When imagining innovations of the future, we often think of levitating pods, devices to store our consciousness, or even flying cars. Those might sound out-of-this-world, but the same inventive thinking is the foundation of creating technology-powered products that offer both efficient and sustainable solutions.
As a woman who aspires to innovate, you believe that every challenge our world faces can be solved with a new invention or product innovation. From using design to empower HDB-dwellers to grow edible plants anywhere, to developing wearable tech that makes navigation easy for the visually impaired, you will be ready to make the world a better place through design, with SUTD.
Exploring an Ocean of Possibilities
For SUTD’s Engineering Product Development (EPD) alumna, Amy Gibson, the ocean has always been an integral part of her life. Hailing from the port city of Liverpool, Amy started scuba diving at the age of eight and was part of the Sea Cadets, the Navy’s version of Scouts, from ages 12 to 18 years. Imagine her delight when she found a full-time role at Subnero, an industry leader in underwater wireless networked communications.
Amy Gibson
Engineering Product Development (EPD), Class of 2017 (formerly from Birkenhead High School)
Current Mechanical Design Engineer at Subnero
Jumping at the chance to combine her love of the ocean with her love of engineering, Amy dived headfirst into the Mechanical Design Engineer role. Her day-to-day involves innovating and building the mechanical hardware of Subnero’s products, using design thinking to optimise them for manufacture and assembly as well as to ensure that they are both ergonomic and user-friendly.
“Due to the nature of our industry, your job isn’t only to design something that works well in the harsh environment of the deep ocean, but you need to be able to innovate solutions that are easy to manufacture, assemble and use, all while pushing the industry forward to create new possibilities,” says Amy.
Less than 20% of the ocean bed has been mapped but the team at Subnero believes in the potential that could be harnessed with more information. Amy and her team are constantly pushing the boundaries of underwater communications by creating more robust point-to-point communication lines and networks of nodes that can all communicate.
A Generation of Future-Ready Innovators
In the world of tech and design, there is definitely a certain crossover of roles. In Amy’s case, her job also requires her to think both like an electrical engineer and a software engineer to fully understand the products she works on. The multi-disciplinary education she received at SUTD trained her to combine analytic and creative thinking with hands-on skills, allowing her to be able to swap hats as needed.
In addition, the robust curriculum meant that she was constantly challenged with new subjects, and trained to be adaptable and flexible in her thinking. This only proved to be advantageous for Amy as she entered the workforce.
“Looking at how fast technology is moving now, you have to move with the changes and you need to quickly absorb that to use it in your design thinking. This is exciting because it means that I can constantly be a part of something new,” says Amy.
By using their valuable soft skills and technical capabilities to solve real-world challenges, creators like Amy open up the possibilities of designing and developing innovations. After your time with SUTD, will you be behind the next revolutionary product innovation?
If a future as an innovator in this field who helps build a better world excites you, find out more about EPD here.
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