Celebrating Women in Engineering

Last Wednesday the 4th of March marked World Engineering Day, and Sunday the 8th March marked International Women's Day.

To celebrate both of those events, we spoke to team members Selene Molina Blanco (Engineering Manager), Lina Drozd (Industrial Placement, University of Bristol), and Hannah Spurgeon (Industrial Placement, University of Bristol) about their personal interest in the field.

“What has drawn you to engineering?”

Hannah:
"The variety of futures you can make for yourself having the skills of an engineer is vast and as the world and technologies are changing and developing so quickly engineering will give me the skills for a lifetime of work. Ultimately I just love the process of designing something and then watching it come to life. Embodying the blood, sweat and tears that goes into making something actually work is so rewarding."

Selene:
"I was always attracted by science subjects at school (maths, physics, technical drawing, etc.) and thought to become an architect. But I was concerned by the environment as well (I said things like I wanted to be part of Greenpeace and go on a boat trip to stop whale hunters or that I would like to work as an environmental inspector and fine factories that where polluting too much) so when, at the last years of high school, I discovered I could study engineering, I decided I would become a Renewable Energy Engineer."

Lina:
"I wanted to create systems that benefit society and become part of the natural environment."

I wanted to create systems that benefit society and become part of the natural environment.

“What does an engineer do?”

Selene:
"We find creative ways to solve problems and put them into practice. In Spanish, the word for Engineer is Ingeniero, which I like to think it comes from Ingenio (ingenuity or inventiveness) instead of from Engine, since I think it describes the job way better!"

Lina:
"Everything from generating ideas to operating systems. It can be anything from something that provides fundamental human needs like water, to something that drives human development like computers. What an engineer does is up to the individual to decide."

Hannah:
"We develop skills to solve problems and understand the systems of the world."

Jenn Holgate
We develop skills to solve problems and understand the systems of the world.

“What do you get with an engineering background?”

Lina:
"Having an engineering background empowers me take on any challenge, giving me the tools to understand the problem in a wider context and work together with people of different backgrounds to get to a solution."

Hannah:
"The chance to try and make the world a better place for future generations, while utilising and constantly developing technical and soft skills that challenge me intellectually and personally."

Selene:
"A practical approach to everything in life."

A practical approach to everything in life.

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