Danielle Thompson

Materials Engineering MEng Part D

LU Motorsport Team Member and Materials Engineering Student Danielle Thompson

Materials Engineering offered Danielle the flexibility to explore different areas of engineering within her degree and helped to broaden her career possibilities. Now in her fourth year, she shares her experiences and talks about what inspires her.

"I thought Materials Engineering would give me more options in terms of a career as the course seemed to offer lots of opportunities in different areas such as automotive, manufacturing and biomaterials, meaning that I could potentially have a career in any of those industries. From visiting on open days, I decided that I wanted to study at Loughborough as it seemed like a nice environment to carry out my studies, with lots of great new facilities both for undergraduates and research.

I am a member of the Loughborough Formula Student Team. Formula Student has helped me gain the relevant experience in an engineering environment whilst being a fun and challenging project to take part in. I have taken on roles with different responsibilities such as Head of Composites which involved me doing stock checks and making sure carbon fibre is made and assembled to the car as well as passing on and teaching less experienced students. I would encourage anyone interested in Formula Student to go for it.

It is important to me to recognise past and present women and their achievements in engineering. Many Women in Engineering inspire me, from those who started when there were no others in the industry, to those now working and achieving great things. Being able to see this teaches you that anyone can become an engineer. If you have an interest in engineering disciplines, then it is worthwhile, and you will have good career prospects should you choose this path."