Learning how to solve problems
Around 80 female students from all over Switzerland had the opportunity to gain insights into electrical engineering and mechanical engineering for a day on 28 November 2024. Organized by the student association LIMES, the program of this year's "Schülerinnentag" included numerous lectures and lab visits.
"We want to give young women an insight into studies and the professional world, build a network with alumni, and inspire them. That's why we organize events like today's Girls' Day," explained Seraina Wurster, a member of LIMES, about the goal of the event. Around 80 students took advantage of the offer and came to ETH Zurich to learn more about STEM subjects, studying at ETH Zurich, and career opportunities in engineering through lectures and lab visits.
The young women were particularly interested in topics such as: What was the most challenging part of the studies? And what exactly do you study in the Bachelor's and Master's programs?
Insight into studies and career paths
In the lectures, they not only learned about the structure of the studies and the diverse application possibilities, but the speakers also gave insights into their personal career paths. Gabriela Hug shared: "I studied electrical engineering at ETH, completed my Master's and doctoral degree here, even though I had a high school diploma with a focus on languages." Today, the mother of three sons is a professor of Electrical Energy Transmission at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (D-ITET).
Inge Herrmann is also somewhat of a career changer. After a high school diploma with a focus on economics and law, she came to the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) through studies in chemistry and process engineering. With a dual professorship at D-MAVT and Empa, she now researches interdisciplinary projects at the interface between medicine and technology. "As an engineer, you learn a lot about how to solve problems and can create things that didn't exist before," she describes the appeal of this profession.
Annik Jeiziner, a D-ITET alumna, reported on her work as an electrical engineer at SBB. Phyllis Hofmann, who studied at D-MAVT, talked about her work at the ETH spin-off external page Scewo, which develops modern electric wheelchairs.
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Prof. Dr. Gabriela Hug -
Prof. Dr. Inge Herrmann -
Annik Jeiziner -
Phyllis Hofmann -
During the lectures in the morning
Lab visits
After lunch, the participants visited various labs and spoke directly with the researchers. The program included visits to the:
- Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control (IDSC)
- Optical Materials Engineering Laboratory (OMEL)
- Engineering Design and Computing Laboratory (EDAC)
- Institute of Fluid Dynamics (IFD)
- Robotics Systems Lab (RSL)
- Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL)
- Nanophotonic System laboratory (NSL)
- Power Electronic Systems Laboratory (PBL)
Here, they could see, among other things, how robots will be able to autonomously handle complex tasks in the future and how important topics like energy efficiency are.
The day ended with a cozy exchange over a cake buffet, where the students could process the many impressions and ask any remaining questions.
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Robots and drones in the labs
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Robot Anymal -
In the laboratories of D-MAVT and D-ITET (Bilder: D-MAVT / LIMES)