TRANSNET celebrates INWED 2023 – Q&A with Sam

As part of our INWED 2023 celebrations, we have planned a series of blog posts to showcase and champion our fantastic female students and researchers. Next up is our postdoctoral researcher, Sam Nallaperuma, whose work specialises in applying artificial intelligence to solve real world problems in engineering.

National Women in Engineering Day is an international awareness day introduced by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) to support, inspire, and raise the profile of women in engineering. Launched in the UK on 23 June 2014 to celebrate its 95th anniversary, it received UNESCO patronage in 2016 and went global for the first time in 2017 adopting its now familiar moniker, INWED.

Here, Sam discusses about her experiences in engineering and what motivates her research ambitions.

Please provide a summary of your background, and what your research entails.

I am Sam Nallaperuma, a computer scientist by training and now working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. My work includes applications of artificial intelligence to solve real world problems in engineering.

What motivated you to pursue engineering?

I would like to make a positive impact in the real world in achieving sustainability and equality by solving complex problems in engineering.

Have you faced any challenges as a young woman in engineering? How did you overcome them?

I have and still face challenges on an everyday basis. As a postdoctoral researcher working in interdisciplinary fields, there is a lot to learn. To deeply understand the problems and effectively collaborate with researchers, industry partners and other bodies, additional knowledge on different disciplines is essential. This is challenging and at the same time very interesting as it broadens our knowledge and perspectives.

Do you have any positive role models or mentors in engineering that you look up to?

I am inspired by the researchers in our department of engineering, my college (Murray Edwards College) here at University of Cambridge, our TRANSNET project as well as other pioneers here in the UK and around the world.

What do you think the future will look like for women engineers?

 The future looks promising as there is a lot of support and motivation for female engineers and STEM researchers. Schemes such as Athena Swan and diversity measures at universities are actively promoting female participation in STEM.

Finally, what advice do you give to young girls and women who are interested in engineering?

Go for it :).