Our colleague Andrea Serrano Campo, innovation engineer at ACCIONA, participated in our first-ever Hackathon, which we recently celebrated at ACCIONA’s facilities in Madrid, Spain. On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2024, we spoke with her about her vision for a more diverse, inclusive and equitable STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) field, where women remain significantly underrepresented.
Andrea is an MS civil engineer. She was born in Santander (Spain) and lived in the US and Italy during her student years. A few years ago, she moved to Madrid, where she worked as a consultant in the transportation sector for more than six years.
She now works in the construction sector as an innovation engineer at our partner organisation ACCIONA, a Spanish company with a presence on five continents and over 65 countries, focused on developing and managing sustainable infrastructures and renewable energy solutions. In particular, she works in the Construction Technology Centre’s Technology and Innovation Division, supporting different engineering projects.
When asked what has brought her to where she is now, Andrea reflects on her fascination with science, technology and research since childhood. “Perhaps the fact that my father was an engineer only fueled that curiosity further. My family has always supported my academic and personal growth, allowing me to pursue my interests and become the professional I am today,” she says.
For International Women’s Day 2024, we took the chance to ask her about her vision for a more diverse, inclusive and equitable STEM field, where women make up just 29.2% of all workers. She also shared how she thinks HumanTech could help address the construction industry’s skills shortage and gender gap (only 8% of building industry workers are women), leading to a more balanced workforce.
This is what she told us:
Q: Hi Andrea! Can you share your experiences with female role models who have positively influenced your career journey?
A: Throughout history, there have been numerous pioneering women in civil engineering and computer science whose work has laid the foundation for advancements in these fields. Women like Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, and Margaret Hamilton made groundbreaking contributions to computing and software engineering, shaping the way we understand and interact with technology today.
In the field of civil engineering, without a doubt, I would highlight Emily Roebling (1843-1903). She was the first woman to be the chief engineer on-site, and what a project it was — none other than the Brooklyn Bridge!
Their achievements have inspired countless individuals, regardless of gender, to pursue careers in STEM. Their dedication, innovation, and perseverance serve as a source of motivation for aspiring engineers and technologists, highlighting the importance of diversity and inclusion in driving progress and innovation in the field of technology.
Q: What advice would you offer to fellow women aspiring to pursue a career in your sector, civil engineering?
A: If a woman asks me for my advice now, this is what I would tell her:
- Have confidence in your abilities and believe that you belong in the field. Your gender does not define your capabilities.
- Stay curious and committed to lifelong learning. Keep up with advancements in technology, regulations, and industry trends by taking courses, attending workshops, and pursuing certifications relevant to civil engineering.
- Recognise that challenges and setbacks are a natural part of any career journey. Stay resilient, learn from failures, and use them as opportunities for growth and development.
- As you progress in your career, serve as a role model and mentor for other women aspiring to enter the area. Share your experiences, offer guidance, and support efforts to increase diversity and representation in the industry.
“Have confidence in your abilities, stay curious and committed to lifelong learning, recognise challenges as a natural part of your career and become a role model for other women aspiring to enter the STEM area.”
Q: That is such an inspiring advice! In your opinion, what measures could be taken to promote greater diversity and inclusion in STEM? What changes do you think would contribute to creating a more equitable environment for women?
A: To create a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable STEM field for women, targeted efforts must be made to tackle the specific challenges and barriers they face.
For example, encourage and support girls’ interest in STEM subjects from a young age, address prejudice and stereotypes that discourage women from pursuing careers in this area, develop mentorship and networking programs that connect female students and professionals with experienced mentors and peers, or promote female representation in leadership roles.
Q: Reflecting on your personal experiences, are there any aspects of your journey you would have liked to see handled differently to make it more inclusive?
A: That´s a good question… Because although, theoretically, everything has evolved over the years, there are still pending issues and milestones to achieve.
Something I wish had been different in my case is the availability of programs encouraging young people, especially girls, to foster their interest in engineering from an early age. These could include workshops, science and technology camps, and visits to engineering companies and institutions to showcase engineering as a viable and exciting career option.
Also, it would be helpful to enhance the visibility of women and minorities in engineering roles by acknowledging their contributions through awards, publications, and conferences and establishing them as role models for future generations.
Q: At HumanTech, we are focused on advancing digitalisation within the construction sector. How do you think this evolution can make the built environment more inclusive and diverse?
A: The advancement of digitalisation in construction can significantly contribute to making it more inclusive for women. Digitalisation allows greater access to educational resources, online courses, webinars, and virtual workshops, making it easier for women to acquire knowledge and skills in construction-related fields without traditional physical or temporal barriers. It can also improve workplace safety through technologies such as virtual reality for safety training and real-time monitoring of working conditions, making the sector more attractive and accessible.
“The advancement of digitalisation in construction, which HumanTech focuses on, can significantly contribute to making it more inclusive for women.”
Andrea‘s role at HumanTech
At HumanTech, the team Andrea works with is involved in various tasks, such as:
- Integrating wearables into a single intelligent system that can support construction workers on demand, transparently and without obstruction.
- Setting up the basis for deploying human-robot collaboration (HRC) technologies in construction scenarios, from demolition to new build, providing support to operators, ensuring safety, and overall improving working conditions.
- Creating and delivering new educational resources to train and improve health and safety and specialised green skills to make the sector more attractive, especially for young blue-collar workers, females, technical colleges, and universities.
Meet Andrea’s colleague, Anurag Bansal, innovation manager at ACCIONA’s Construction Technology Center, who leads the work on two of our five pilots to validate our different HumanTech technologies.
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