Myra Muhammad (above) speaking to the students that visited Firemark Labs.
Out at the Research Centre, James Thomson, Oliver Klaus, and John Farrugia took the second half of the students through a presentation of what they do out there, and a tour of the facilities. The workshop tour covered what happens out at the Research Centre, including vehicle times, vehicle research, crash testing, safety assessments, and repair methods. John went through a ‘day in the life of’ with the students to help them understand what an engineer actually does. They got to see all of the equipment and test rigs, fire the hail gun, and watch a vehicle being dismantled and timed for NTAR (new times and rates).
During James’ presentation and tour, he encouraged the young women to ask questions, a lot of which related to getting jobs, how to apply, and how did you know you liked engineering. He explained that engineers solve problems and exist in every facet of life, relaying a brief history of when he studied engineering and how he ended up at IAG. He explained how he did work experience at the Research Centre that led to a job, and that networking is extremely important. James also discussed the ever increasing number of female engineers in the field, and that any idea of engineering being a male oriented career choice is an outdated paradigm. He advised the students that if they wanted to pursue engineering as a career, they should go for it and ignore the stereotypes.
Both the team at the Research Centre and here at Firemark Labs felt a great connection to these women, who were interested in both the opportunities that can be found within IAG, and the chance to ask their burning questions around engineering and the workplace.
Firemark Labs will continue to be more involved in programs like this in the future, as we love not only inspiring the next generation of our future colleagues, but we love being inspired by them and their fresh innovative ideas. We are looking into creating a work experience program within Firemark Labs and the Research Centre which will give students the opportunity to come and see exactly what we do day to day.
You can find out more about the Research Centre here.
To find out more about UNSW’s Women in Engineering program, click here.
