The Bridge - Issue 3, 2021 - 36

Student Profile
Sabrina Helbig
IEEE-HKN Beta Delta Chapter
University of Pittsburgh,
BSEE 2020, MSEE 2022
Sabrina Helbig began her graduate studies in
January 2021 at the University of Pittsburgh for a
Master's in Electrical Engineering with a focus on
power electronics. Her professional and academic
interests include renewable energy and resilient
power systems, and she finds meteorology and
mass transportation to be quite interesting. During
her undergraduate experience, Sabrina completed
an internship with Westinghouse Nuclear and three
rotations of co-op with Eaton. This past summer,
she completed an internship with Eaton in its power
electronics R&D group outside of Milwaukee, WI.
Sabrina is active in many clubs and organizations: She
is the current Treasurer and Corresponding Secretary
of the IEEE-HKN Beta Delta Chapter, for which she
previously served as President, Vice President, and
Recording Secretary. She is the IEEE PES-PELS student
chapter Vice President at the University of Pittsburgh,
and is a member of the Society of Women Engineers.
Sabrina is the recipient of the 2021 IEEE Charles
LeGeyt Fortescue Scholarship and the 2020-21 IEEE
Power & Energy Society Scholar, and was named
an Anne-Marie Sahazizian Scholar by IEEE PES. She
published a paper with her senior design team for
the 2021 American Society of Engineering Education
(ASEE) conference. She has studied abroad in France,
China, and Scandinavia. Hobbies include traveling and
learning about languages and cultures; running 5Ks
and 10Ks, yoga, poetry, photography, snowboarding,
food, and volunteering.
THE BRIDGE
Why did you choose to study
electrical engineering?
I first encountered electrical engineering in eighth
grade in our pre-engineering class. Building circuits
from schematics, I immediately thought, " This is so
cool! Give me more circuits to work on! " Throughout
middle school and high school, I learned about how
engineering applies principles of math, science, and
(as I later discovered) creativity to solve complex realworld
problems. Engineering, especially the electrical
domain, struck me as incredibly interesting. Plus, I liked
the notion that I could help and serve people as an
engineer. Further, a two-week study abroad program
in Scandinavia, called Clean Energy Grid Engineering,
exposed me to Scandinavia's holistic integration of
renewable energy, power system considerations,
electrical specifications and interconnections, and
social, political, and economic ramifications. Since that
adventure, I decided to foray into electric power, with
particular interest in renewable energy and
resilient grids.
During her semester abroad in Scotland, Sabrina climbed to the
top of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh.
What do you love about engineering?
I love the variety of fields, industries, and applications
that an engineer can have a hand in and their dynamic
evolution; engineers have a measure of mobility in
the opportunities that they can pursue, and there is
always something new to learn, design, improve, or
apply. Additionally, I love the challenge: Engineering in
any discipline or domain is not an easy feat, and while
it can be cumbersome to grapple with the challenges
posed by personal, professional, and technical
development, the prospects for discovering something
new or different, working through unexpected problems
and intricate technical interdependencies, and growing
along the way are incredibly exciting.
https://hkn.ieee.org/
The Bridge - Issue 3, 2021

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