Upcoming Women in Engineering Panel Discussion - 9 July

Dear Supporters,
Leading up to our Women in Engineering & IT Hands on Day as part of Australian Engineering Week.............Please see below an upcoming event at Engineers Australia Chatswood Offices. There are many factors involved in influencing women to become engineers and scientists. Hear from a variety of speakers across all demographics. REGISTER HERE
Please email all enquiries to sydneywie [at] engineersaustralia.org.au

A warm thank you is extended to our friends at Engineers Australia-Sydney Wie Division and in particular our 2011 UTS Women in Engineering Scholar, Elizabeth (Biomedical Engineering student) for holding such an event.

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SWIEIT Speakers' Visit - Randwick Girls High School, 28 June

On 28 June the SWIEIT Speakers team visited Randwick Girls High School. UTS students Ashwini and Tammy spoke about their experiences as university students and the various influences which lead them to pursue studying engineering and IT. Ashwini outlined the transition she made from high school into the workforce and then to studying engineering. Tammy outlined her influences in choosing a career in IT highlighting that her father was an engineer, her interest in coding at a young age after her friend set up a website and the realisation that she wanted to pursue a career which highlighted and complemented her strengths. Ashwini and Tammy both spoke about how both the engineering and IT fields are very extensive, and open up the opportunity to work in diverse roles.

The SWIEIT Speakers team then ran the Engineers Without Borders activity of Floating Houses. The students learnt that in developing countries such as Cambodia many villages are susceptible to flooding and sanitation problems. The students were then tasked with the activity of developing a structure which floated and could hold weight on a limited budget in essence modelling a floating house. The activity was successful with all students designing unique models.

The SWIEIT Speakers team would like to thank Randwick Girls High School for hosting a visit. We look forward to seeing you again in 2014.

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SWIEIT Speakers visit - Davidson High School

  Today, the Sydney Women in Engineering and IT Speakers Program at UTS sent representatives to Davidson High School to talk to a group of 80 girls about studying engineering and IT. Davidson High School is situated in Northern Sydney and female students from years 9 to 12 sat in on the presentations by our speakers Allissa, Julia, Harshaa and myself!

  First off, Allissa, a second year civil engineering student, spoke about her experience applying for scholarships. She spent only three hours applying for as many scholarships as possible and was offered two, which shows just how easy applying for scholarships can be. Allissa was one of the two recipients of the 2012 WJ and LM Sinclair Scholarship, worth $50,000 each.

  I spoke about some of the innovative engineering designs of the 20th century, such as the Stratosphere Tower roller coaster in LA and the Magdeburg Water Bridge in Germany, to show the girls how interesting engineering can be. We showed a video featuring Bill Gates, Mark Zuckeberg and Will I Am, explaining what coding is and how amazing jobs in IT are. Then Julia gave an inspiring speech about why she chose to study IT at UTS, the opportunities it's opened up for her and the advantages of being your own person. Julia was the only girl in her IT class the year before and implored the listening students to consider IST as a subject for years 11 and 12. She was also one of the recipients of the BIT co-op scholarships for 2013. Second round applications for these scholarships are opening on the 1st August and there are still plenty of places left. 

  Thanks go to Davidson High School for hosting us, we look forward to visiting again soon and hope to see some of your graduates joining the Faculty of Engineering and IT at UTS in 2014.

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SWIEIT Speakers’ Visit – Bankstown Senior College, 13 June

On 13 June SWIEIT Speakers Ashwini and Clarisse visited Bankstown Senior College to speak to 25 students in years 10-12. Bankstown Senior College has a unique learning environment for students with a four day school week and no school uniforms. The college predominantly caters to mature age students who come from diverse cultural backgrounds including Arabic, Assyrian, Somali, Vietnamese, Serbian, Kurdish and Chinese.

Ashwini spoke of her initial perceptions about engineering as a career including her pathway from UWS to UTS, experiences studying at University and her future aspirations working in the engineering profession. The students at Bankstown Senior College were a very receptive audience and enthusiastic in asking questions. Clarisse opened up about her experiences since graduating from Information Technology degree program earlier this year and reflected upon her opportunities which included the chance to travel to the Microsoft headquarters in Seattle, USA as part of her job working for the world's richest man - Bill Gates :-)

We would like to thank Bankstown Senior College for organising a visit with the SWIEIT Speakers team. We look forward to seeing you again in 2014.

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SWIEIT Speakers’ Visit – Loreto Normanhurst, 30 May

On 30 May SWIEIT Speakers Ashwini (BEngDipEngPrac) and Harshaa Raha (BEng BBus DipEngPrac) visited Loreto Normanhurst to speak with a cohort of year 10 students. Harshaa spoke about how her interest in engineering developed through her experiences travelling internationally, which lead her to pursue a career in the field. Ashwini outlined the common misconceptions related to the engineering profession and the unconventional path which lead to her studying engineering.

The students at Loreto Normanhurst were a great audience and had some excellent questions for the speakers. The year 10 students were also in the process of making subject selections and the presentations allowed the students to ask questions relating to future university study and the different engineering and IT courses available at UTS. 

