women-engineers-from-nigeria

"It is important for the country to focus on sustainability, which includes renewable energy that gives a sustainable source of power supply."

"Food insecurity is a major concern to majority of the developing world."

"Nigeria must increase food production through the development of relevant machinery and equipment to process and produce more food."

"That is to say that every day, about 60 million Nigerians go to bed hungry, this should challenge us as well as touch us deeply."

"Today, the issue of food insecurity worldwide is at a critical stage. All of us cannot deny that it is a tragedy of today that one billion people go to bed hungry everyday with a no better tomorrow."

"Q: How is the Nigerian technical sector working to enact laws to prioritize the education of the underprivileged children? A: Teachers are encouraged to put in their best. These would ultimately provide a cheaper and qualitative education. Notwithstanding, we would look into ways to ensure that children who are very bright but underprivileged go to school."

"Q:: Education in Nigeria today is fast dropping in standards. How else can we harness the potential of the skilled child in Nigeria today? A: We can organize programs to discover them as the Project Skill Competition organized here today. Our sole aim should be on how to encourage these children to discover their environment and proffer solution."

"Talking about biogas, I think Nigeria is behind, because presently in Indian, they have so perfected it that one can buy plastic biogas generators at home and cook with it, power the house."

"If we can harness God given natural resources such as water, wind, steam turbines, fossil fuel, biomass, geothermal and solar energy source, among others, the cost of production of energy in the country would drop drastically."

"Engineering wasn’t an obvious path for me at first; it was something I discovered along the way."

"My family, especially my father, played a huge role in building my confidence."

"I prayed for it, and I certainly wanted it. Like any goal, you give it your all, even though there’s never a guarantee of the outcome."

"There’s no question. And what the Honors College did for me, was it positioned me to have a solid foundation in my course work and my academics, particularly the first few classes that I took that were Honors classes, really helped me – I would say, that they definitely helped me transition to the aerospace engineering program versus coming fresh out of high school and Nigeria because the classes were intimate and provided an opportunity for me to learn with other high-achieving students."

"But instead, I basically kind of took a pay cut for higher learning. But with that pay cut and all of these fellowships, I was able to keep my head above water and focus on learning. Focus on my Ph.D. program."

"I can’t even imagine how I would have struggled during the first year transitioning to being an aerospace engineering freshman at UT Arlington, but again arduous is relative."

"Everybody just wants to know, what’s your story, how did you get to NASA? How did a 26-year-old black girl get a Ph.D. in something like aerospace engineering and get to work at NASA?"

"The reason I started to share, the reason I created my professional Instagram and Twitter pages, is because I’ve heard a million and one times, that my story’s not just for me. People have told me multiple times – Wendy, it’s not about you, it’s bigger than you."

"I didn’t have negative experiences. But again, you stand out, and it’s just how you stand out that matters. But you will stand out regardless when you’re in the minority: when you’re female, when you’re black, or when you’re young."

"Now, generally, you do have the expectations you set for yourself. To what extent does imposter syndrome manifests with you and it varies for different people. How I handle it is I try to be super, overly diligent with everything, I have to know everything. I have to start from scratch; I have to understand it. And it’s very imperative; it’s important for me that my achievements are attributed to my capabilities and not simply because I am a Woman of Color in this field. It has to be my technical expertise that has brought me here or taken me there."

"I was that person that would ask companies – hey, can your company help with this or that?"

"It was a lot of responsibility for sure. But it came with a lot of growth as well. Growth and independence of some sort."

"So, when I got to grad school, it was a little different. My involvement with the Honors College was morphed. I was not really an Honors student which is more focused on undergrads."

"Yes, I got my Ph.D. in aerospace at UT Arlington in 2015. But before that, I was there for undergraduate and got my undergraduate degree in 2010."

"Digitising African languages will help make information more accessible to Africans."

"Contribute to the momentum needed to work towards making voice technologies accessible to all Africans."

"No man like God."

"If I’m receiving this amount in grants, it’s because somebody believes in me—somebody thinks that I have a role to play in ensuring that engineering can become the tool for that economic development in my country."

"Purpose is an ongoing thing… You don’t wake up one day knowing all that you’re supposed to be about. It reveals itself through action, the process of trying things."

"Digital engineering sits right at the heart of this progress and the big change is now we have the ability to build a project twice."

"With great times and also challenging times, I have come to really appreciate the beauty of engineering. The creativity, the daring to dream, and the art of storytelling conceptual ideas; achieving an exact expression of sequence, relation, and logic is what creates the built environment and technologies that shape and influence our daily experiences."

"People you work with always require you to demonstrate your expertise in whatever you do, so I am constantly working to ensure that I am able to demonstrate competence, and bring something new and creative to the table."

"Engineering in a work environment is all about finding correct solutions to real life problems/challenges."

"I enjoy carrying out relevant research as well as speaking to lots of people. This always helps to improve my knowledge."

"The biggest difference I’ve noticed is that work is very practical. Engineering in a work environment is all about finding correct solutions to real life problems/challenges. University is mainly about gaining the theoretical know-how to then be applied in industry (work)."

"Engineering is about finding solutions that improve people’s lives and there is a great need for the superb, interactive, unique and creative contribution we all have to offer."

"With creativity, amazing Engineering is possible. Learning the principles of engineering is a great way to equip oneself with the ability to design/build some pretty cool things."

"The fact that engineering solutions are so visible is a great reason for young people to consider careers in the profession."

"By concentrating on the opportunities to develop creative solutions for our world, you can ease the sense of being overwhelmed."

"It’s essential to be part of organizations and programs that foster and support growth. Actively seeking out opportunities to learn and acquire valuable skills is crucial."

"Teaching in Further Education can be a powerful way to share your skills and experience to help shape the future workforce and ensure a strong pipeline of talent entering the field."

"Female industry professionals have a profound impact when they share their skills and experiences."

"Be curious enough to explore and understand engineering solutions from different parts of the world. By embracing these opportunities, you can make a significant impact on the engineering industry and inspire future generations to follow in your footsteps."

"At this point, I realised it was not enough just to inspire people. It was essential for me, as best as I could, to share the tools and the mechanisms for women to grab opportunities to thrive in engineering."

"We must keep believing in the changes we want to see, and we must stay true to ourselves and the progress we’re seeking."

"I believe in huge possibilities and I’ve discovered that there is no lack of possibilities and opportunities out there."

"There will be times when people don’t have confidence in you, but the worst thing is to not have confidence in yourself."

"Where there isn’t that much oil, you can see solar panel farms popping up, wind turbine farms, and there’s that accelerated renewable response because of a lack of a natural resource."

"We need our allies, and sometimes it gets tiring, so it’s a balance. We have to take care of ourselves and step back and know that actually we’re doing it on our own terms."

"Integrity pays!!! It may take a very long time to achieve but it truly pays."

"Every win, every success, every contribution to ensuring that the platforms for women and women opportunities increase is breaking the stereotype! It is only male-dominated because not enough females have been given the opportunity, not because females are less qualified."