Fish Fry Special Edition: 2026 International Women in Engineering Day

Hello there everyone! Welcome to our third annual International Women in Engineering Day Fish Fry Podcast. My special guests are Laura Mir Karimi from Adaya, Angelica Devila from Penguin Solutions and Madison Eklund from Texas Instruments. Our discussion highlights the personal journeys of these women in high tech, examine significant shifts in the electronic engineering landscape over the years, and looks forward to the future of the engineering industry. So first up, please welcome Laura to Fish Fry. Hi Laura, thank you so much for joining me. Hi Emilia, I'm so glad to be here, thanks for the invite. Absolutely. Okay, so Laura, could you share the story of your journey into the world of high tech and what initially drew you to the field of engineering? Sure, so well I can remember sort of that initial spark and what when it went off in my head and it was in seventh grade in my very first chemistry class and Mr. Polanski, he was explaining simple things like condensation and why you add salt to cooking water. And to me it was like for the first time I was learning something in school and the world around me and how it worked and operated was being explained. And then what I realized, so then when I look back now, you know with this question, as I went through then college and I took college chemistry classes and physics and things. I start to look back on the way he made that so simple to understand, but how complex it really is and all the applications that can be used with the concept of condensation and purification in chemistry. And so what I find really intriguing about science and engineering is that as you learn more, then you realize how complex these things are and that you can dig in. And I think what's amazing and exciting is that as you're on this journey, like it keeps getting richer and richer in terms of your understanding. One of the things that I always say is, you don't know what you don't know, right? But I love that throughout my career I'm learning more and looking at things from a different perspective and understanding that the importance of making things simple to understand, but that there can be many levels of understanding behind that. And in my career, what I found in trying to do, work on new technologies, I had a lot of fun working at HP Labs. Working on things that were, you know, 15 years before their time, I was working on things that are now like the Google Glass back in when was that late '90s. And it was just way ahead of its time. But what I found and what I learned in doing this is just that there's sort of a process of understanding and the necessity to involve people with different perspectives so they can help you to see things in different ways, to really innovate when you're far ahead of the market. It's not easy, right? Everything hasn't been figured out. So I always encourage people in their careers to ask questions that people around them. Even people they may not work with and reach out, get a different perspective and then realize that sometimes you just don't know what you don't know so you should keep learning and keep asking questions. So from your perspective, what are the most significant shifts that you've witnessed in electrical engineering over the years? Yes. So what's interesting is in semiconductors, as you know, there is a fairly long and rich history there and, you know, the transistor was invented in 1947. So it's not even a hundred years later. It's gone through five different iterations of architecture, but there was really this explosion of new devices and new applications that we could now consider that never would have been able to really be implemented without the transistor. One of the things that's come along in the last say 25 years is that there was always this law called Moore's Law where there was a transistor scaling and with that scaling brought additional functionality and everything in the semiconductor industry and your applications was tied to that road map. And that started to stall what was exciting is that the community pivoted and a lot of innovative people said, "Hey, what else can we do to bring new functionality to products that are out there today?" And one of the biggest things that really started in expansion was this concept of what we call heterogeneous integration. So ways of bringing things together because we can't just rely on the transistor. So we started thinking about putting logic with memory sensors, logic with image sensors. And out of that came a home new set of applications, like for example, high bandwidth memory, which is in the data centers today for rapid access to memory and there is a closer interconnect in terms of between logic and memory, so you can do more and more computation. So it's really just this continued evolution of innovation that people can come up with and that I see in my field and then in other fields and Jason fields that I happen to see in the news and in my sort of light reading. All right, so Laura, looking ahead, what specific developments or changes are you most hoping to see in the future of our engineering industry? So this is a thing that's a little less on the technical side. One of the things that's interesting over the years in my career that's constantly come up, you know, when I've been in this career for some almost 30 years now, is that there's this pursuit, depending upon what company you're working in, the pursuit of the next best application, right, improvement in the product, but there isn't always a consideration of what your constraints are, what your resource constraints are and I'll just give