Shini Somara: How did your career evolve?
Jennifer Olsen: I had wanted to do biomedical engineering from around the age of 16. Before then, I had no idea what an engineer was. I assumed they just fixed trains and cars, and doing that didn’t really interest me. I was interested in medicine and helping people, but I didn’t want to be a doctor. I believe that many women, myself included, choose engineering later on, because they have many misconceptions about the profession.
I only learned about what engineering is through the National Engineering Competition for girls in 2016, which I eventually won. This led me into prosthetic research via a university degree in mechanical engineering.
As a healthcare profession, biomedical engineering tends to attract a higher number of women, but it is also looked down upon. Many people do not consider biomedical engineering to be ‘real’ engineering, perhaps because we don’t work with massive heavy structures. But,...