b'Member News July 2022 9Women in engineeringInternational Womens Day 2022We know that the engineering and technology industry is not as inclusive and diverse as it can and should beand this is evident across the globe. That is why on International Womens Day (IWD), our offices around the globe used this platform to raise awareness of gender diversity in engineering and technology.Meet Dr Aparna Akula MIET#BreakingTheBias with IET China IET Indias first Young Women In collaboration with Wiley and Engineer of the Year!the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering, IET China held an Aparna Akula MIET, Principal Scientist atonline webinarIm Making the Centre of Excellence for IntelligentMyselffeaturing a panel Sensors and Systems (ISenS) wasof seven female researchers announced IET Indias first ever Youngand engineers. They were Women Engineer of the Year (YWE) winner. invited to share the challengesimportant role in influencing young Having been inspiredand opportunities they facewomen to become engineers, but from a young age towithin their profession andthey need support from parents, become an engineer,how they overcome them.teachers, schools and mentors she felt honoured toThe panel leant on their ownto encourage individuals. be awarded this titleexperience to advise the youngThey agreed that to create a and hopes that sheengineers and technicians whogender-balanced industry, society can be a role modelattended about how they can helpon a whole needs to work together to help inspire andbreak the bias within the STEMand for female engineers, they motivate other youngindustry. They highlighted thatshould continue to work hard, be women wanting tochildren enlightenment plays a verypositive and stay persistent.become engineers or Aparna Akula MIET, IET Indias firsttechnicians. Young Women Engineer of the YearHer research interests are centred around embedding computational intelligence intoShe could be sensors and systems. She highlights her work with the developmentan engineer,and deployment of intelligent sensor solutionsjust like you.for detecting elephant movement as one of her biggest achievements. As engineers, we had to interact with wildlife experts and formulateApply today and inspire the futureit as an engineering project in order to work towards the development of a technologicalIn the UK, IWD launched the nominations for our highly solution. The project demanded working amonganticipated Young Woman Engineer of the Year awards (YWE). multi-disciplinary teams which was an enriching learning experience. These awards celebrate womenand dirty overalls. Were looking for Looking to the future, Aparna says: As theworking in modern engineeringandbrilliant women in STEM who are YWE winner, I feel an enhanced sense ofaim to help change the perceptionnot only passionate about changing responsibility to give it my best to help betterthat engineering is pre-dominantly atheir own lives, but also changing society. It has motivated me to take up other,career for men by banishing outdatedothers too. The deadline for entries more demanding challenges and strive towardsengineering stereotypes of hard hatsto the YWE awards is 1 July 2022. accomplishing them. To apply, visit: youngwomenengineer.theiet.org'