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For our final episode of 'But seriously, what is Engineering?' for Season 2, we invited four of The University of Queensland's Women in Engineering Student Leaders to answer your questions about studying engineering, choosing your specialisation, and planning for the future!

This is a fun, candid chat with our incredible student leaders, and is a great way to get an insight into university life. Perhaps you'll find that engineering might be the perfect career path for you too!

This episode features four of The University of Queensland's Women in Engineering student leaders; Yvette (Evie) Gibbon, Kathleen Cox, Laura Musgrave and Sophie Bates.

Connect with our student leader hosts via LinkedIn below!
Kathleen Cox: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-cox-142286184/
Yvette (Evie) Gibbon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvette-gibbon/
Laura Musgrave: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-musgrave-ab02821a6/
Sophie Bates: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-bates-7a9a38186/

Find out more about UQ Women in Engineering here: https://www.eait.uq.edu.au/we

Find out more about studying engineering at The University of Queensland here: https://www.eait.uq.edu.au/

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Today, we’ll be talking to Dr Terese Milford. Dr Terese is a Senior Engineer working in the Intelligent Grid New Technology team at Energex and Ergon Energy. Energex and Ergon Energy are Queensland’s distribution networks with a team that develops business solutions to improve customer choice and provide cost competitive alternatives to traditional network investment. Dr Terese is currently working on solutions to dynamically manage Distributed Energy Resources (batteries and rooftop solar) to enable more of these energy resources to be safely connected to the grid.

In this episode we'll be talking about the shift to renewable energy and how you can be a part of this change too! We also talk to Dr Terese about what it was like to study mechanical and space engineering, as well as her experience with studying a PhD.

This episode is hosted by two of The University of Queensland's Women in Engineering student leaders; Laura Musgrave and Esandi Kalugalage.

Connect with Dr Terese Milford on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terese-milford/

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-musgrave-ab02821a6/

Connect with Esandi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esandi-kalugalage-9b39401a0/

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Riley O'Donnell graduated from The University of Queensland with the University medal, studying a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) specialising in chemical engineering and a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in finance. After graduating, Riley co-founded Endla, a startup company that develops core technology to lower the cost of physical engineering assets with Software.

In this episode we ask Riley about his experience and advice with starting a startup, and we discuss how to approach imposter syndrome to achieve success in your career.

This episode is hosted by two of The University of Queensland's Women in Engineering student leaders; Kathleen Cox and Yvette (Evie) Gibbon.

Visit Endla's website: https://endla.com/

Connect with Riley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rileyodonnell-1/

Connect with Kathleen Cox on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-cox-142286184/

Connect with Yvette (Evie) Gibbon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvette-gibbon/

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Professor Kate O’Brien will be joining us as our guest for today’s podcast. Kate is the Director of Teaching and Learning for the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane, Australia. She studied Maths and Engineering and UQ, then worked in an aluminium smelter in NZ before completing a phD in environmental engineering at The University of Western Australia, before returning to UQ as a Lecturer in Chemical and Environmental Engineering. In fact, she was one of the first women ever promoted to Professor in the UQ School of Chemical Engineering!

Kate uses mathematical modelling and systems analysis to investigate how socio-ecological systems work, and how they can be managed more sustainably. In this conversation we will be covering sustainability, what it's like to have a family as an engineer, and we will be discussing Kate's perception of the concept of 'work-life balance'.

This episode is hosted by two of The University of Queensland's Women in Engineering student leaders; Yu-Zhen Eva Seet and Amy Tran.

The University of Queensland's School of Chemical Engineering: https://chemeng.uq.edu.au/

Connect with Kate O'Brien on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-o-brien-0390382a/

Connect with Eva Seet on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eva-seet-3ba834221/

Connect with Amy Tran on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-tran-484850160/

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Often people visualise buildings or bridges when they think of engineering, however there are endless specialisations within engineering, and countless career pathways within each of these specialisations! As one of these specialisations, civil engineering works across multiple sectors. You could work in erosion control, designing airports and even flood mitigation works to name a few. Today, we’ll be talking to Ella Hingston, exploring just one of the unique career pathways available within civil engineering.

Ella is a Senior Asset Management Engineer in Cardno, now Stantec’s Asset Strategies team with seven years’ experience in infrastructure asset management. In her role at Cardno, she works across the water supply and sewerage, stormwater, buildings, and transport sectors to maximize the value provided by infrastructure assets to governments and the communities they serve.

Ella has assisted local, state and federal government clients across Australia with understanding the current state of their asset base, forecasting and providing assurance on current and future investment needs, and developing supporting asset management framework documentation.