an example that's sort of something that's in my area that we're looking at, which is the data center. So right now we're in a new era, right, I talked about the transistor before, now we're in the AI era and here everything is moving toward a lot of high performance compute in the data center and using these artificial intelligences algorithms to do a lot of learning and manipulation of data for very fast processing. So what happens is that is the goal in terms of the application and then what comes from that is the hardware that's needed to run these things, right, and from that hardware that sets the semiconductor roadmap. So within that semiconductor roadmap, everybody's looking for better, faster, high performance compute modules and they also need art looking for bigger, not just smaller and more improved performance. So we've said what is happening is there's this insatiable demand for power and then also the cooling at these data centers, right? So both of these resources are already precious resources that are constrained just for every day life in humanity. So what I've always thought is that sometimes some of the brightest and smartest people are working on these technological challenges so at some point if we can just draw the sort of circle around the problem a little bit wider and put all of our heads together, I think we can come up with solutions that actually can get us to these goals but then also in a more sustainable approach to how we as humans are going to move forward as a society. So we just have a lot of competing demands on resources like massive, you know, population explosion and we really just need to kind of think about put the right heads together to solve the problem and I think that's what's also I love about my job is the working together with other people. I think I've met so many brilliant people with different perspectives and those perspectives are what help us get to real solutions, not it's never just one person working in a vacuum and like I said over the 30 years there's been so many innovations in different areas and you always hear about maybe the lead person but I know on the work we do, it's always about the team. It's about the individuals that contributed the team level to make these things happen. So my goal or my hope is that we'll have more collaboration and dealing with some of these resource issues that are odds with each other. So Laura, considering the evolving nature of our field, what is one piece of advice you'd offer to women currently starting their careers in engineering? Oh, that's a good question. Well, there's so much advice that I think I could give now, but I do remember what it was like when I was very young and uncertain and even in high school, you know, I came from my dad was a music teacher and my mom taught special ed and neither one of them really understood the math I was working on, you know, in high school. So I think the first thing I would say is that there isn't just one path. So don't be afraid if something feels right and you choose that path and then perhaps you realize maybe I need to go another way because there's many paths to the same destination. You just aren't quite sure, you know, maybe. So don't think that one wrong decision or that one decision will set your life course. And then I think the key is about course correcting. How do you do that? So throughout those years of not knowing exactly what to do, I tried to use the resources around me, whatever those resources were. As I said, my parents weren't engineers, so I talked to other people who were, what is it like to be an engineer to go to school and engineering? Once I was in college, not just talking to one professor about the next step I had, but talking to many professors to get their perspective, I'll give one example, which is I went to Penn State University in ceramic science and engineering really loved my education and it was a small college. And you really knew the professor as well. And my thesis advisor and some of the other professors that I worked with very closely gave me kind of encouraging me to stay at Penn State and do my doctorate degree there and finish. And also there were examples of people who had done that because it's somewhat insular and that, you know, you have a good student, you want to keep them. But I kept talking to other professors and one professor said to me, kind of, "Wait, tell me more about what the options are." And he said, "Here's the advantages if you go to a different school." So I encourage people to go talk to everyone and when something resonates with you really think about that. I went on to a different university for my graduate degree because for me that's that's kind of what interests me is looking beyond and learning more. So I would say try to use the resources that are, you know, right there and be adventurous some and willing to take some risk to figure out how to increase your resources like going to the library or asking professionals reach out and use the community that's around you. I love that. All right, Laura, it's time for your off-the-cuff question. So if you could have one meal right now, it doesn't matter if it's on the other side of the world, you need a passport to get there. What would you have? Okay, that's an interesting question. It's getting close to lunchtime and it's summer, so it's a little hot here. So I think the, what sounds really good given a hot summer day is I had this kevapati pasta with pesto in Monteroza, I think it's Del Mar, Monteroza Almar, and that is in Italy in Chiquitera. That pesto was just simple and delicious, but had this complexity and this sort of taste of the earth and it's grown locally. So you get a sense of being right there in Italy and those hills where they're growing the basil and then a side dish of their fresh vegetables also grown and maybe a lovely crisp white wine that they grow also on the hill just to taste the earth and the sunshine that Italy has. And I kind of think of science that way too. It's complex and yet it can be simple and part of nature. It's really is a beautiful marriage of complexity and also the essence is just simple. I love that so much. Well, Laura, this was a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining me. Well, thank you. I had a lot of fun. Next up, please welcome Angelica to Fish Fry. Hi, Angelica. Glad to be here. