How would you introduce yourself in one sentence?

I am a hardworking Chinese-Kiwi who likes to experience new places, cultures, and adventures.

Why did you choose to study electrical engineering?

During high school, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do career-wise but what drew me to engineering was the fact that it involved being able to design and build systems/structures that are useful or important to people. Because of the importance of engineering, I thought it would be something really cool to study. I decided to major in electrical and electronics engineering because I found the concepts of electricity and electronics quite fascinating and interesting.

In which projects have you been involved in and outside of university?

During my time at university, I have worked on a range of different projects. One of which involved creating a heated glove for researchers in the Antarctic that were prone to frostbite. This project involved designing circuits, running simulations, and designing PCB boards. I am also currently working on a project involving the image processing of plants to measure the growth rate. We are using MATLAB to process images and Raspberry Pi to automate taking pictures daily and sending them to a PC for image processing.

During the summer I also worked as an intern at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare in which I worked on a project involving product development of one of their products. It involved figuring out the best way to detect if the alarm sounds of the device are functioning properly to ensure that the user was aware of errors in the device as soon as possible to prevent injury to patients. For this project, I simulated circuits, built prototype circuits, did numerous testing and experiments, designed PCB boards, and built and tested the PCB boards I designed. During this project I was able to learn many practical skills.

How would you like to contribute to the electricity supply industry in the future?

I have a strong interest in the power sector and see my future career related to this industry. It is an interesting time for the power industry as there are many improvements and changes to make as the demand for electricity has increased greatly over the years and will continue to do so in the future. As a student soon to graduate, I know there are many opportunities in the power industry. I hope I can bring new ideas and solutions to the table and do my part towards making improvements in the power industry. I hope that the work I complete in the future will have a lasting positive impact on the world.

What is the most important piece of advice you would give to high school students wanting to start a degree in engineering? And to university students wanting to specialise in power engineering?

My advice would be to select the choice that interests you the most! Engineering has such a wide range of specialisations and when you make that choice you are potentially choosing what you may be doing for many years after you graduate. It’s important that you enjoy what you are learning and are passionate about the work you do.