This article is a profile and interview with International Engineering Ambassador, Shruti Vasudev. The full interview can be found on the the Faculty of Engineering newsletter site here.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Shruti Vasudev; my family are Indian but I’ve lived in Kenya all my life as part of the large Indian ex-pat community there. I’m nineteen and studying first year bioengineering here at Sheffield. When I arrived I decided to join the International Ambassador Scheme and I’ve recently returned from Kenya where I was giving talks on studying at Sheffield and coming to live in the UK to students at Schools where I grew up.
How did you decide to study Bioengineering?
At first I wasn’t very sure if I wanted to do engineering or medicine, because I really liked biology but at the same time I really liked maths and physics. When I found out about bioengineering it seemed like the perfect combination for me and when I read about the course content at Sheffield I was very interested in doing it here too.
The subject is very interesting, I’m very intrigued by a lot of the modules and we have amazing tutors. Sheila MacNeil is my role model; she’s just amazing. Everything about bioengineering suits me very well, all my interests are what I’m studying so it’s a lot of fun.
What are your plans for after you finish your degree?
Well I’d like to finish my Masters then work in industry for a year first and eventually I’d like to do my MBA and maybe start my own company. My dad owns a business for cardiac surgery equipment, so In the future I’d like my own company, maybe something like medical imaging.
What have you been doing through the International Ambassador Programme?
This was, undoubtedly, my best experience ever. It was about telling people what we offer at Sheffield, the kind of engineering degrees we do and basically to encourage people to come here. I went to my junior and senior schools at Oshwal Academy. It was so much fun going back to people you know, and they remembered me from last year. The teachers were all there too and they were so proud that one of their students was in the University and had come back to represent [Sheffield]. That was a really big feeling.
One of the other schools I visited, Nairobi Jaffery was a really good experience too. It is a Muslim school and a lot of girls came to my presentation. I think they were surprised to see a girl talking about engineering and to hear that they could do it too. They often come from quite conservative families that don’t always believe in girls taking up something like engineering and when they heard from me that girls can do it and we have jobs all over the world, it meant a lot to them.
It’s a new scheme this year, how do you feel it has gone so far?
Every university should have a scheme like this! I went to Kenya but other students went to other countries and this will make such a big difference. I know personally a lot of students will be considering engineering that wouldn’t have done so before. This scheme is undoubtedly fantastic, it’s such a big thing.
My family in India are teachers and this has been so positive for me that I’m hoping that I can arrange to go and speak in some Indian schools next time I visit.
If you have any questions for Shruti or the International Engineering Ambassadors please leave them in a comment below. Thanks!