 The SWIEIT Speakers team would like to thank Loreto Normanhurst for hosting a school visit. We hope to see you again in 2014.

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SWIEIT Speakers' visit - Newcastle Region

The Sydney Women in Engineering & IT (SWIEIT) Speakers' Program visited Newcastle on Friday 10 May to speak to some lovely female students at St Philip's Christian College (Waratah campus) and Warner's Bay High School.

UTS speakers' Amy and Laura spoke alongside civil and mechanical engineering students from the University of Newcastle at St Philip's Christian College. Amy, UTS mechanical engineering student and Railcorp Women in Engineering scholar spoke about her pathway from School in Goulburn to Canberra Institute of Technology (TAFE) and finally into UTS whilst working in the transportation industry for the NSW Government.

A huge thank you to Engineering Studies teacher Dave Bonzo and Science teacher Lisa Curran for inviting us to present and run STEM activities with your students.

We encourage all students to continue with Science, Maths, Design and Technology Subjects in years 11 and 12 given to broad job opportunities in Australia within these fields.

Please find some pictures from the visit below. 

 

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Getting Hands on with STEM

198 female high school students from 30 schools around NSW and the ACT gathered at the University of Technology, Sydney for the 2013 bi-annual Women in Engineering and IT Hands On Day on Friday 5 April. The day consisted of  interactive activities which encourage 13-18-year-old female high school students to consider engineering and IT as a career option.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities included:

• simulating earthquakes and learning about the power of amplitudes and frequencies with UTS’s remote lab
• the chance to learn the basics of Javascript, one of the world’s most common programming languages
• using magnets, batteries and wires to make an artificial heart and
• discovering how robots can be used to save lives following natural disasters
• careers talks from various UTS Alumni including Daphne Chong, Senior Software developer at Mi9.

Thanks to UTS’s strong links engaging with industry the day also featured representatives from Engineers without Borders, UTS Motorsports, UTS Centre for Health Technologies, ARC Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems, Commonwealth Bank, Microsoft, Tech Girls are Chic- Not Just Geek, Females in  IT and Telecommunications(FITT) and Symantec; as well as staff and student societies from the Faculty of Engineering and IT.

The Faculty’s Equity & Outreach Coordinator Laura Waibel said events like Hands On Day are important in convincing high school girls of the long-term societal benefits of studying and working in IT and Engineering.

‘’These industries are extremely important in shaping a sustainable and technology-driven future and women are currently underrepresented in both engineering and IT. We're hoping to change that one female high school student at a time because individuals regardless of gender and society as a whole stands to benefit from increased female participation in engineering and IT,’’ said Ms Waibel whose team were impressed by the energy of students at Hands On Day – particularly those who woke early to make the journey from Newcastle and the far south coast.

The next Hands On Day takes place on 6 August. Places fill up quickly so teachers are encouraged to book places early. Parents are encouraged to register their daughters to attend if schools are not able to allow an excursion.

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SWIEIT Speakers’ Visit – Ascham Girls High School, 25 October

The SWIEIT Speakers team of Parinaz Bilimoria (BBus/BScIT) and Santi Botross (BEngDipEngPrac- civil/environmental) visited Ascham Girls High School in Edgecliff to speak to the Year 11 cohort about Engineering and IT at UTS. These two female speakers from Engineering and IT shared stories about their curiosity for these fields from a young age, as well as their ongoing interests throughout their university studies.

Parinaz gave an insight into her life as an IT student at UTS, sharing with the girls her exciting personal experiences of studying and working in the field of information technology, including a stint at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and Tourism Australia. Santi demonstrated to the students how everyone has been a part of the engineering and IT world by doing a kinaesthetic activity with the students to give students a broader perspective about these fields.

The Year 11 students at Ascham Girls High finished up the session with many intriguing questions for the speakers and some good laughs. The SWIEIT Speakers team would like to extend a big thank you to Ascham Girls High School for hosting a visit. We hope to see you again in 2013.

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WiE&IT second Hands on Day for 2012

On Friday 17 August 2012, UTS played host to almost 300 high school girls from 26 schools across NSW, making this Hands on Day the largest to date. Students from as far as the South Coast to the Hunter-Central Coast attended the Women in Engineering and IT second Hands on Day for Smarter Futures this year. Students participated in a range of activities which are designed to engage them with engineering and IT disciplines. As always, these days hinge on the contributions of activities facilitated by UTS academic staff, as well as industry partners such as Roads and Maritime Services, Commonwealth Bank, Tech Girls are Chic, Engineers without Borders NSW and ThoughtWorks. Student volunteers also played a vital role in the success of the day by helping the girls in their activities as well as telling them what its like to be a UTS female student studying engineering or IT. Whether it is designing computer games, controlling robots or constructing models of Spaghetti Bridges, each student learnt something new and gained an insight into student life at UTS.

Students learning about road construction and drainage

For more information about Hands on Days next year, click on the Hands on Day tab at the top of this page. To see another article about our last Hands on Day you can visit this link http://www.newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2012/08/hands-on-day-marks-new-high-for-women-in-engineering-it

All our wonderful volunteers!

