Women take on non-female industries

Nida Hafeez-Baig may only be in Year 8, but this determined young student’s sights are set firmly on a career in medicine. And while it might be a number of years before she picks up a stethoscope, Nida is taking every opportunity to prove she has what it takes to pursue a career in science.

The Surfy Chicks may not sound like the name of a science and engineering project, but Nida and her fellow East Toowoomba class mate blitzed the all boy competition when their Lego robots won last year’s RoboCup Junior, an event held at USQ.

In a bid to highlight career opportunities for girls like Nida, and encourage women in the traditionally male-dominated area of Science, Engineering and Technology, the University will again host the Best of the WEST awards.

Nominations for the awards close Friday September 17, and are open to female USQ staff and students, as well as women and girls in Engineering, Science (including Mathematics) and Technology (SET) located in regional, rural and remote areas of Queensland.

The awards aim to recognise and celebrate the achievements of outstanding women and girls in these fields, where females are traditionally under-represented.

Nida said competing in the competition gave her more confidence, and she was excited to be the only girl team in the event and still win.

'We made two robots, and we had to program them to make them turn in circles to music. Our theme was surfy chicks and we made a beach backdrop for our robots to move around on. It was a bit of a challenge to enter the competition but our teacher encouraged us to. The programming was the hardest,' Nida said.

The Best of the WEST awards are proudly sponsored by USQ and its Go WEST (Go Women in Engineering, Science and Technology) project team coordinate the Awards. Winners will be announced during a ceremony on Thursday, 14 October, 3.30pm in the Allison Dickson Lecture Theatre at USQ Toowoomba.

For more information please contact Project Manager (Scholarships & Best of the WEST Awards) Fiona Margetts 4631 1234 or visit the website.