Story originally published on Sep 2016
I think it’s impossible to be a person of color and a woman and not think about the fact that your community is marginalized and disadvantaged. I’m still trying to figure out exactly how I can contribute to changing that.
When I was a student I thought I didn’t really have a lot of time to do anything to give back and make a difference, but in my senior year something clicked for me. Growing up I didn’t have any role models in engineering, nor did I see any examples of people that looked like me in engineering. This made me realize that just my presence in this field makes a difference, and the more visible I can be to people like me, the better. That is why it was important to me to become a TA for introductory engineering courses during my Master’s program, and why I am moving to Cape Town to work as a civil engineer building a sustainable technology center in a community disadvantaged by the legacy of apartheid.
Related spotlights
Guillem Casadesús Vila
MS ’24
Aeronautics and Astronautics
When I was around 14, NASA landed the Curiosity rover on Mars and it was an aha moment for me.
Read Guillem Casadesús Vila's story
Kavya Sreedhar
PhD candidate
Electrical Engineering
I grew up in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, but by the time I was in eighth grade, my family had moved to Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Read Kavya Sreedhar's story
Rachel Huang
PhD candidate
Materials Science and Engineering
I was born in China’s Hunan Province and came to the U.S. alone when I was 17.
Read Rachel Huang's story