Carlien Bou-Chedid: Ghana's First Female Engineer And Current President of the Federation Of African Engineers

• Wesley Girls' Senior High School and Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School Legon past student Carlien Bou-Chedid is the first female Engineer Ghana had
• She has a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and a master's degree in Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics from the Imperial College of Science and Technology and Medicine
• Carlien was the first-ever first female President of the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE) and is the first Ghanaian and female President of the Federation of African Engineering Organization

Fields such as engineering and mathematics have been one of the strongholds of men, and more often than not, ladies who find themselves in such spaces do their best and go head-on with their male counterparts.

With a father who had a background in Civil Engineering and a mother who was a teacher and even established a school, the North Ridge Lyceum, Carlien Bou-Chedid, for sure had the right example of the extent to which she could excel in life.

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Carlien Bou-Chedid, who is known today as the first Ghanaian woman to become an engineer in Ghana believes that her interest in engineering was not birthed from just the fact that her father was in the field, but rather the kind of things her parents were intentional about and exposed her to;

"Yes, my father was an engineer and my mother, a teacher but these facts alone, however, though they contributed, do not account for my being in this position today.

I got inspiration from science-based children’s television programmes that I now realise must have been carefully selected by my parents", she said in her in Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE) presidency inaugural address.

Another big factor that helped massively on her journey to success was the fact that she had room for creativity and extra curricula activities.

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"My parents understood the need to encourage the natural creativity of children and I had access to items such as batteries, bulbs, magnets, science sets and so on, with which I could explore.

Having ample leisure time also meant that I could engage in many pursuits and acquire the diversity of experiences that are said to be so important to developing innovation in children"

Carlien Bou-Chedid becoming Ghana's first female Structural Engineer

The brilliant engineer had her secondary education at Wesley Girls' Senior High School and Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School Legon, where she was the only female student in her class.

Describing her experience with her male colleagues back in Presec, Carlien stated that her mates became very used to her and forgot that she was even female. She also mentioned that back in Wesley Girls, she got to learn about women who excelled in their various career fields, two of whom were Marie Curie, the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two sciences, Physics and Chemistry, and Helen Keller, the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

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In 1883, Carlien Bou-Chedid moved on to University of Surrey in the UK to pursue a degree in Civil Engineering. She continued to the Imperial College of Science and Technology and Medicine, London, in 1999, where she acquired her master's degree in Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics.

Completion of her degrees made her the first woman in the history of Ghana to become a Structural Engineer. She later joined Architectural Engineering Services Corporation (AESC).

Becoming first female President of the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE)

Adding to her list of 'first', Carlien Bou-Chedid became the very first Ghanaian woman to acquire a corporate membership of the Ghana Institution of Engineers. Two years later, she was elected as the first female Council member. Before that, she had been actively involved in the activities of GhIE since the beginning of her professional journey.

She later became a staff of GhIE and functioned as Director of Education and Training for five years. Carlien also served as an Executive Secretary for the institution from 2003 to 2010.

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It was, therefore, no surprise when in 2017, she became the first-ever female president of the Ghana Institution of Engineers, making her the 48th person to have held that position. Her late father, Ing E.Y.S Engmann was a past President of GhIE.

Carlien Bou-Chedid's specialty in earthquake management

The engineer has over 35 years of experience in her field, and one of her specialities is earthquake engineering. Carlien has used her vast knowledge in that area to help solve issues related to the vulnerabilities of buildings and various earthquake hazards and risks Ghana poses.

In an interview with Joy News, the female engineer shared her take when it comes to the exposure of Ghana to potential earthquake occurrence;

"We are exposed to a potentially disastrous earthquake. The level of disaster would be depended on how prepared our buildings are as their failure would cause death and damages. The unfortunate situation is that there are a number of already existing buildings which were not constructed with the intention of being earthquake resistant", she said

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She also added that the knowledge of how to build to withstand earthquakes is fairly new. But, according to her, each disastrous earthquake in the past called for more research into better ways to construct buildings.

Carlien Bou-Chedid is currently the president of Federation of African Engineering Organization (FAEO). This made her the first female and first Ghanaian to occupy that position.

In an interview, Carlien stated that one thing that makes her happy is the fact that female engineers now have each other to depend on for support when need be as in her time, she had nothing like that. To her, being in position where others can feed off her knowledge is something she does not take lightly.

Ellen Essien: Meet the UMaT best Performing Female Mining Engineering Student

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh earlier reported that Ellen Essien, a gorgeous recent graduate from the University of Mines and Technology took to social media to announce her academic achievement.

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On her LinkedIn timeline, she shared that on Saturday, November 20, 2021, she completed her tertiary education and bagged a first-class honours in Mining Engineering.

In addition to her feat, she emerged as the best performing female mining engineering student of the 2021 year group.

"On Saturday, November 20, 2021, I graduated from the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa with First Class Honours in Bsc. Mining Engineering. I also emerged as the best performing female mining engineering student in my batch of graduates."

Source: YEN.com.gh