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Okay. So first, could you share the story of your journey into the world of high tech and what initially drew you to the field of engineering? So that's a very interesting story and I think I'll start first with what drew me first into engineering and then the journey into tech because it took a lot of pivots. So I'll say starting off, I'm not one of those people who say, I always knew I wanted to be an engineer or you know, I was that kid that was taking things apart and putting them back together. That was not me. But what I was, it was always very curious, you know, that kid that probably asked me many questions why this why that. And I just really wanted to understand things, you know, there were reasons for things. And in middle school and high school, I started to realize that science and math explained so much about the how the world works. And that's really what drew me in, what pulled me in. And those eventually became my favorite subjects at school. So when I started college at the University of Miami, gocans, I went in undeclared, but pre-med, right? And I felt like at 18, it was a lot of pressure to choose what you were going to do for the rest of your life. So I was just being extra cautious and I really didn't know. And luckily, during my freshman year, I met a person, a friend that was majoring in biomedical engineering. And so we got to talking and I asked, hey, so what were the classes like? You know, what kind of jobs could it lead to? And I remember thinking, hey, this sounds like a great fit for me. And no kidding. The next day, I went and I declared a major. I was also in need of declaring a major, but I said, this is it. I didn't think about it twice. And then from there, my path kept evolving. I mean, I really enjoyed the electrical engineering courses as part of the biomedical engineering curriculum. And they overlapped. So really, all I took was another extra semester. I was already a little behind. And I ended up getting another degree in an electrical engineering. So I felt like I could head to my bed. So I had more to choose from, etc. I think internships were also pivotal. They helped form my paths and where I ended up really. And it was during an internship at the Department of Defense Lab in Massachusetts. And I was exposed to semiconductors. And I found that world so fascinating, right? It was just so complex. And there was so much innovation that just existed in a very small tiny scale. And that led me to graduate school. I went to Purdue and I ended up getting a master's in electrical and computer engineering, specializing in micro and nanotechnology. So when I went to grad school, I thought, hey, I'm going to pursue a PhD. I want to do research. I want to be an expert. Once I started doing research, I realized this is not my thing. This is not my passion. And I could tell very easily by how my my research mates would talk about their work was not the same passion that I had. And that was a big turning point for me. A little scared, quite frankly, because, you know, I didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew what I didn't want to do. At least I had that clear sense of what wasn't the right fit for me. So I decided I'm not going to pursue PhD. Let me just graduate with my masters. And as I was finishing up my thesis, I started attending these recruiting sessions for graduates. And I started to learn a lot about companies. They had these rotation programs, right, for sales and marketing and leadership that were specifically designed or they were looking for engineers. So that caught my attention because I felt like it combined that technical foundation with a bit of that sense of business that I was very curious about. And that storytelling side that again, I was starting to have a lot more interest in. So I ended up with two final opportunities. Again, one was a leadership program. And the other one was a sales and marketing rotation program. One was in defense in Minnesota. The other one was in tech in California. And I'd love to be, you know, so thoughtful here and say, hey, I had a deeply strategic decision that I took. No, it was weather. I frankly was the deciding factor. I'm a Florida girl. Winter was just not for me. So I didn't choose Minnesota, which was the defense job. And I ended up heading to California for tech. And I'm really glad I made that decision. I'm really happy with where I'm at. Weather was the deciding factor. So be it. I'm happy with the decision. So I went ahead and I started in tech at Intel in the sales and marketing rotation program. And that rotation program was really neat, right? It exposed you to different roles. in different groups within a two year period, and before you get to pick your final spot, you had that exposure, and that exposure really helped me narrow down what it is that I enjoyed, and where I wanted to grow my career. And since then, I've had different technical customer