A NAVAL vessel designer and the developer of an unmanned ship are among the 15 outstanding women to be honored with “Shanghai Women’s Innovation Award.”

The average age of winners who work in different fields is 43.5 years old.

Mao Xianqun, 48, from China State Shipbuilding Corporation, designed a military ship that took part in a floating parade to celebrate the 60th anniversary of China’s Navy in 2009, and carried out escort missions in the Gulf of Aden off Somali from 2010-2011.

Peng Yan, 36, is head of Research Institute of USV Engineering of Shanghai University. She designed China’s first unmanned surface vessel that traveled with Chinese icebreaker Xuelong on Antarctica’s Ross Sea and was used to explore what’s above and under the ice.

Senior engineer Zhang Yanli, 37, developed micro-motors that were used on more than 60 satellites and spacecraft during Chang’e-3 to Chang’e-5 lunar probes.

“They are real contributors to the nation,” the award citation said.

Other winners include economist Zhang Xiaodi, 35, who was a consultant for the World Bank and the United Nations; Hua Keqin, 56, chief gynecologist at the Gynecology and Obstetrics Hospital of Fudan University who worked on the subject of cervical cancer.

Shanghai Women’s Innovation Award was set up in 2000 by Shanghai Women’s Federation, Shanghai Education Commission and Shanghai Science and Technology Commission. It is awarded to women with outstanding achievements every two years.