Ditte Marie Baumann Lund is currently enrolled in BEng. civil engineering at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Ditte is an upcoming civil engineer from Aarhus University, Denmark. She has a background in physics and mathematics from high school. In her free time, Ditte works as an active member for multiple organisations where she spends her time on different cases and projects. She is an active member of the student organisation for engineers (RIA) and is working towards introducing more female oriented activities in university. Even though Ditte has always found the field of engineering fascinating, as her father is a civil engineer. But she wanted to work in the social field and work with the important things in society such as, rape, homelessness and things along those lines. But when it came to choosing a career, she found engineering really interesting and started thinking of the ways, she could make an impact around her through her civil engineering degree. She considers her father the biggest and only role model in life and mentions that she always strives to make him proud. One of the thoughts in her mind was that she wanted to become an engineer to normalize female engineers in the industry, as there are not many Ditte has seen around. The biggest achievement for Ditte is that fact that she has been trusted by RIA and put responsible for other people, and that is a role she takes really seriously. She works as a leader for the organisation representing engineering students at Aarhus University, which is something she had never even imagined she would be a part of.
Ditte looks forward to making difference in the world through her field after her graduation. She mentions that civil engineering is a field with vast number of opportunities. She works with ”everything below the foundation”, trying to see all the different opportunities and all the possible problems. She works mostly with foundations and construction pits, in technical terms known as geotechnical constructions.
There are certain things in the STEM field, which Ditte would like to see changes in to make life easier for women in STEM. She specifically mentions that many times, she is perceived as someone who does not belong in her field just because she is a blue-eye blonde. But of course, there is no correlation between her appearance and her intelligence. She is just as good as others pursuing this degree (and sometimes even better). Ditte hopes that there will be a time in the future when there will not exist any prejudice. She also hopes for more equality between males and females, not just in the field of STEM, but in every aspect of life.
Ditte wholeheartedly agrees with us at NWiSTEM over the fact that representation is much needed, there are not as many females as needed. According to Ditte’s observation, at university there seems to be a whole lot of females, but out in the industry, Ditte finds it difficult to find any, which is quite interesting. If she had to send a message to younger Ditte, then it would be that she needs to study hard, because this fields needs her! Any field requires both genders, because this creates diversity of thought, there is so much that each individual can bring to the table. The industry needs individuals, not just females or males, but individuals! Everyone has potential, it is all about recognising that potential and not letting gender stereotypes get in the way.
Lastly, here are Ditte’s closing words of encouragement for young girls who want to join a STEM field:
“You, you are the answer because you bring so much to this world, that the men have not even thought of. New thought processes, creativity and much more. YOU ARE NEEDED!”
You can contact Ditte Marie Baumann Lund on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ditte-marie-lund-3a39a31b7/
I thank Ditte Marie Baumann Lund for taking part in this project and answering all the questions in a very informative manner. I hope, your experience and STEM story will inspire a young girl to join a STEM field and excel just like you have.