IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 5

Women to Watch

Tackling Teaching
and Research
Ooi extols the benefits of networking

w

When asked if she always intended
to make her career in academia, Dr.
Melanie Ooi, laughing, replies, "No!
Emphatically no." But almost a decade
after earning her Ph.D. degree, she
reflects back on the meaning she has
found in it.
"Growing up, I was ambitious
and driven, and I assumed teaching
required a nurturing value that I didn't
have," she says. As she pursued both
her master's and Ph.D. degrees, however, she did projects in industry while
teaching, eventually realizing the ways
in which academia allowed her to give
back to society.
"In engineering you build systems,
while in teaching you build new skills
that develop the engineers who will
build those systems," she explains. "This
seemed like something I could do to
contribute to my country while also having a life and a family. I tell my students
to take their skills back to their communities and build them to make a better
life for everyone."

engineer. "There was still a bit of discouragement when I was going through
my studies because people didn't think
engineering was a 'female profession,'
but Malaysia has a fair number of
women in engineering and in leadership, so it wasn't completely foreign," she

recalls. Ooi also credits the university
she attended, Monash, with supporting
her and never making her feel "different" because of her gender.
Ooi continued on at Monash for her
master's degree in electronic and computer engineering and then her Ph.D.
degree in electrical and computer systems engineering. It was during this
time, a self-described "crazy three
years," when she also discovered her talent for teaching.
"I needed a job after finishing my
master's because my father was retiring,
and my mother had an unpredictable
salary. As one of only two daughters, and
the only one in Malaysia at the time, I
had to make sure I had a stable income,"
she explains. Since she still wanted to
pursue her Ph.D. degree, it made sense

Overcoming Barriers
Growing up in Malaysia, Ooi says she
considered a career in engineering from
a young age because her father is an
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MWIE.2020.3020516
Date of current version: 4 November 2020

Ooi with IEEE Past President Roberto De Marca after receiving the IEEE
Instrumentation and Measurement Outstanding Young Engineer Award.

DECEMBER 2020

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

5



IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020

Contents
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - Cover1
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - Cover2
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - Contents
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 2
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 3
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 4
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 5
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 6
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 7
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 8
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 9
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 10
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 11
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 12
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 13
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 14
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 15
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 16
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 17
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 18
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 19
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 20
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 21
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 22
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 23
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 24
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 25
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 26
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 27
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 28
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 29
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 30
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 31
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 32
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 33
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 34
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 35
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 36
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 37
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 38
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 39
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - 40
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - Cover3
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2020 - Cover4
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