IJARS is proud to present the first person who has accepted the challenging task of acting as an ambassador for our Women in Robotics project.
Dr. Amy Loutfi (University of Örebro, Sweden) has joined the initiative with her reflection on the female role in engineering. Here is her story.
Over the years working as a researcher and as an engineer, I have come to understand that seldom is there only one absolute solution to any given problem. Often we work with a number of constraints in our research, whether they be functional, economical or even aesthetic and ethical. To comply with these different constraints requires us to think creatively, finding new ways and avenues to explore in order to provide multifaceted solutions for the benefit of potential users.
For me, it has always been obvious that in order for our field to be strong, we need diversity. We need different people, as we need different solutions. Diversity in culture, background and gender inject new perspectives into the field and generate new ideas. So encouraging a balance between women and men in robotics and intelligent systems seems like an obvious necessity for the strengthening and betterment of the field.
During my career and lifetime, there have been few key events which have made me reflect over the role of women in engineering. One of the very first was the tragic circumstances in Montreal in 1989 where one lone gunman had shot and killed 14 young women engineering students. He had entered the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal and systematically targeted the women students. I was only 11 when the shootings occurred but still remember feeling a sense of shock and confusion. I simply could not understand how women studying engineering could in any way be provocative. Still, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons that led to me choosing a career in science and engineering.
Admittedly, much of my everyday life is not spent noticing nor identifying myself as a minority in my field. That is why initiatives like the one in IJARS are important as they highlight the balance between the genders and give us researchers and engineers an opportunity to do what we do best – to reflect.
In the following months we will present the stories of our other ambassadors: Dr. Nina Robson (California State University Fullerton, USA) and Dr. M. Bernardine Dias (Carnegie Mellon University, USA), so stay tuned.
We invite you once more to take an active part in this initiative by submitting your paper to the journal. You can find more details on the deadlines and updates on our webpage.
Sincerely yours,
The IJARS team
