STEM scholarship inspires student to aim for excellence

Lily Edwards likes nothing more than solving a problem, so seemed destined to study Mechatronic Engineering at Curtin. Mechatronics, a heady mix of electrical, mechanical and software engineering, has spawned intelligent systems such as NASA’s Curiosity Rover, i-Limb’s bionic prosthesis and the immensely popular Roomba robot vacuum cleaner.

Last year, Lily built her first autonomous robot at Curtin and, at just 20 years of age, she’s bucking the national STEM trend. Females currently make up just 37 per cent of enrolments in university STEM courses and only 15 per cent of STEM-qualified jobs are held by women – numbers the Federal Government is focused on improving with its Advancing Women in STEM Strategy.

In 2023, Lily was awarded the Christine Foster Memorial Scholarship, which supports female students pursuing science and engineering courses at Curtin.

Established by Christine’s former WASM classmates and friends, the scholarship honours Christine’s life, which was cut tragically short while on a working holiday in the UK in June 2000.

Christine grew up in Kalgoorlie and attained a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) at the WA School of Mines Kalgoorlie campus 1993-1996. Following graduation, Christine pursued a career in mining, gaining early experience in Australian and New Zealand underground mines.

She was highly respected by her peers and was a motivated professional, improving standards and challenging barriers for females in her chosen career path.

Lily said it was humbling that Christine’s peers had created this scholarship in her memory and vowed to do her proud.

“Christine sounded like a great woman, and it was very unfortunate what happened to her,’’ she said.

“There was so much more she could have achieved in her life but sadly never got the chance.”

Lily said the Christine Foster Scholarship gave her added financial assistance and encouraged her to aim even higher in her studies.

“Knowing that someone read my profile and said, ‘she deserves the scholarship’ made me feel really good and has helped me challenge myself even more,’’ she said.

Lily said she was inspired to follow a career in STEM after discovering her passion for problem solving while at school.

“One of the reasons why I enjoy STEM subjects so much is that you get to see things work. You can see if something is right or wrong, and if it’s wrong you can review your work and figure it out. There’s always an answer,’’ she said.

“I’m actually the first to study engineering in my family. Both my parents went to university, but my dad studied IT and my mum studied arts and teaching.

“At school in Geraldton I loved maths and science and was lucky because I had excellent teachers who encouraged and challenged me.

“At Curtin I’ve also been fortunate to have had some great lecturers. You can tell that they really care about your learning, they want you to succeed and are willing to provide any help you might need.

Lily said studying a course where just 9.9 per cent of her cohort are female had not been without its challenges but said if you’re interested in studying a STEM course at Curtin, don’t let the numbers stop you.

“I think the main thing to remember is if you want to study STEM and it’s what you want to do with your life, it’s not really about the men to women ratio so don’t let that discourage you,’’ she said.

“I can’t imagine how few women Christine studied with back when she was studying. But I’m sure that it would have been very similar to nowadays though where the women in your class become some of your closest friends.

“Also, it might be a bit of a ‘boys’ industry but 90 per cent of the time those boys will be some of the loveliest people you’ll meet, and you will no doubt find great friends in them as well.”

When Lily graduates, she said she plans to use her mechatronics knowledge in the evolving field of robotics in healthcare.

“I want to apply engineering to medicine, and I’m interested using robotics in the field of prosthetics. I want to help people. I grew up very privileged with a supportive family, great school and fantastic teachers and many people don’t get that. I’d like to give something back.”

Lily is also passionate about continuing to break down gender barriers by empowering other young women to pursue studies and careers in STEM.

“STEM offers so many amazing opportunities to make a difference in the world. I’d love to encourage and mentor more young women to pursue their passion for it,” she says.

“I’ve been lucky enough to be supported by a scholarship for women in STEM, and I’d like to support women who are aspiring to develop STEM careers in some way too.”