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UNSw sydney
Where will UNSW Engineering take you?
Helping India’s poorest communities inspired UNSW graduate Monique Alfris to co-found Pollinate Energy. Her team now brings light to these communities enabling them to work and study at night.
Wheelie lucky break
A chance encounter with a brainwave-driven wheelchair changed Nisha Pradhan’s life
Although she had plans to be a hairdresser, Nisha Pradhan’s maths teacher recognised her talent and pushed Nisha to go to a Women in Engineering event at a local university, where she came face-to- face with a revolutionary technology.
“I saw a wheelchair that lets paralysed people move by using their brainwaves,” says Nisha, who is studying a combined Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and Bachelor of Commerce at UNSW Sydney. “To me, that was a turning point. I couldn’t believe engineers could bring creativity and passion to changing the way people live – not just individuals, but society as a whole.”
Having finished the electrical engineering part of her degree, Nisha has started working with engineering consultants AECOM – and it’s every bit as fulfilling
as she’d hoped. “I love that I get to sit with the client and work out what they want, then bring my creativity, my own ideas, to the table,” she says.
Her advice to anyone considering an engineering degree is to think outside the stereotypes.
“Being a woman I didn’t think engineering was for me, but now I know diversity is important for innovation.” – Phil Dooley
For more information, visit UNSW Uncover STEM (USTEM) at unsw.to/cweustem17
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{Careers with Engineering}
Find out more at UNSW’s Open Day, Saturday 2 September 2017 unsw.to/CWE17