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Celebrating International Women in Engineering Day
23 June 2023
Our trailblazing researchers share why they pursued engineering
Women in the Faculty of Engineering are at the forefront of innovative research; providing guidance to aspiring engineers and researchers, and developing solutions for urgent societal issues.
This International Women in Engineering Day, we asked five researchers to share why they chose engineering and the advice they would give to other women looking to begin their careers in engineering.
Dr Liwei Li
SOAR Fellow and Senior Lecturer, School of Electrical and Information Engineering
Dr Liwei Li is a Sydney Research Accelerator (SOAR) Fellow and currently researching microwave photonic and nanophotonic signal processing and high-performance sensing. She aims to contribute to developing innovative solutions that can revolutionize communication, sensing, and data processing systems.
Since she was a young girl, engineering has always been her passion. "It allows me to combine my love for problem-solving with the opportunity to make a positive impact on society. I chose this field because I was fascinated with understanding how things work and the potential of technology to shape the world," said Dr Li.
For women aspiring to enter the industry, I encourage the girls to fearlessly pursue their passion, embrace challenges as learning opportunities, seek mentorship, and recognise the value of their unique perspectives. By breaking barriers and following their dreams, women can play a vital role in creating a more inclusive and diverse engineering community.
Dr Liwei Li
Dr Sandhya Clement
Lecturer, School of Biomedical Engineering
Having grown up in a remote Indian village, Dr Sandhya Clement completed her primary and secondary education under lamps and candles. This unique experience inspired her fascination with electricity and the power of engineering. She pursued engineering to become the first engineer in her village, break gender barriers and uplift underprivileged communities.
Dr Clement's research encompasses nanomedicine, biomedical devices and biomedical image analysis. As a lecturer, one of her current research areas is to develop strategies to inspire and encourage more women to pursue engineering education and help reduce the gender imbalance in the industry.
To women in engineering, "believe in your capabilities, approach solving problems with integrity and have unwavering confidence in yourself. Take a moment to observe your surroundings and consider how you can inspire young minds to pursue diverse engineering disciplines, to ultimately contribute to the betterment of our society while wiping out gender inequality," said Dr Clement.
Professor Marjorie Valix
Professor, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Professor Marjorie Valix pursued engineering because she was inspired by the work of chemical engineers in transforming raw materials into a diverse range of products to help society.
She has led several multi-industry projects in corrosion, mineral processing, and waste valorisation. Professor Valix develops ecologically sensitive methods mainly based on using microorganisms for recovering strategically important critical metals from low quality ores and metallic wastes and in waste valorisation. She was recently recognised for her work as a 2023 Finalist for the NSW Water R&D Excellence Award.
Her advice for other women interested in her field is to know that "chemical engineers have skills critical in addressing major global challenges including decarbonisation, the need for cleaner energy, sustainable manufacturing, and so much more. Chemical engineers do inspiring work, and that makes a difference."
Dr Emily Moylan
Senior Lecturer, School of Civil Engineering
Dr Emily Moylan became a transport engineer inspired by the role of civil engineers in designing and evaluating the infrastructure that makes society work.
Her current research area is about evidence of habitual travel. She looks at the habits we create in our established travel routines to design new facilities and infrastructure.
"Transport engineering will be important for the coming generation, and there will be many interesting problems to solve around electrification, automation and emerging transport services. It's a great field for anyone who likes solving puzzles, messing around with data or imagining utopian cities," said Dr Moylan.
Dr Daria Anderson
Lecturer, School of Biomedical Engineering
Dr Daria Anderson recently joined the School of Biomedical Engineering. She is researching improving surgical therapies for drug-resistant epilepsy, including neuromodulation therapy, in which brief electrical pulses can be used to prevent seizures. She develops new algorithms to improve the ability to predict when seizures are going to happen in people with epilepsy.
She's always wanted to have an impact on healthcare and determined that the best opportunity for her to make the most significant impact would be by doing research focused on improving the devices used to treat patients.
For women wanting to grow in engineering, take every day one step at a time. Looking back, you won't believe how far you've gone.
Dr Daria Anderson
