As a new generation of promising Women graduates in Engineering prepares to enter the workforce, there are women engineers who have battled barriers and found success. WomenEntrepreneurIndia has recognized six successful Indian female engineers to highlight:
Engineers' Day 2021 is celebrated on September 15 in India to honour one of the country's greatest engineers, Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. He was referred to as the "precursor of economic planning in India," according to the Institution of Engineers India (IEI).
Success, as we all know, is a result of hard effort and determination, regardless of a person's gender, caste, or colour. There is nothing a woman cannot do nowadays. Many women are going after brilliant careers in engineering. Many accomplished women engineers have broken down barriers, written their own stories, and inspired others to dream and follow their goals.
On this day, we present a list of 6 female engineers who have made every Indian proud.
Lalitha - India’s first woman Electrical Engineer
At the age of 15, she was married, and at the age of 18, she gave birth to her daughter. Her husband died a few months later in 1937. She made the decision to enrol in a professional course rather than stay at home.
In 1939, she made an application to the College of Engineering Guindy (CEG), a male-only college in Chennai. She then became the first female student at CEG, a widow, and a mother.
She worked with her father for a while after receiving her honours degree, assisting him in his study. Later, she worked for a British company called Associated Electrical Industries.
Then she started planning substation layouts, designing transmission lines, and carrying out contracts. Additionally, she was involved in the development of the electrical generators for the Bhakra Nangal Dam.
She was the first Indian woman engineer to attend the New Yorkbased First International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists in 1964. She passed away in 1979.
Rajeshwari Chatterjee - First woman engineer from Karnataka
She attended an experimental school for her early schooling. Her grandmother founded this school in the Mahila Seva Samaj in Basavanagudi. She graduated from Bengaluru's Maharani's College with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Mathematics and an M.Sc. in Mathematics. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a Ph.D.
She and her spouse had both joined the Department of Communication Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), where she was the only female faculty member. She was regarded as Karnataka's first female engineer.
At IISc, she established a microwave research facility and performed research in the subject. Her contributions to microwave research are still important today and are used in defence applications as well as RADAR.
She was posthumously recognised by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development as one of India's "first women achievers." She died in 2010 at the age of 88.
Vinita Gupta - Founder and Chairman of Digital Link Corporation (now Quick Eagle Networks)
In 1950, she was born in Delhi, India. She is an American businesswoman of Indian descent. She founded Digital Link Corporation, which is now Quick Eagle Networks, and is recognised as the first woman of Indian ancestry to launch her business in the US.
She graduated from the University of Roorkee with a bachelor's degree in electronics and communications (now Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee). She moved to the country in 1974 and later graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with an M.S. in electrical engineering.
Prachi Gupta-entrepreneurial engineer
She has twenty years of experience working for consumer technology companies. She is a creative engineer who likes to prototype concepts and create, build, and execute useful software.
She co-founded LinkedIn's Women in Technology, is a vocal advocate for diversity in STEM fields, and serves on the board of Women's Audio Mission as an alumna.
She holds a master's degree in computer science and has substantial experience working with startups to investigate cutting-edge solutions to actual challenges.
Kirthiga Reddy - Growth-stage Investor | Technology Executive | Board Member
She has managed technological transformations for around twenty years. She is SoftBank Investment Advisers' first female Investing Partner (SBIA).
She had previously served as managing director for Facebook South Asia and India. She is one of the F7 Seed Fund's co-founders.
She is a board observer for Pear Therapeutics and participates on the boards of Collective Health, Fungible, and WeWork.
She graduated from Stanford University with an MBA. She earned an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University with the highest honours as an Arjay Miller Scholar. Additionally, she completed a B.E. in computer science at Marathwada University in India.
Among other accolades, she has been named one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People in Business" and one of Fortune India's "Most Powerful Women."
Nandini Ramani, Vice President of Engineering, Twitter
Nandini Ramani is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Outcome Health and has over 27 years of expertise in her field. In 1993, she began working for Satellite Imaging Group. She has collaborated with many well-known companies, including Twitter, Oracle Corporation, Makers Women, and others.
Nandini Ramani was an integral part of Twitter's technical operations as the company's vice president of engineering. She was also essential to Twitter's product strategy for global and, more critically, Indian developing marketing. One of the other projects Nandini Ramani worked on was Twitter's Early Bird Camp, an internship programme for high school students.
It's interesting to note that the executive sponsor of Twitter's group for women also happens to be the former vice president of Oracle.
She graduated from IISc, Bangalore, with a master's in electrical engineering.
Although her career path was difficult, she persevered and is now among the most accomplished women. She sees the world as being full with opportunities for technical women, but only 8% of them succeed. She has experienced many ups and downs in her life, but she ultimately succeeded.
