Congratulations to Macquarie’s Sumiya Sultan, who was last week named NSW International Student of the Year in the Higher Education category.

Sumiya is a recent graduate of Macquarie’s undergraduate engineering program and a driving force behind the establishment of the group Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) at Macquarie University.

The awards, organised by StudyNSW within the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, are held to recognise the outstanding contributions made by international students to communities across New South Wales. Sumiya was nominated by Macquarie’s Career and Employment Service.

Sumiya completed her Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honours in Electronics last semester. In addition to her academic achievements, Sumiya was recognised for her outstanding contributions across a variety of initiatives that have added value to Macquarie and a number of communities.

Sumiya has been the driving force behind the establishment of the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) initiative at Macquarie, which aims to motivate women by providing them with a sense of ownership and importance in the sciences.

“In my first class there were only six or seven women, and I knew this had to change,” said Sumiya. She then established the group, which very quickly grew and expanded. “I want to work towards empowering women to go out there and give it all they’ve got.”

Sumiya’s advice to the rest of us? “We have to remember we don’t just belong to one country. It’s our duty to go out there and serve the whole world, not just the country that we live in.”