facing roles, marketing roles across, until Acer, Dell, and now at Penguin Solutions, we're on focused on AI product marketing. And what I love most about tech is that it still feeds my curiosity. You know, I get to keep learning, work with brilliant people, stay close to the technical side, and be able to translate those complex ideas into stories that connect with customers. - All right, so from your perspective, what are the most significant shifts you've witnessed in this field over the years? - I think the biggest shift I've seen is just the sheer speed of progress. I remember, I still remember being in grad school, taking that first semiconductor class. It was our first exam, and there was a bonus question. How many transistors are in the Intel Pentium 4 processor? And that was just a little over 20 years ago, and the answer was around 45 million transistors. And I still remember that number. And at that time, I remember thinking I was like, good grief, this is just an unbelievable amount of transistors on one tiny chip, you know? And we fast forward that to today, and all these modern processors. I mean, now you have tens of billions of transistors, right? And that's just amazing for me to even wrap my head around. And it's just way more than that, right? It's what that progress has enabled. So we've gone from thinking about chips in terms of just like faster PCs and servers to cloud computing, smart phones, autonomous systems, massive data centers, and of course, now AI. And then to me, AI is a very dramatic shift that we're experiencing right now. Maybe we're very lucky to experience that right now. That speed of adoption has been, unlike anything I've seen before. It's not just happening in research labs or inside large enterprises in everyday people are using AI tools in their personal and professional lives. And I mean, that changes everything. So when a technology reaches consumers that quickly, it really creates a whole new pace of innovation. And I compare that and I think about that with smartphones. There's such a natural part of our everyday lives. And AI, I think, is heading in that same direction, but potentially probably even more seamlessly woven into how we work, learn, and make decisions. So from an engineering perspective, right? AI has changed that conversation about infrastructure. And it's not just the faster chip or the better system. It's a lot of things. It's compute, memory, networking, storage, power, cooling software. They've all come together to support this new type of technology. And it's also breaking down limitations for people. Again, how we learn, create, make decisions, interact, solve problems. And we're really just scratching the surface of the types of new possibilities. So that big shift in how in electrical engineering is more how interconnected we are, like at a systems level, and how multidisciplinary we are now, more than ever. To me, that's what makes it so exciting to be in this field. So what specific developments or changes are you most hoping to see in the future of our industry? So for me, the future of engineering and the industry really starts with our youth, with our schools, our teachers, and the opportunities for students to get their hands on this very early on. And I'd love to see every school have access to STEM programs, robotic clubs, coding classes, supercomputing competitions, you name it, AI clubs, et cetera, I mean, things that make engineering feel exciting and hands on. Because if their students only experience math and science as formulas on a page, it's so easy for them to be turned off or to think, hey, I'm not good at this, or this isn't for me. But when you connect it to the real world, healthcare, gaming, space, AI, sports, transportation, the environment, art, music, it suddenly becomes more relatable. And students can see how engineering shows up in things that they already care about. And I think that matters for diversity too, right? The more students we expose to engineering early, the more people we bring into the field with different backgrounds, experiences, and points of views. And that's what makes the field stronger. Engineering is, it's about problem solving and better solutions come from having more perspectives in the room. Absolutely, all right? So considering the evolving nature of this field, what's one piece of advice that you'd offer to women currently starting their careers in engineering? So I don't know if I have one piece of advice, but I'll have a couple. Engineering is such a broad field, first of all. So piece of advice is there's so many paths that you can take, technical roles, research, product development, customer-facing, leadership, business, marketing, startups, you name it. So I'd say don't feel like you have to have the entire plan figured out on day one. I did it, and I'm very happy where I'm at, and it's okay, there's people that do have the entire plan figured on day one, and that's perfectly fine too, but don't feel like you have to have that plan figured out on day one. I'd say, you know, along with that, you pay attention to what interests you, but also what is energizing you. Do you love to solve deep technical problems? You know, do you love working with many people? Do you wanna be on the business side or a specific type of technology, or even in a certain part of the world, okay? I mean, I didn't wanna have too many winters, and that was okay too. All of these clues matter to your interests and what is energizing you. So I'd definitely say, you know, pay attention to that. And if you realize that something's not right for you, it's fine, that's okay. We're not gonna get every single one. That's