How an act of generosity is accelerating student excellence
Distinguished engineer Professor David Eager has had a remarkable career. Now, with a singular gift, he’s paving the way forward for the future generation.
It’s what academics and teachers do every day of their lives. We give to younger people; we share our knowledge and wisdom with them,
Professor David Eager
UTS Professor David Eager became acquainted with risk at a young age. The son of a production engineer, he spent his spare time tinkering in the garage or exploring the bushland behind his childhood home.
“I had my own saw and hammer and all these dangerous tools that Dad let me build things with. In the bush, I’d dam the creek, catch water dragons and climb the waterfall and trees that you could fall off,” says David, a UTS alumnus and Professor of Risk Management and Injury Prevention and Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering.
David’s belief in the importance of risk-taking sits at the foundation of his career. As one of Australia’s leading playground engineers, he’s helped thousands of kids become more resilient and physically capable by engaging with play-based risk.
But playground visitors aren’t the only young lives David is shaping. The benefactor of the new Professor David Eager Medal in Engineering, he’s encouraging UTS students to take a different kind of risk: to push themselves beyond their comfort zones in pursuit of engineering excellence.
The Professor David Eager Medal in Engineering is a $50,000 gift that recognises outstanding academic achievement in mechanical and mechatronic engineering. Every year, one undergraduate student will receive a medal and a $5,000 prize.
For David, who has nurtured hundreds of engineering students over more than 30 years at UTS, the medal embodies what it means to be a teacher shaping the next generation. It’s also a reflection of the enduring support he received during his own UTS student days.
Now, he’s paying it forward.
The medal is an incentive for students to strive to achieve. Competition is good. Some people say we shouldn’t push our kids too much, but you don’t grow unless you take a risk and move outside your comfort zone.
David is part of an inspiring UTS staff giving community building a brighter future. By supporting student excellence through philanthropy, David and hundreds of his colleagues are opening doors to opportunity that make a real difference to students, both now and into the future.
Establishing the prize is something of a full-circle moment. As a UTS Engineering graduate and a long-term staff member, David is an example of how UTS can become the launching pad for a truly remarkable career.
Now, he’s giving back through the institution that means so much to him.
“I owe so much to UTS. It has been so good to me,” he says.
“It has made me what I am.”
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Brooke wanted to study at university for a decade, but it took the support of people like you to make her dream a reality.
With the support of UTS donors, Candace is blazing a trail as a young Indigenous midwife.
Jessica White’s hopes of graduating were fading fast. As a young single mother, she was struggling to make ends meet and stay on top of her studies. Then she received the news that changed everything.
Zachary Krahe is proud to be the first in his family to go to university. But after moving from a small rural town in Victoria to study at UTS, the high cost of living came as a shock.