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SWIEIT Speakers' Program - Riverina Road Trip

On Monday 30 July, Sydney Women in Engineering and IT Speakers' Amy (BE-mechanical) and Rochelle (BInfTech) travelled to the Riverina region of rural NSW to speak to over 120 female students in Years 7-12. After a frosty morning with ice on the windscreen of the hire-car, first up was the school hall at Murrumburrah High School where the speakers engaged a lovely group of girls with their journey about wanting to study engineering & IT and some robot friends they took along. 

The SWIEIT speakers' then drove to Young where they were met by careers adviser Susan Matthews and a delicious lunch in the library staffroom - Thank you, before speaking to a group of senior girls in the school's ICT resource centre! Last stop for the day was Cootamundra High School before a long drive back up the Hume Highway to UTS Broadway Campus. A HUGE thank you is extended to all three schools for hosting us and we would love to see some of you come and visit us for Engineering & IT Discovery Day on Friday 30 November at UTS.     

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SWIEIT Speakers' visit - Mitchell High School Blacktown

Sydney Women in Engineering and IT Speakers' Jenny and Laura had the pleasure of speaking to a lovely group of year 10 and year 11 girls at Mitchell High School Blacktown on Friday 27 July. Jenny who grew up in the area and attended nearby Quaker's Hill Public school, opened up to the girls about her love for robotics and mechatronic systems, transition from TAFE Meadowbank to UTS:Engineering and all that has happened since including becoming an Australian Power Institute (API) scholar and working at Ausgrid, one of Australia's largest electricity suppliers. 

A huge thank you is extended to Mrs Christine Watson for organising for us to come and visit your female students. Please keep in touch and come and visit us at Open Day on Saturday 25 August. 

Read more about Jenny's story below: 

SWIEIT speaker Jenny from UTS_wieandit

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Epic Month of SWIEIT Speaker Visits in Sydney

The Sydney Women in Engineering & IT Speakers Program has broken a new record, speaking to over 500 high school girls in years 9-12 throughout the month of May. The visits held at nine different schools around the Sydney region included, St Scholastica's College Glebe, Cheltenham Girls High School, Moorefield Girls High School Kogarah, Al Amanah College Liverpool, Roseville College, Catherine McAuley Westmead, Hurlstone Agricultural High School, Glenwood High School and Loreto Normanhurst. 

SWIEIT Speaker teams of UTS female students shared their own story with high school girls and answered their questions about engineering and IT in an informal atmosphere as well as talk about senior subject selection and pathways into engineering and IT. We even had the opportunity to take along some of our robot friends and explain that they were actually built by Year 10 students in January 2012 as part of the U@UTS summer school. On the visits, female students were able to identify the robotic sensors as well as think about areas in society where sensors and engineering innovations are used. 

We would like to warmly thank Careers Advisors, Mathematics and Science teachers at the schools listed above for allowing us to inspire your students. We were warmly welcomed and look forward to visiting you all again soon. 

The Sydney Women in Engineering & IT Speakers Program is an ongoing initiative between the University of Technology Sydney and industry partners GHD and Roads and Maritime Services NSW.   

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Engineering & IT Hands on Day for Smarter Futures

If you were around the UTS city campus last Friday 27 April 2012 then you were probably wondering why there were so many students around during Vice Chancellor’s week. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss a memo and class didn’t start back a week early- it was just one of the Women in Engineering and IT's bi-annual ‘Hands on Days’. 

The Women in Engineering and IT (WiE&IT) team invite schools from all across New South Wales to participate in a fun and interactive activities day, aimed at encouraging female school leavers to consider engineering and IT as a study option and future career. Students travelled from places as far as Mudgee, the Central Coast and Newcastle to participate. The activities involved many aspects of engineering and IT learnt through studying at UTS, and ranged from making prosthetic legs, creating computer games and apps, controlling robots and even how to make artificial hearts. 

These activities couldn’t happen without support from industry partners, who donate their time to talk to the students. Each year, WiE&IT encourage industry partners to run an activity, giving the students an insight into engineering and IT career pathways and an opportunity to speak to women already working in these industries.  Companies such as Thales Group, the Roads and Maritime Services, Engineers Without Borders, Thoughtworks Australia and Microsoft Australia all ran activities that taught the girls how engineering and IT are embedded in almost every aspect of our lives. The Engineers Without Borders team did an excellent job of reinforcing this, by proving that the majority of the world's problems can be fixed using engineering solutions. 

Nekisa Mostafavi, a 5^th year Mechanical Engineering student and a facilitator for the ‘Mousetrap Race Cars’ activity, was delighted by the participant’s enthusiasm.

“I liked that everyone was involved, not just the students but the teachers as well,”  Nekisa said.

“I think the ‘Mousetrap’ activity gave them an idea of how engineering [principles] can be incorporated more into high school subjects [such as, science and physics].”

At the end of the day, over 200 hundred students had learnt something new about engineering and IT, and hopefully inspired them to pull us towards the vision of Hands on Day- ‘Engineering and IT for Smarter Futures’. 

By Shellee Murphy-Oates

UTS Events Cadet, Faculty of Engineering & IT

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