Top female engineer to inspire students (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Engineering leader named Britain's best to talk about career

5:37pm Monday 18th March 2013 in News By Julia Breen

ONE of Britain's top female engineers will give students an insight into her career this week.

Jane Atkinson, senior Vice President of Sembcorp Utilities will speak to students at Stockton Sixth Form College on Thursday (March 21).

The talk has been organised by national charity Speakers for Schools as part of their programme for engineering week and Ms Atkinson will highlight the scale of opportunities the sector can offer to aspiring engineering students.

She said: "Engineering has offered me some fascinating experiences and if you want to travel the world like I did when I was younger, it gives you those opportunities.

"A lot of young people don't realise the varied careers that different types of engineering can lead to and also the fact that after medicine and dentistry, engineering is third in the list of highest paid careers."

Ms Atkinson was brought up in Middlesbrough and attended Nunthorpe School before studying chemical engineering at university. Employers' organisation the CBI named her Britain's top female engineer in 2007 at a time when Sembcorp was developing the UK's first large-scale biomass plant and in 2010 she became the youngest person to be invited to join the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering.

In 2011/12, Stockton Sixth Form College saw almost a quarter of second year students go on to study engineering and its related subjects at university.