Carol Marsh, a student from the Institute for System Level Integration (iSLI) who won the Elektra Award for Student Engineer of the Year in 2007 was invited to the House of Commons to join a discussion on the future of engineering in this country.
At the event earlier this month, MPs, engineering students and representatives from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) debated about the future of engineering and the need for highly skilled engineering students.
“This event focused on the importance of engineers to the UK economy, and ways to promote engineering to young people," said Carol Marsh, who is studying for an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) in System Level Integration at the iSLI.
As part of this, the government-backed ‘Engineering the Future’ initiative aims to introduce technology into mainstream science lessons for pupils attending primary and secondary schools.
At the heart of the matter is the problem companies still experience recruiting engineers with the necessary key skills. The MPs heard how companies are now working with universities to shape future engineering courses to ensure that students graduate with skills-sets that are relevant to industry.
Marsh is currently in her fourth year of her research, which is sponsored by Algotronix.