This summer, we are celebrating women leaders in engineering by featuring insightful Q&As with leaders within the College of Engineering. These women are transforming engineering culture, making a significant impact on students and paving the way for a brighter future. This week, we are featuring Lily Laiho, interim associate dean and professor for the College of Engineering.
How has your outlook on the future been enhanced by your engineering experience?
One of the things about being in this position at Cal Poly is watching the development of all the new devices, solutions and products out there. Being able to see that gets me really excited because you can see that there are a lot of people working toward a better future.
Specifically in biomedical engineering, you can see how the different things we work on can improve people’s quality of life and outlook as we improve in terms of disease prevention, diagnoses and treatment.
How have you used your engineering experience to enhance the lives of others?
I spend a lot of time talking to students. They often come to me with questions about the future, and I advise them on classes, jobs, internships, or anything they need my input on. I enjoy helping students find the right path specifically for each one of them.
What possibilities can engineering bring to improve our community?
I’m the director of the TECHE Lab and the faculty adviser of the EMPOWER Student Association on campus. The TECHE Lab is utilized to address individual and societal needs, and the EMPOWER club focuses on improving daily life for everyone. Both of those organizations have a focus on creating technology to help people in the community. I like to involve myself in those avenues on campus because being able to use engineering to help people is what continues to attract me to the field, specifically biomedical engineering where you can see a direct impact on people’s lives.
How do you work to inspire the next generation of engineers?
A lot of it is my passion for engineering. I get excited about a lot of things, and I hope I share that excitement with others and inspire them through classes or through the projects they work on, or even just by sitting and having conversations with students.
How does collaboration benefit the engineering industry?
Collaboration is important because you’re hearing input from so many people and getting a diverse set of voices. That’s how things get done. We have to be part of the team. The interdisciplinary senior design class that I am involved with focuses on collaboration among students from different departments, as well as customers and sponsors. I enjoy getting new viewpoints from others, and it’s important to get thoughts from everyone when designing products. You’re going to make a better product in the end if you have a collaborative voice influencing what you’re doing.
