- Okay, welcome everyone back to my channel.
Today, I am interviewing Akrivi.
- That's right. - Did I say it right?
Yes.
And you are from Greece. - Yes.
- And she is studying to be an electrical engineer.
Hey everyone, it's Jess here.
I just wanted to sincerely thank Dev Mountain
for sponsoring the video this week.
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Thanks for watching this video, guys, and I hope you enjoy.
So why did you decide to study electrical engineering?
- So, when I was in my last year of high school,
I really liked physics and I was convinced
I was going to go into physics.
And then I also got a little bit into programming
and software development.
And that seemed really interesting to me,
so I thought electrical engineering
was the way to combine the two.
- Okay, so why did you choose then
electrical engineering instead of software computer science?
- I felt like computer science would not give me this
because, as I said, I also liked physics,
so I felt like computer science, of course,
I guess you can specialize in what you want,
but at this specific point would not give me
the connection I wanted with physics.
- As a kid did you always think
you would be going into physics?
You said that you wanted to go into physics
and then you decided to be an electrical engineer.
So did you always want to do something in physics?
- As soon as high school came around
I became really interested in physics
and especially astrophysics.
So I, yeah, I developed a love for physics
and I knew I was going to do something in that field.
But as programming came along,
I thought it would be a nice combination.
- Okay, why did you decide to do your Bachelor's
at University of Twente instead of another country?
- So when I decided I wanted to study electrical engineering
I started looking up different universities
in Europe, in particular,
and the pattern that I was noticing is,
at least for the bachelor level,
the programs were in the local language.
So in Germany, it was in German.
In France, it was in French.
So in the Netherlands,
particularly the University of Twente,
the program when I started was in English.
So that was the major thing that led me there
and also of course it was a good program,
and seemed really structured.
- So, electrical engineering is a super broad field,
at least to me it seems like it is.
Can you break down the different
disciplines within electrical engineering?
- Yes, so, from a master's specialization perspective,
when you go on to do your master,
you can either choose nanoelectronics,
you can choose powerelectronics,
you can choose telecommunications,
integrated system design.
You can even go into optics.
So it's really a big and broad field that you can go to.
- Out of all of these different disciplines,
which one interests you the most?
Which one do you want to go into?
- If we were to put them into two different cases,
I would say, you can specialize
more analog or more digital,
and for me, I'm mostly interested in analog.
Those two categories, for example,
digital would be something like biometrics,
would be something like embedded systems
that involve also a lot of software engineering in it,
and analog would be like IC design,
that you also design something
and you work with electric circuits,
like also at the physical level.
Not that it doesn't involve coding and software engineering,
but it also has a physical aspect to it, too.
- So right now, you're doing an internship at CERN.
That is so cool.
(both laughing)
- No, it's a really interesting opportunity.
I get to work with people that
are really interesting people
and people that are really specialized in their domain,
and it's a really interesting project
because it's such a large project,
such an important thing,
so even getting to be part of it is really honoring.
- Can you explain sort of what your
project is that you're working on?
Obviously not in so much detail,
because it's CERN.
(both laughing)
- No, actually, they have a really open policy.
There are also people, a lot of people
are writing their thesis there,
and those are things that are published,
and because CERN tries to contribute
to a greater cause,
so they're pretty open.
But the project I'm working on,
the team I'm a part of,
is looking at transient effects in accelerator magnets,
so we work a lot with SPICE simulations.
We work a lot with FEM, FEM modeling,
and it's also a large part of numerical methods
and a lot of physics involved,
because you just try to model them
as accurately as possible and create.
The main goal is to create a common interface
for all these different programs to coexist
and to create a really accurate model.
- So how would someone get an internship at CERN?
- You just have to apply online.
It's open, they have specific periods
that the applications are open,
and there are different contracts that you can get.
You can get a technical student contract.
You can get a summer student contract,
and even if you're not in the technical field
or the engineering field,
you can also get an administrative student contract.
So there are a lot of opportunities.
But the thing that someone needs to pay attention to
is their specific requirements.
So for me, I had to have finished
some part of my studies.
It was not if you're first-year.
It was not possible for me to apply.
- What is the coolest thing about electrical engineering?
What do you think is just so cool?
(Akrivi mutters)
- So first of all, as an electrical engineer,
you get to contribute to something
that is so essential in our society,
from doing things and research
related to powerelectronics,
you can get to provide the power in cities,
and even the small stuff that we use everyday,
like to build a custom IC chip for a smartphone.
And it's also really cool, I think,
because electrical engineering,
you can combine so many different disciplines together.
So, for example, when you do,
when you take courses on electromagnetics,
you just see all the physics in it.
Of course, you combine maths
and you can, of course, combine also
programming and software development.
It really depends on the specialization you will choose,
but you get to see at least, at the bachelor level,
you get to see all of them,
and I would say you'll never get bored.
- You have a lot of physics and math
and also computer programming.
Yeah, that's really fun.
What advice would you give to someone
if they wanted to pursue electrical engineering?
- So, like, of course it's not easy
and it's a lot of studying
and a lot of things that you really need to grasp
so that you can also apply them in practice,
but I would say just go for it,
because I'm sure, as we said,
it's such a broad field that you're probably going to find
what you are really interested in inside the field,
and at the bachelor level, you have
the chance to see so many different disciplines,
and then at your master, you can just
choose one that you're really interested at
and specialized into.
- Thank you so much, for letting me,
yeah, for letting me interview you.
You were really nervous but you did so well.
(both laughing)
- Thank you for having me.
- If you guys have any questions for Akrivi,
please leave them below.
If you like this video, please leave a thumbs up,
and if you want to see more from Women in STEM,
then please subscribe.
(both laughing)
Okay, do you wanna...
Youtube, no?
No, I'm just being really awkward.
- No, I'm being really awkward.
Are you kidding me?
I'm freaking out.
- Welcome to our YouTube channel.
- Um, yeah, sure.
- I don't know, I feel so awkward
whenever I have to make an intro
when there's other people, I'm like,
oh my goodness, I'm so weird.
I'm gonna take one of these.
Am I distracting you?
- No. - Okay.
(light acoustic guitar)