International Women's Day sees Dr Lina Mohjazi inspire school pupils in Glasgow
Published: 4 April 2022
Dr Lina Mohjazi reports on her recent visit to Notre Dame High School for International Women's Day 2022.
Dr Mohjazi, a passionate educator and active researcher in several areas of electrical and electronics engineering, visited a group of Glasgow school pupils to inspire them with stories about her career and the important role women can play in STEM subjects. With an exemplary record in her field, Dr Mohjazi was recently also awarded a Fellowship by the Women in Engineering Society (WES) and selected to join as Ambassador of the "IEEE Women in Engineering UK and Ireland Ambassador Scheme". She reports:
"On International Women's Day 2022, I joined Glasgow's 'Education Team' in offering secondary schools the opportunity to speak to women who work, live or study in Glasgow to find out more about what they do, their backgrounds, and what it's like to be a female in a particular STEM field.
As a STEM Ambassador in Scotland, I visited Notre Dame High School and brought awareness to young people of the Academic career path and opportunities Electrical and Electronics Engineering can offer. Most of the students seemed to be able to name careers or roles like "Doctor", "Engineer", “Scientist” but nothing else or more specific. So I spoke about my role as a Lecturer at the James Watt School of Engineering and my career journey to date, shedding light on what inspired me to follow this path starting from my childhood dreams, what was the journey like throughout all stages and discussed its highlights and pitfalls. I love doing this because it gives me an exceptional opportunity to work with my local community and help make a life-changing impact on young people. It was so rewarding to hear the positive feedback of the students and teachers. I really enjoyed being able to dispel the myths and stereotypes about women in engineering.
I loved the look of shock on students' faces when they understood for the first time what "Wireless Communications" mean and that it has something to do with the mobile phone which is a device very dear to their hearts!"
First published: 4 April 2022