University of Newcastle staff member Melanie d'Arbon has picked up Rotary's highest honour for her work as a team leader with the Science and Engineering Challenge.

The Rotary Club of Loganholme in Queensland awarded Ms d'Arbon the Paul Harris Fellow to recognise her significant contribution to the community through the Challenge.

Ms d'Arbon and her team deliver the Challenge to high school students in Queensland. The Challenge was devised by the University in 2000 as a way of addressing Australia's skills shortages in the engineering fields by showing students how interesting and challenging science and engineering-related subjects can be.

The Challenge is supported across Australia by local communities through Rotary International, Engineers Australia and the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.

Ms d'Arbon is travelling to Brisbane today to prepare for the next Science and Engineering Challenge.