We asked Ana to tell us about winning I’m an Engineer, and here is what she said…

A few months ago, my very good friend, also fellow scientist and enthusiastic STEM ambassador (which was in fact, the person that got me into to being one) forwarded me the link to I’m an Engineer for me to apply. Possibly because I looked it up quickly on the phone whilst commuting, I read it quickly and thought that the deadline was already gone. For some reason, a few days after, I looked at it again thinking: ‘this would be soooo cool’ and realised that I was still on time for the March edition and decided to apply, again, thinking, that there was no chance I could ever get in.
My surprise came when I received an email confirming that I was in, and I couldn’t be happier.

The main reason for me to want to take part is because for me, as a student, I didn’t get an opportunity to be part of something like this. Growing up, the word Engineer meant possibly nothing to me and I had no idea that engineers could do so many diverse jobs or even become one. In fact, the sole opportunity of being able to ask absolutely ANY question that crosses your mind I think it is mind blowing. I can picture myself as a student, being super-shy, not in a million years I would have been able to ask the questions that I got asked for this in any situation whatsoever.

I really hope that all the students that asked questions and interacted with all of us in all the different zones, got the chance to learn something new and hopefully got inspired by our words. I have always believed that the exposure to something like STEM, or in this case, engineering, can help you become a little bit less scared of physics, chemistry or maths and see it as something you want to be when you grow up.

I am very proud of having survived this process and of course, very thankful for al the votes.

Now I look forward to investing the money and my time in creating a project to keep the ball rolling, so more students can learn from the experience and of course, think about engineering as something fun and cool to be inspired by. My plan is to create an online resource, possibly a blog, where I can teach about materials using examples from baking and cooking, all of them my passion.

Thank you very much to everyone!!
Ana.