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I was able to speak with our very own Malinda Zarske with the Engineering Plus Program. In the classroom, she is the type of professor that does more than teaching you what the book states. She is a professor that loves to get to know her students. Yet the path for Zarske did not always lead to engineering. 

While in undergrad, she was still a part of STEM; her focus was on the environment. Zarske had exposure to STEM fields through her family, yet there was a desire for more interaction with others. She was able to find that here in Colorado, where she found interest in environmental engineering. It was not until after undergrad that the pieces of what she really wanted to do began to come together, through a great opportunity of earning her master’s while being able to teach the youth of Boulder hands-on engineering. This led to a revelation that engineering was more than what is usually presented, she said. This made Zarske determined to help students understand how engineering is a helping profession and how it can be used for the good of the community. 

For Zarske, engineering was not a straight shot. Rather, there were a lot of variables that really made it the profession for her. She liked working with other people and liked teaching, which led her to work as a professor. 

When questioned about what she would tell her younger self, Zarske said: “It’s OK to be me. Sometimes we might walk into a space and feel like an ‘imposter,’ and we don't recognize we are all on the same boat. Own it.”

That advice is something we as engineering students should be telling ourselves now! There is no reason to feel like an “imposter” since we all have strong and weak suits, and it is great to “own it.”

Zarske expressed that there is so much you can do with an engineering degree. That is what she likes about Engineering Plus, she said: there is no reason to restrict oneself to just one field. E+ allows for the expression of oneself. 

Being a woman in STEM can come with its own hurdles. Zarske was not immune to this herself, from doubting faculty in her undergrad, to a professional setting in which she was one of few women around, there was a need to make her credentials known. Yet these hurdles did not stop Zarske from pursuing what she loves now, which is having the ability to teach and communicate with those with similar interests and building a positive, helping community.

When asked what she thought the future of engineering looked like, Zarske said she is proud of the humanity of the students she has at CU.

“The fact that our students at the College of Engineering want to go out and make the world a better place,” she said. “The students I work with aren't going out there just to develop the next cool new product. I am seeing students who are going to go out and do amazing things and save our communities. You all want to help people.” 

Zarske herself is a great advocate for what the E+ program is all about. Not only does she have an interest in engineering, but there is more to what she likes to give, and that is teaching. Zarske is a personal professor who looks out for the good of her students, a great advocate to never restrict oneself, and a great example that no hurdle can stop you from your destination.

About the Author

I am Erika Antunez, a second-year E+ electrical engineering student at the University of Colorado Boulder. In celebration of women in the month of March, I decided to interview a woman of STEM, our very own Malinda Zarske, associate director and senior instructor with the Engineering Plus program.