November 2022
ECE Student Spotlight Article
Spotlight on Yasaman Majd, University of Central Florida
Meet Yasman Majd, University of Central Florida student and participant in the 2022 iREDEFINE program. The goal of the iREDEFINE program is to diversify the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) faculty by motivating and preparing PhD students who are women or underrepresented minorities to pursue faculty positions at US universities.
How did you get interested in ECE?
It really came from my childhood. When I was in high school, I was really interested in physics projects, and projects where I could build something using electronics or electricity. So it's all my background in high school in this area.
How has iREDEFINE helped prepare you for the future?
It helped me a lot. It was so helpful because I was the kind of person that was a little bit shy, and a bit afraid to make connections with other people and to present myself. However, in this workshop, I created lots of connections and I now know lots of people and chairs from many different universities. I'm really thankful for this opportunity.
What challenges do you face in ECE?
The most difficult challenge that I faced was that ECE is a male dominated area. Your professors are men, your colleagues are men, and they cannot feel what you feel. For example, some projects are not very well are not well defined for women. Being a woman in a male dominated area is the most difficult challenge.
What part of iREDEFINE have you found to be the most beneficial?
I think the workshop about negotiation was really helpful. During high school and university, nobody taught us how to negotiate for your work. Whether you were going into academia or industry, it is important to know how to negotiation and how to make it a "win win" situation. That was the most beneficial part for me - it was a very good workshop.