Across these key public infrastructure sectors, Ella has developed short- and long-term capital and operating expenditure forecasts and lifecycle cost models, undertaken regulatory audits, and assisted with the review of government expenditure programs and the business processes underlying these.

Additionally, Ella has experience in assisting with the development and implementation of asset management systems for government clients, through her preparation of asset management plans and other asset management system artefacts, and collection of asset attribute, condition and valuation data to provide governments with a sound, evidence-based platform upon which asset decisions can be made.

This episode is hosted by two of The University of Queensland's Women in Engineering student leaders; Christie Patterson and Elizabeth (Lizzy) Pumpa.

Connect with Christie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christie-patterson-6431ba16b/

Connect with Elizabeth (Lizzy) on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-pumpa-560649172/

Connect with Ella on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-hingston-3a8b6231/

Find out more about the Cardno, now Stantec, Asset Management services in Australia: https://www.cardno.com/services-au/infrastructure/asset-management/

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This episode is a perfect example of how engineering can bring about a freedom in your career that you didn’t know possible. The freedom to choose from an endless list of disciplines and roles, and the freedom to ‘pivot’ your career outside your specialisation into a direction you had never considered.

Today we are joined by Clare Lavrencic as we talk about the unique freedom of engineering and the endless opportunities within engineering.

Clare graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering (Biomedical). After graduation, she was able to secure a spot in the Rio Tinto Graduate program, in the Major Projects Project Management Office, working on multimillion & billion dollar projects building new mines in Queensland and NSW. Clare has worked hard to cultivate a reputation of tenacity and ability to grow, leading her to opportunities in the innovation and R&D space in Rio Tinto.

This episode is hosted by two of The University of Queensland's Women in Engineering student leaders; Kathleen Cox and Jess Rock.

Connect with Clare Lavrencic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-lavrencic-07539837/

Connect with Kathleen Cox on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-cox-142286184/

Connect with Jess Rock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-rock-447223165/

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Dr Denys Villa-Gomez will be joining us for today’s podcast. Dr Denys Villa-Gomez is a Lecturer at The University of Queensland's School of Civil Engineering. Dr Denys Villa-Gomez obtained her PhD at the world-leading institute UNESCO-IHE and Wageningen University, the Netherlands.

Dr Denys works on the development of sustainable technologies that reduce pollution and recover valuable resources from wastewater and solid waste such as energy and metals, leading projects on the recovery of cobalt and rare earth elements from mine impacted waters and tailings using biological processes. Recovery of these elements is a priority for Australia, due to its low abundance and high demand worldwide, particularly in new technologies combating climate change. She collaborates with international and local researchers as well as with industry and government stakeholders, where she provides technical advice regarding the treatment and management of waste.

At the teaching front, she has a growing influence in the implementation of environmental engineering concepts, updating the civil engineering program to make it more responsive to the big world challenges. Alongside her research interests, she is passionate about creating an impact on others through mentoring and supporting programs, particularly for women in STEM.

This episode is hosted by two of The University of Queensland's Women in Engineering student leaders; Yvette (Evie) Gibbon and Sophie Bates.

Connect with Dr Denys Villa-Gomes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denys-kristalia-villa-gomez-47594b28/

Connect with Yvette (Evie) Gibbon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvette-gibbon/

Connect with Sophie Bates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-bates-7a9a38186/

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Growing up in the small Queensland town of Roma, Zoe Eather knew that she wanted a career that would allow her to travel overseas and make a difference in developing countries. Engineering took her from rural Australia to international smart communities consultant — and even saw her named the 2021 Queensland Young Professional Engineer of the Year!

Zoe is an experienced engineer, consultant and Churchill Fellow who specialises in Smart Communities. The combination of Zoe’s engineering background and her ability to engage and explain complex topics in a friendly and informative way, allows her to offer future-thinking, useful and realistic strategic advice.

Zoe keeps up-to-date with the latest trends and shares her learnings through hosting The Smart Community Podcast. Through her boutique consultancy 'My Smart Community', she offers strategic advisory on dealing with disruption, leveraging infrastructure spend and major projects, smart technology in regional communities and facilitating genuine collaboration.

This episode is hosted by two of The University of Queensland's Women in Engineering student leaders; Christie Patterson and Elizabeth (Lizzy) Pumpa.

Connect with Zoe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoemayeather/

Follow 'My Smart Community': https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartcommhq/

Connect with Christie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christie-patterson-6431ba16b/

Connect with Elizabeth (Lizzy) on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-pumpa-560649172/