International Women in Engineering Day on 23 June celebrates the achievements of women working in engineering. This year’s theme – Shape the World – is appropriately reflected in some of the emerging and acclaimed women engineers within our Flinders University community.
Introducing some of our engineering experts…
Professor Karen Reynolds
While her sister preferred dolls, Professor Karen Reynolds gravitated to tools in her childhood and fixing things with her father. Decades later, the physics and biomedical engineering graduate and previous SA Scientist of the Year established the award-winning Medical Device Partnering Program (MDPP) led by Flinders University, and is now managing its national expansion.
“Working closely with end-users and clinicians we are able to respond to industry-driven problems, fast-forwarding the R&D process.” More on Karen Reynolds
Dr Sherry Randhawa
Robotics to biomedical engineering, electronics and computer systems, Dr Sherry Randhawa has taught them all. The talented engineer has many accolades to her name, and right now she’s loving educating tomorrow’s engineers as Teaching Program Director for Engineering and Design at Flinders University.
“My greatest success is seeing my students evolve and grow from knowing little about engineering in their first year to when they graduate as highly qualified engineers after four years.” More on Sherry Randhawa
Salma Farouque
Salma Farouque works for the United Nations’ World Food Programme, which assists around 100 million people each year. An engineer in the field of communication technologies, the Flinders University graduate manages the deployment of solutions to make sure teams delivering vital humanitarian support stay connected – even in the most challenging locations.
“My work has taken me around the world where I have spent time living and working in Australia, Uganda, Jordan, Egypt, Fiji and Italy and this has broadened my perspective in so many ways.” More on Salma Farouque
An Lam
An Lam completed her degree in mechanical and biomedical engineering at Flinders University last year, and quickly secured a role as a hardware/systems engineer in the defence sector.
“I like how versatile engineering is; the toolbox of skills that engineers develop can be applied to so many different fields. From medical devices to artificial intelligence and everything in between, engineers can contribute so much to our society’s future.” More on An Lam
Caitlin Kramer
Robotics engineering student Caitlin Kramer has been focusing on the maritime industry in the last year of her Flinders University degree, but is increasingly interested in space. With experience across a variety of fields including image processing and machine learning, she is keeping her options open in the dynamic world of robotics.
“Often when I think about creativity, I think of design and art and aesthetics, however creativity can also be the adaptive frame of mind where new ideas build old ones into something different.” More on Caitlin Kramer
Lauren Wearne
Flinders University PhD candidate Lauren Wearne loves the personal side of bone biomechanics, a field of engineering that can directly and completely transform lives.
“Through an online career quiz, biomedical engineering popped up. I was immediately drawn to how personal it is; working on problems that affect people daily.” More on Lauren Wearne