not failure, that's information. Now you know, and it's perfectly fine to explore, learn, adjust, but keep forward momentum, right? Keep moving forward. And I'd also say, I am network networks, networks networks. Networking to me, that was a bit hard, you know, 'cause I felt like it was force, but don't underestimate relationships, right? And like I said, people talk about networking a lot. They're right, okay? I'd hate to say, but yes, they're right, and even if it feels uncomfortable or force, but do it in a way that feels genuine to you. You know, build these relationships with classmates, teachers, colleagues, mentors, you know, your peers, and they don't have to be huge networks. Even small, authentic circles can make a big difference over time, and that's something that's worked for me. And finally, I'd say, don't be afraid to ask for help or accept help. Because none of us, none of us, are here today completely on our own. We've always had someone help open doors, share advice, give feedback, make introductions, and help us see possibilities that we may not have seen for ourselves, or give us that extra nudge. So take that help, take it with pride, and then when you can, you know what I'm gonna say, pay it forward, pay it forward to someone else. - Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. All right, it's time for you're off the cuff question. So if you could have one meal right now, it doesn't matter if it's on the other side of the world you need a passport to get there. What would you have? - Oh, now you opened the passport for me. (laughing) You know, I always think about this wonderful pizza that I had in Italy in front of the Trevor fountain. I had this amazing pizza there, and I've never had it again, and I always think about it. So now that you've given me the ticket across the world to go get there, I'd definitely have. I know exactly where it is to. I'd have this really good margarita pizza. I mean, just, it was so simple. It was just fresh cheese, great sauce, crispy crust. I mean, that fresh basil on top. Now you got me longing for that. (laughing) I love it. - Well, I think that's all I have time for today. - No, thank you for having me. - Last but certainly not least, please welcome Madison Ekland to Fish Fry. - Hi, Madison, thank you so much for joining me. - Thank you for having me on the show. - Absolutely. Okay, so first, could you share the story of your journey into the show? world of high tech. And what initially drew you to the field of engineering? Yes. So for me, I think my story starts much earlier. So growing up, I was always really good at math and science. And I was actually surrounded by a family of a lot of engineers. So my dad himself was an electrical engineer. And I think he had a lot of influence on me growing up. And when it was time for me to like start thinking about college and what major I would actually want to do, he was really pushing me. He was like, I think engineering would be a good fit for you. You're so good at math and science. And then he prompted me by saying, well, I think electrical engineering is the hardest major. So what did I do? Me being competitive, I was like, well, of course, I want to do the hardest major. So that's how I kind of got into electrical engineering. And then a few more years goes on. Now I'm in college, right? I'm starting to get into what electrical engineering actually is. And I started to realize actually that I didn't want to be an engineer. And I thought law school might be the path for me. So that's what I kind of started to go down this path of, you know, let me start thinking about law school. I decided to do an internship though at Texas Instruments. My summer of my junior year, I wanted to be close for the home. I'm a native Texan. So I said, oh, I'm going to go try Texas Instruments. It'll just be for the summer. I'm going to study for the LSAT and then I'll be on my way. What I didn't plan on was actually really falling in love, not only with the company, but with the work. I realized that I am at my core a true problem solver. So really getting into some of those technical engineering problems and having problem getting to solution was more of my passion. So I changed my whole path of what I thought I was going to do with my life with my career and decided to come back to TI. And I told myself at the time, you know, give it a try. Maybe you'll try engineering for a couple of years and you can still go to law school if you want. But obviously that didn't happen. Here I am seven years later, still at TI, still loving what I do, still doing problem solving. My career has kind of changed recently. So I started off more in a systems type of role. So I was looking at more customer type solutions. And then now I've transitioned more to the product development side of things this year, but all of it at its core is still problem solving to me, which is really why I love engineering and why I've been in it this long. And I'm going to stick with it. This is the career for me now. I love that. Okay. So Madison, from your perspective, what are the most significant shifts you've witnessed in this landscape over the years? Yes. So I think this is a really interesting question for me both personally and professionally. So I think that I am part of a unique generation growing up as a kid, right? I remember like a pre-cell phone world. I remember when I was, you know, almost in high school getting my first flip phone, a slider phone, and my parents getting their blackberries a long time ago to now we have this entirely different technology world, right? So I think seeing that shift right now fast that happened to now