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My name is Jumana Al Rashdi and I'm in my 4th year of studying Renewable Energy Engineering. I've been training Taekwondo since I was 10 years old. It's become more than a hobby now. I love it with a burning passion! I also recently picked up running as a new hobby during the first lockdown in March last year. It all started when I set a personal challenge to run everyday for one month. I couldn't stop running since then! 

I’d definitely encourage other girls to consider studying renewable energy engineering, especially if you are passionate about keeping our beautiful planet clean. Energy is all around us! The biggest example is electricity. It's up to us engineers to design more sustainable ways of extracting, using, and storing electricity. This will unlock opportunities for a cleaner environment.

When I decided to study Renewable Energy Engineering, I knew that I would have big shoes to fill. Now, my plan is to make our earth more sustainable, and this degree is my weapon of choice.

Back in my second year of university, I took a course that required us to complete a hands-on project which tackles ‘wasted energy’. Most of the other groups pulled out the old ‘composting’ trick, which we’ve all heard and seen many times before. But my group wanted to go big. In just under 8 weeks, our team of 7 built a life-size model of a mechanical truck driver’s chair that would harness the bouncing motion from the springiness of the seat, convert this to electricity and charge a phone.  

Think about it, utilising all that wasted energy from bouncing up and down in a truck is absolutely a form of sustainability! The hand-me-down objects and materials we used made it even more so! Granted, our model didn’t work as well as the compost bags every other group showed up with, but it was great fun modelling, testing and remodelling all while watching our idea spring to life.  

Fast-forward to my fourth year of engineering, I see how taking small leaps of faith through wild innovative ideas boosted my confidence as a woman who wants to change the world. And maybe, juuust maybe, it’s outside-the-box thinking that’ll save our planet. 

Jumana Al Rashdi 

Women in Renewable Energy President