My Engineers Notebook Rhea Naidoo

My Engineers Notebook Rhea Naidoo My Engineers Notebook Rhea Naidoo Rhea Naidoo Rhea Naidoo is a mechanical engineer from South Africa who graduated from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2010. She currently works for the mining company Xstrata Alloys as a project engineer in its capital projects division. In 2010, after leading an Engineers Without Borders project at her university, she became an ASME volunteer. She now chairs an ASME Affinity Group, Early Career Connect, which links a global network of early career engineers with opportunities and resources to help them take advantage of all ASME has to offer. ECC identifies talented young engineers and deploys them as correspondents and champions to further ASMEs strategic goals locally in their Districts. Rhea is also a part-time blogger. Her blog, EngineerChic, follows her experiences as a young, female engineer finding her footing in the world of engineering. Through her blog, she hopes to inspire other young women to pursue careers in engineering. Whats inside your engineers notebook? In projects, every day presents a new challenge which is the thing I love the fruchtwein about my job. My notebook is where I keep track of all the tasks I need to follow up on. Also, as an engineer, I communicate through drawings so when I walk around the construction site, I always have my little black Moleskin notebook with me. Its full of sketches and drawings Ive made helping others work out problems to help them complete a job. The drawings are little more than scribbles, but they do the trick I also have a white board in my office which is always covered with lists and sketches. Co-workers walk in, grab a marker and start drawing its a wonderful collaborative tool. Whose notebook would you most like to peek into? Why? The head of my division, Mark Henrico, is a brilliant project manager with decades of industry and project experience. I would love to peek into his notebooks for previous pro jects as they would contain priceless lessons learned. Mark has a memory like an elephant and is able to recall an unbelievable amount of detail on large and highly complex projects. I would love to see how he structures his notes and memory joggers.How and when did you know you wanted to become an engineer? I come from a family of medical professionals. In high school, when I said I wanted to be an engineer, my parents and friends were seriously against the idea, saying it welches a very manly and unattractive profession. This didnt deter me at all as I had a passion for physics and math and was always fascinated by how things worked. I song to my parents that my medicine application had been rejected the truth is I didnt write the entrance exam on purpose. I think it was partly their fault though for giving my sisters and me Legos to play with as kids instead of dolls. My youngest sister has just started mechanical engineering at UCT and my dad now boasts about me be ing an engineer Rhea Naidoo Whats the most exciting project youve ever worked on? The project I am on right now involves the engineering, procurement and construction of a chrome ore beneficiation plant. It has been an incredible experience for me since I was involved in every aspect of the project right from early planning. I have worked closely with the design team and quantity surveyors and have gained valuable experience with cost and schedule management. I was very fortunate to travel to India and China to inspect equipment we were importing. It was really interesting to see how engineers and factories in other countries do things. Now were in the construction phase of the project, and with commissioning around the corner, I cant wait to flip the switch and see the plant up and running after so much hard work Although really challenging at times, this project has pushed me to step up and become better and I appreciate all the lessons I have learned along the wa y. What do you think youd be doing if you hadnt become an engineer? I probably would have done something in business. Economics fascinates me and I want to own my own company one day. Inspector Gadget Whats your favorite activity when youre not working? I love being outdoors. I enjoy rock climbing and hiking. Luckily I live in the province of Mpumalanga - a beautiful part of South Africa with so many gorgeous waterfalls to explore. I also love travelling and eating good food - I am completely addicted to both. Was there a book or a movie that piqued your interest in science or inspired you to become an engineer? My sisters and I loved watching Bill Nye the Science Guy and Inspector Gadget when we were kids. Maybe this had something to do with it. I hope there is an equivalent for kids these days. Emilie du ChateletWho are your heroes, either within the engineering profession or in the rest of your life? I am in awe of women in history who have ma de contributions to science and engineering. Living decades or even centuries ago, it was much harder for a woman to become educated, so I have a lot of respect for the incredibly strong and independent ones who did. milie du Chtelet is my favorite, who published the first French translation and commentary of Isaac Newtons Principia Mathematica in 1759. In my life however, my dad and my godfather are my heroes - my dad for being the most caring and compassionate doctor I have ever known, and my godfather for his anti-Apartheid activist work in the 1980s as well as his inspirational career in development since. Whats the most meaningful or rewarding aspect of being connected to engineering? The most meaningful and rewarding part about being an engineer is knowing the impact that is made to society through engineering. Through my work with Engineers Without Borders, I had first-hand experience on how someones life can be improved through innovation. Even the plant I am building is helping society by providing jobs and investing in growth to uplift my countrys economy. What does ASME mean to you? Through volunteering for ASME I meet, connect and learn from engineers of all ages, from different parts of the world. For me, its a network - made up of human beings, each with a wealth of knowledge and experiences and who are all making contributions to society every day. Connecting these engineers - especially early career engineers - to all that ASME offers is an opportunity for me to help them make those contributions more effectively. Personally though, I have made some good friends through ASME from all over the world.