She wanted to be a maths teacher, but became an engineer instead. After working as a systems engineer, a design engineer and a senior mechanical engineer, the world is now her oyster. Meet Marisa Kurimbokus, this year's winner of Young Woman Engineer of the Year
Who I am
My name is Marisa Kurimbokus. I'm a chartered Engineer with a career spanning over a decade in product design and systems engineering within the automotive and power electronics industries.
What inspired you to get into engineering?
Ultimately, I was a teenager who really enjoyed maths and physics. I wanted to help people, but I didn't know how to do that. Coming from two non-professional immigrant parents, I didn't know what a professional career could look like.
I decided I should become a maths teacher because I could do both – I could help people through a subject I really loved. This changed when my physics teacher sent my friend on a course which included a lecture about careers in engineering. I went along with her, and in the end, funnily enough, I became the engineer, and she became the maths teacher.
What difference do you think this kind of an award can make to women engineers?
The IET's YWE platform is incredibly important because I know that I'm not alone. I was that teenager who didn't know what an engineer was. I didn't know what an engineering career could look like. And I didn't know that it was an exciting and creative dynamic industry where I could do really, really well. And I know that I'm not alone there. I know there are lots of other students, boys and girls, who only understand the stereotype of what an engineer is and can't visualise themselves in that role. I want to use this platform to reach out to those students and say that we desperately want you to come and join us.
What can the IET and wider society do to get more women into the sector?
Awards like this are really important in breaking those preconceived industry stereotypes and celebrating the breadth of engineering, showing how much there is on offer.
When you see engineers on TV, they are usually the stereotypical images of working underneath a car - they don't show you all the different facets the engineering industry has - not the creative side, not the caring side, and it doesn't speak to people who want to picture themselves in that industry and have a successful career there, especially for women. We're always taught right from the word go that you should be gentle and caring and loving and, elegant and creative, and actually, all of those things are completely the right personality traits that we want in engineering. What could be more caring than developing technologies and systems that help other people?
What do you think wider society can do to improve matters?
'I hate maths' is my number one most hated phrase in the English language. I'd get slated for going to other people and saying, 'I hate music' or 'I hate arts.' Yet, for it to be socially acceptable to say, 'I hate maths,' is completely ridiculous. Plus, it's a fundamental of engineering, along with science.
We need other skills as well, and as a society we need to celebrate people who are good at different subjects and areas because they will be creating the future as engineers.
What are you working on at the moment, and why is it important?
In my most recent role, I led a team to design and manufacture high-speed air compressors primarily for hydrogen fuel cells - which is incredibly exciting, with hydrogen fuel cells being the future of net-zero transport. You pump air and hydrogen into a fuel cell, and you get water and electricity that can be used to power vehicles. It could work in power generators and anything you need electricity for.
One project I worked on was Project Heidi, which was developing air compressors to be used in buses and, in particular, the London bus network, both for new buses and retrofitting.
What's next in your career?
I have experience in mechanical engineering, the automotive industry, and other areas like aerospace, and I've been very lucky to have had that breadth of practice. I feel like the world is my oyster at this point, and I want to discover all the different areas an engineer could benefit from - where I can acquire those specific skills.
I've worked hard to get to the point where I can make a difference. Now, I'm not just learning, I'm able contribute and give back. It's great to be able to work independently on projects or to even take it a step further and start mentoring other people and supporting them through their careers, which I really enjoy.
Where do you see yourself in the next decade or so?
I want to start building my knowledge base and building my skillsets. For example, moving into management - I want to become the best leader I can be for a team and develop my leadership and people skills. My background is in mechanical engineering, so I want to continue growing my technical skills. There's this whole fantastic world of electronics and software where I feel I've got so much more to learn. In the future, I'd like to think that I've got a better grasp of it and can move into a role where I can meaningfully use those skills.
What kind of breakthroughs would you like to see in your field?
I want to see technology starting to move from R&D, which is where I have primarily been in my career, and start to see it out there in the real world. I have worked on some exciting power electronics projects as well as air compressor projects. While it's still early on in terms of technological development, I want to see them passing testing, passing certification, and actually getting out there into the real world. Engineering is so exciting because we've got all these really big things in the world, big questions, big problems, and that's where this can make the difference.
What do you hope to achieve in your career?
What I'd like to see more of is people coming to understand what engineering is and start enticing more students, both male and female, into the industry. I want people to appreciate what engineers do and celebrate it more than we have done. That would be huge for me - for people to appreciate the hard work that goes into engineering anything, especially in the UK. We've got so many fantastic and brilliant minds in the industry, and they really deserve a lot more recognition than they receive.
What is the best part of working in your area of engineering?
I love so many things about my work, but the people are a big one - I work with some incredibly talented and inspiring engineers. I learn something new every day from everybody in my area - from the head of the department to the junior engineers - and I love that. On a personal level as well, I love that my work has a real, tangible final product.
One of the cars that I worked on as a graduate, I now own, and I can genuinely say it's the best door panel in the world because I personally designed it. Now I've got a child of my own, I can take him into a Triumph Motorcycle dealership and tell him 'I did that and one day, you can too.'
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The IET hosted the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards at Savoy Place on December 9, 2024 celebrating some of the best young talent in engineering.