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Tanyaradzwa Mangoma
PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge
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You don’t have to be the smartest. STEM is for everyone.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
I work on Additive Manufacturing (commonly known as 3D printing) of neuromorphic and neural networks devices (i.e electronic hardware components that work like the brain).
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS FIELD?
I didn’t know anything about the field. Neither Additive manufacturing nor neuromorphics. I didn’t know much about regular computing theory or electronics. I had blanket funding for a PhD of any sorts so I decided to do the thing I knew the least about and the thing that involved as many interdisciplinary fields as I could name; that way I would actually learn new things throughout my PhD; and I have.
WHAT DO YOU LOOK AT & THINK, "I WISH YOUNGER ME WOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS WAS POSSIBLE?"
Being an engineer; an inventor. I only saw those things in the movies, never thought it could be me.
WHY DO YOU LOVE WORKING IN STEM?
I like physics. I never got officially trained in it but I absolutely adore the field. Being in STEM esp experimental engineering I get to witness physics in my hands. I get to read work from legends and be fascinated with it. Then play with it. It’s fun.
When I wake up I’m mostly fascinated to troubleshoot a problem. Because I have to go back and read all the work all the great people before me have done and try and figure out why my stuff doesn’t work. It’s such a buzz!
BEST ADVICE FOR NEXT GENERATION?
You don’t have to be the smartest. STEM is for everyone.
INSPO / FUN FACT
‘The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.’- not sure who said it