My name is Helen Pederson. I am a senior structural engineer. I work at SKM and I have worked
in the mining industry for about the last 22 years. I am also the president of the WA
Division of Engineers Australia this year which is the professional body for engineers.
Engineering is very important for society. All around you is engineering so the built
environment requires engineers to build it, our transport systems, our water supply, our
energy supply they all require engineers to design and build these things, even in the
hospitals all the medical equipment has engineering input to it so they are a lot of different
fields of engineering and you can do anything with an engineering degree, you can go anywhere
so it really is a very broad career. Starting off in the engineering degree can take you anywhere.
For me, I work with mining structures mostly so I design the structures that hold up equipment
in minerals processing plants, they are usually large steel structures with large concrete
foundations and the reward for me is to be able to go to site and to see some of those
built so I have quite often done the design and then followed them right through to completion.
I really enjoyed chemistry in high school and so I wanted to go somewhere with that
but I also really enjoyed physics and maths so I really wanted a degree that combined
everything I enjoyed and gave me a good career path which was chemical engineering for me.
Chemical engineers generally take raw material like crude oil or iron ore anything like that
and process it to make more valuable or useful materials for society.
Engineers are problem solvers basically so they help society with any problems they might
have, whether it is making something more efficient or reducing the environmental impact
of something, engineers are involved in that process so that's something which is kind
of an inspiration for becoming an engineer I think.
The project I am working on is a biomedical engineering project, we work very closely
with the surgeon who has an idea for an implant and it is a novel implant for the spine so
basically we are working on developing this implant, testing it and then hopefully the
aim of the project is to have it ready for clinical testing in humans.
The idea for the implant is quite novel specifically in the cervical spine. There are other devices,
other dynamic devices which is what we are trying to achieve in the lumber spine but
not in the cervical spine because of the very small bone anatomy so it is, I guess, as far
as we know a worlds first.
I currently work for DNV - Det Norske Veritas. We are an independent foundation with the
purpose of safeguarding life, property and the environment. We basically provide risk
management services to a wide range of industries from maritime oil and gas and also we do fair
bit of certification work.
I personally get to be involved in a lot more of the technology advances that are going
on in oil and gas so I get to see and apply lot of the theoretical knowledge that I have
learnt and see how we are using that knowledge to advance say from oil and gas to various
other industries plus also the fact that in my work I get to travel a fair bit is always
also a benefit.
I've been to Singapore, Malaysia, Norway and London.
Yeah there's definitely lots of chances to travel and work overseas with engineering
and there is also chances to help out in third world countries as well.
I was born in Indonesia, I came here when I was in year 8, so I started high school
here and I did my undergraduate study obviously in Australia as a permanent resident.
I think studying in Australia has defiantly been a positive experience for me. I guess
I have been here for quite a while now and a lot of my friends are Australian so I think
it's just about definitely being able to immerse yourself in the culture rather than staying
within your own circle of friends.
Engineering is very male dominated, but to me it didn't really make too much of a difference.
So I came from an all-girls school and I realised a couple of weeks into the degree that yeah,
I was in a lecture with maybe 70% guys but they're just people in the end. Just like
girls. So it doesn't really make too much of a difference. But the ratio of females
to males in engineering is definitely improving thanks to programs that are set up to encourage
females in engineering. So there's scholarships, there's employment programs in different engineering
companies, and obviously a women in engineering group that we started at Curtin. That also
helps so it's improving all the time and hopefully one day we won't need these sorts of programs
even, because it will be 50/50 split.
I think girls in high school if they like the line of work such as engineering or science
and mathematics, I think it is definitely a great career to pursue. I don't think they
should be intimidated by the fact that it is a male dominated world at all because I
think women in that case actually has definitely an advantage to bring into the engineering
industry.
Usually based on my experience women have a little bit more attention to detail and
they are able to juggle multiple projects at the same time a little bit better than
men and that certainly in engineering consulting that's what you have to do on daily basis.
You will be working on several different projects. So that is definitely very good skill for women
to bring into engineering. And there is definitely a lot more women now
than in the past and I assume it will only increase in the future.
Engineers Australia has a Women in Engineering Group and the purpose of the group is to provide
support and networking so that women can come together, talk about the issues they face
in common in the workplace and to provide networks to give them support and employment networks.
The reason I got involved with Women in Engineering Curtin Division was because I realised that
there is sort of quite a big difference in male-female ratios in engineering so I wanted to do something
to help that out and to make engineering as a career more diverse and Women in Engineering
club helps to provide a support network for girls and sort of encourages them to keep
going with their degree.
Through all the clubs that there are at Curtin, so there is the Engineers Club, there is WIECD
which I am involved with, there is the Association of Chemical Engineering students, they all
help to link you up with employers and help to network to get you employment opportunities.
The other thing is the pavilion, which has just been constructed is really new and it
gives you a really big space to help with study and socialising.
My highlight of my time at Curtin was being involved with the Curtin motor-sport team.
Curtin motor-sport team is a volunteer student run organisation with the purpose of basically
designing and building a small open race car in a year, so that gave me the opportunity
to apply all the theoretical knowledge that I was learning at Curtin into a more practical
aspect and also got to teach me very important skills like project management which was quite
vital to be able to work in the industry.
I originally started as a normal team member and progressed up to being the project manager
in my final year so that was quite an honour to be the project manager.
Engineering as a career is a community building career. It contributes to our economy, it contributes
to our society. It provides all the infrastructure we need as a community and it contributes
enormously to our economy so it's a very useful and constructive career, if you've got a bit
of sense of adventure or you want an interesting and varied career, engineering is probably
the career for you.
Based on my experience I don't think there is much prejudice against women in the industry,
nor at university level, I think that is definitely sort of a thing of the past and as long as
you come in with an open mind and with the right attitude I think you won't be prejudiced against.
For any students that are thinking about coming to Curtin, I would definitely recommend it.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time here, they have very good theoretical and practical engineering
courses here so you will enjoy it a lot.