working in it and again, still seeing that acceleration has been really exciting. And also professionally side, it's really interesting to see how you have these big markets and kind of what the focuses of the market at a given point in time. So for example, when I first started my career back in 2019, the biggest thing was automotive. There was a huge shift towards software-defined vehicles having electric vehicles, right? More push for electric vehicles in terms of the environment and sustainability in the future. But with that change also came being more software driven, being able to have more customized features in the vehicle updates. So being a part of that shift early on in my career was super exciting and being able to see that. To then now, right, we have the newest thing that's been happening is AI and data centers. So being able to now shift with that market as well has been super exciting and seeing how our products are going into these systems as well as using AI just in my everyday life, helping me with my grocery list, helping me with my list and priorities at work has been really exciting. Looking forward, what specific developments or changes are you hoping to see in the future of our engineering industry? So for me, I think the main thing that I want to stress is that we're here to talk about women, right? So I think I definitely want to see more women in this field. And I can already see that starting to change. When I first started, I remember being the only woman on my team, there were not many in the entire organization either. To now, you know, seven years later, I actually have quite a few women on my direct team as well as in my organization, which is really exciting. So I'm hoping that I can continue to inspire the next generation of women by just being in the role, doing it, loving it, and doing the things that I love to do on a day-to-day basis. So that's the first thing that I'm really excited for. The second thing is also going to be the technology, right? So automotive has been a big piece of my professional background. So that's the one I think that sticks out the most in my mind. So coming from, you know, we have cars as we know them many years ago. To now, we're starting to see autonomous driving vehicles, right? There's all of these things, right, that are now on the roads in a lot of major cities. So I think seeing things like that happen, there's talks about, you know, flying drones or these airplanes that are going to take people from short distances. All of these things, I think, are going to really impact our day-to-day lives. And I'm really excited to see how that technology does that. The other piece is AI, which I think is one that's more newer to me and newer to everybody right in the last year. So we're only seeing the beginning of it. And I'm excited to see what else it can help us with, you know, better organize, be more efficient in the future. And I'm excited to see what else will come there. So Madison, considering the evolving nature of this field, what is one piece of advice you'd offer to women currently starting their careers in engineering? A lot of things. But if I had to think about it, I would say in general, when I started as a woman in engineering, I was really quiet. I would go in meetings and I would be really quiet. That was kind of my nature as a person. And I learned throughout my career how to get my voice. So I would say to young women, right, it's not about where you start. You don't need to know the answers to all of the questions. You might think you do. But nobody does. We're all just doing our best all the time, especially when we're starting. So I think just having that confidence and persistence to really take a step back and be like, okay, maybe I don't know this question today. But what are the steps I can take to then go answer that question, right? And it's not about knowing the answer. But being able to ask the right question, that's the ultimate goal that I would say is trying to figure out what is the questions you need to be asking to ultimately answer the question that you need to. I love that. All right. Madison, it's time for you're off the cuff question. What would you have? So maybe this is because I'm about to go on vacation starting tomorrow. But for me, I really would like to have a bowl of pasta with a glass of wine in Italy on the coast somewhere. Because for me, a Italian food is my absolute favorite. And just being, you know, in that type of environment relaxed and with the best food, it would be my happy place. I agree. That sounds amazing. Well, Madison, I think that's all I have time for today. If you would like more information about a day, penguin solutions or Texas instruments, I've included a bunch of links below the player on this week's fish frying page on eejournal.com and in the description for this week's YouTube episode as well. Hey, have you checked out eejournal on social media yet? Well, you should. You can find us at facebook.com/eejournal. If LinkedIn is more your thing, I dig it. You can follow us or me on LinkedIn. And we are also on Blue Sky social and mastodon as well. And we have that YouTube channel I just mentioned YouTube.com/ejournal. Folks, it is chock full of all kinds of techy videos, including our very popular chock talk webcast series hosted by me. And of course, you can subscribe to our eejournal YouTube channel as well. Thank you everyone for tuning in. If you know of any cool new technology or heck you just want to chat, shoot me a line at Amelia. That's a-m-e-l-i-a at eejournal.com or post a comment on our forums on eejournal. For June 23rd, 2026, I'm Amelia Dalton. And you've been fried.