Women in STEM: Lisa Brezee, Electrical Engineering

Lisa Brezee earned her Electrical Engineering degree from Southern Polytechnic State University. Here she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it.

What is your specific area of STEM?
Electronics Engineering

How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? 
My field is involved in every aspect of your life from cell phones to refrigerators. We improve the quality of people's lives by making items used in daily life faster and less likely to break two months after you paid a gazillion dollars for it.

What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? 
Curiosity on how things work. Lego mindstorm. Desire to beat any video game. Any activity that involves teamwork -- sports, Girl Scouts, science clubs.

What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? 
My mom taught me the Ramblin' Wreck song (Georgia Tech) when I was in elementary school. And I took everything apart; much to my mother's dismay. But she supported it even though I could not always put everything back together.

I liked everything that involved electricity. 
 
Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone?
My brother went into electrical engineering via the military so I followed along. It looked like fun..and it was.

What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? 

• Build robots that can travel inside your body.
• Blow up an asteroid to help keep Earth safe.
• I am building a robot to compete in autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance competition.

What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? 
STEM takes smarts, drive, guts and dreams. All qualities that at which girls excel.
 
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Thank you for contributing, Lisa!