Audrey Wang Gosselin is just beginning her journey with ABB.
A native of Texas, she graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelors in electrical engineering with a focus on power and renewable energy, and was ready to embark on her PhD when she was accepted on the rotational ABB LEAD Engineering Program straight from college.
Over the next two years on the LEAD program, she will complete three eight-month rotations covering different roles, businesses and locations in the US. Currently, she is a solutions product manager in the Electrification Distribution Solutions team. “There are so many things I find interesting, and ABB is such a huge company. There is so much to explore,” she says.
One of ABB’s goals is to increase the number of women in senior management by 30% from 2017, and they are making great efforts for this to happen. “I have been blown away by Mary Ryan, who runs the LEAD Early Career Program at ABB, and Shawnice Meador, who runs the company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives in the US”. She is impressed by their shared commitment to ensuring that all the great things that ABB is about in terms of diversity and inclusion are not just lip service.
Audrey’s passion is around climate change, and she prides herself on working at ABB, a global clean tech company. “Women, and women of color especially, are vital to the conversation because solving climate change isn’t just about science and engineering expertise; it is also a societal challenge to do with power dynamics, how people live and how technologies integrate into our everyday lives. We need a diverse group of people who understand the inner-workings of society in different ways designing and implementing climate solutions.”
Reflecting on important moments in her professional journey, Audrey credits her extremely supportive fiancée who moved to the US from Switzerland to enable her to continue her career at ABB. They were recently married.
She concedes that as a woman it can sometimes be a little lonely working in a male-dominated field, but caveats that by emphasizing that the global community of women in engineering is incredibly supportive.
Her advice to aspiring female engineers? “Just do it. Follow the things you love and are curious about, because we need your voice and we need your ideas.”