Hi, I'm Kaya!
I'm in my Second Year of a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) / Master of Engineering specialising in Chemical Engineering majoring in Biomedical Engineering. I caught up with the Women in Engineering team to chat all things engineering and offer my advice to new engineering students.
What or who inspired you to choose engineering?
I am grateful to have a family with many Engineers who are in different disciplines that inspired me to choose this field of study. It was mainly the combination of problem solving, innovation, and an array of specialties that interested me. I chose Engineering in high school, so I had a foresight into the million-dollar question, “but seriously, what is engineering?”.
Why did you choose the discipline you are studying?
Initially I was planning to study Medicine however Engineering offered me more choices as an undergraduate to start my university studies, and now I’m certain Engineering is the right choice. Once I completed Biomedical and Bioprocess Engineering and Thermodynamics courses in my first year, I knew Chemical and Biomedical Engineering was for me.
What is one thing about university or engineering that you wished you knew earlier?
Getting involved in student life is the secret to meeting loads of people, hearing about new opportunities and finding like-minded people in your cohort. There are lots of contact hours in Engineering with a demanding schedule so finding a balance of societies, sports, friends, industry events, best places to eat in Brisbane and loads more is valuable.
What made you pick engineering at the University of Queensland over other universities?
In high school I was privileged to attend the UQ Junior Physics Olympiad, Queensland Maths Summer School and Women in Engineering campus tour. I got to know the beautiful campus and chat to people already studying here.
Also, I moved here from Sydney during High School and was offered an Engineering place at UNSW. It was tempting as I have friends and family there, however, UQ has the best Chemical Engineering program in Australia plus an integrated Bachelor and master’s program, and Queensland is just better.
Give us your best tip for first-year engineering students?
Drop in to the First Year Learning Centre often, find a group to work with and ask for help from tutors, lecturers and mentors. Also, select your favourite of the three Foundation Courses in your first semester of your first year, to get a sense of whether you like that specialisation. Also, don’t be afraid to book an academic advisor meeting. I ended up taking a second year Molecular Biophysics course in first year after that meeting and it was a perfect fit for me. Its ok to not know what specialisation to choose, the flexible first year allows you to explore all of them.
Tell us your favourite example of amazing engineering?
Professor Levenberg’s groundbreaking discovery growing blood vessels in lab-made tissues. She implanted the Engineered vessels which anastomosed with the host vasculature or person’s own blood vessels. Her research successfully improved survival and perfusion of engineering grafts. This is even more exciting personally as it was my own Great Grandfather, Dr Charles MacMunn who first discovered cytochrome which supports the success of tissue engineering endeavours through cellular metabolism and cell survival.
What's your dream engineering job when you graduate?
My dream engineering job is to be part of a research-based innovation hub for Tissue Engineering that has a global reach and contributes to society in a positive way. I hope to work in both industry and research, and already through professional practice UQ has introduced me to this through Lab tours with leading researchers and companies.
What do you hope to achieve as a WE student leader?
I want girls like me to study engineering, find their niche and support one another to thrive. Engineering is more than maths and physics and it is diverse in practice as the people who choose to study it which is wonderful. In high school I was the only girl in my Engineering class which wasn’t a problem, and I understand how nice it is to have a female peer group.
