The College's recent engineering event provided the chance to network with like-minded members of Lucy
On Tuesday the 22nd of February, Lucy Cavendish College, having welcomed its first full cohort of undergraduate engineering students this year, hosted the inaugural virtual networking event for Lucy’s alumni, students and friends who work, or want to work, in Engineering.
Students who are just starting their career in engineering, or are looking to do so soon, had the chance to network with like-minded members of Lucy who already have a wealth of experience in the sector.
Topics of discussion included the influence of engineering education on the engineer and which attitudes you will need to harness to help you move forward in the engineering sector.
Host and panellist, Lucy alumna Marianna Kopsida gave an overview of the event and introduced the panel discussion segment, chaired by our Director of Studies in engineering Dr Jurgen Beque.
The discussion continued with the involvement of the other two panellists, Lecturer in Engineering Management Dr Shuya Zhong and Lucy alumna Dr April Bowman.
The event then opened for questions from the attendees, who were subsequently put in breakout rooms to discuss the 3 personal attitudes that you can harness to help you move forward in the engineering sector.
Dr Beque comments: “[The event] was an interesting reflection on the two-way relationship between engineering education and practice. Many interesting aspects were discussed, such as the necessity for life-long learning, the need for engineers to have a multi-disciplinary and generic skillset and the changing nature of engineering education.”
Host and panellist Marianna Kopsida adds: "I have been really honoured that Lucy Cavendish College provided me with the opportunity to participate and host such a nice event. The event was a fantastic experience, I learned a lot, and I really enjoyed getting connected with new people and with people that I knew from my time at Lucy. It is really nice to feel part of the Lucy community in this manner."
If you are interested in watching the event’s recording please email Ella Barrett.
About the speakers
Marianna Kopsida works for Trimble as Advanced Solutions Manager 3D for the Geospatial Division. Her work focuses on digital-based workflows with an interest around Augmented Reality, Digital Construction, and Digital Twins. Marianna hosted this event.
Dr Jurgen Becque is Director of Studies in Engineering at Lucy. Jurgen practised as a design engineer for AECOM, specialising in the design of low-rise steel frame buildings, steel plate girder bridges, concrete tanks, and water treatment facilities. His key research interests include the stability of cold-formed steel and stainless steel structural elements, tri-axial concrete behaviour, connections in structural hollow sections and the application of FRP to strengthen concrete structures. Jurgen chaired the panel discussion at this event.
Dr Shuya Zhong is a Lecturer in Engineering Management at the University of Exeter. She studies optimisation techniques for improving the efficiency and sustainability of logistics and supply chain systems, in different scenarios such as warehousing, renewable energies and manufacturing. Prior to joining Exeter, she worked as postdoc at the University of Cambridge during 2018-20 and National University of Singapore, after completing PhD in Shanghai University in China. She has education and working experience from both the Business School and Engineering Department. Shuya was a panellist at this event.
Dr April Bowman currently serves as a Research Civil Engineer in the Centrifuge Research Complex of the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (Vicksburg, Mississippi). April was a panellist at this event.