I was born and grew up in a very small town in the north of a beautiful country, Bangladesh. In this developing country, a girl child has always been considered as a burden and are deprived of all the basic needs compared to a boy child. However, in my family, we never felt that difference among our siblings (We are three sisters and a brother). This value has always motivated us and made us go an extra mile than others. While other people in my town were busy making money to invest in properties; my parents devoted their life for us, to provide us with both institutional and moral values.

In the early years, I was the weakest in studies among my siblings. Hence, everyone had the least expectations from me. However, my parents have always encouraged me to do the best I can. I wasn’t sure what I want to do in life, but I knew who I want to be; it was my cousin who was the most loved and respected in my family. He is an engineer and did his PhD from UNSW. At that age, I didn’t realize what these terms mean, but I knew I want to achieve these titles. Therefore, I started to follow his path. I surprised everyone when I achieved merit position not only in the Primary School Certificate (PSC) examination; but also in the Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination.

After my school years, I moved to a bigger city to pursue my higher secondary education at the best college in the whole division. While my successes were giving me hope and motivation before, at this stage of my life, I struggled to adapt to the new environment. This made me pay a high price; a mediocre result in my Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination. This shattered all my dreams. In Bangladesh, we need a minimum score from the school and college years to at least sit for the university admission test. Although I was struggling to apply for the examination, I never gave up. I worked hard, believed in myself and finally turned back. I got admission in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (which I always dreamt of) at one of the top universities in Bangladesh, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET). I also have received Undergraduate Merit Scholarship due to the excellent academic performance during B.Sc. Studies.

After getting married, I moved to Malaysia, and I completed my M.Sc in Communication Engineering from International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Malaysia, in 2012. I continued to show my academic excellence and research performance which awarded me with “Rector’s Award”; one of the most prestigious awards for postgraduate students of IIUM. Besides the academic brilliance, I became the vice president of postgraduate student society (PGSS) of IIUM, where I arranged workshops, seminars and recreational activities to provide a fun campus life.

I started my career life as a lecturer at Linton University College, Malaysia. It was such a great experience to contribute the society by building proficient engineers. However, I always wanted to pursue a PhD in Australia. I applied for several years and finally received the Macquarie University International Scholarship offer for Pursuing PhD. I was two months pregnant then, and it wasn’t easy to come alone in a new country without family. Thanks to my husband and extended family, who supported me throughout this journey.

Now I am doing my PhD to develop smart sensing systems for a smart city. The existence of such sensing systems in a city provides an opportunity for decision-makers to test assumptions and scenarios, reducing the chance of costly mistakes with the infrastructure. In addition to my PhD, I’m also working as an IEEE WIE affinity group event coordinator, where we arrange different workshops and seminars to help people working in the tech industry. Till date, whatever I achieved in my short span of life, I realized that all our dreams can come true if we dare to pursue them.