth Shevelan as a full deserving candidate for Graduate of the Year 2017.“