To celebrate International Women in Engineering Day we're sharing individual stories of women engineers from across UKCRIC member institutions.
Tell us about your role and what you find most exciting about it.
I am excited about my role as lab manager of structures laboratory at University of Edinburgh. I manager the structures laboratory, to make sure structural testings by academics, students and external clients perform in a safe and efficient way.
What inspired you to become an engineer?
I lived in Hong Kong where there are a lot of skyscrapers and infrastructures. However, the mountains, the sea and weather in Hong Kong actually make it one of the most challenging cities in the world to build infrastructure. I was inspired to become a civil engineer after watching a TV programme talking about how engineers met these challenges to build amazing bridges and buildings in a challenging environment.
How do you balance your professional and personal lives?
I am an academic with two young children. Balance between professional and personal lives is difficult, but the school allows flexible working hour and working from home for childcare.
In your opinion is there more that can be done to encourage a greater diversity of people into engineering careers?
Civil engineering has greater diversity of people taking it as their career, especially with an increasing use of robotic and digital manufacturing technology. Promotion of such trend and diversity of people to targeted groups before they choose their degree programme in university could be helpful.
What advice would you give for anyone interested in pursuing an engineering career?
Engineering is about meeting challenges, thus you will never get bored in engineering career.
Dr. Yuner Huang is a Lecturer in Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Edinburgh.