An online bridge for engineering students: New initiative launched by Laurentian University students aims to help fellow students find inspiration and bring fellow engineers together.

• Author: McKinley, Karen
• Position: NEWS

Engineering is a demanding vocation and those at the student level are sometimes left wondering what they are going to do with their degree once they have it.

Two students at Laurentian University are giving everyone in the field, from students to the experienced, a forum to come together to exchange ideas, offer advice and encouragement, and even help with finding the right job.

Rosalie Bruneau and Harsh Brahmbhatt have created Let's Be Genius, a project to gather stories and network on social media and the web to give engineers a place just for them.

The idea came to Bruneau and Brahmbhatt because of their involvement in Laurentian's Engineering Student Society, Bruneau said. She is vice-president of communication and he is the president. As the vice-president of communication, she wanted something special on the society's website to show engineering students what opportunities are out there once they have their degree.

She came up with the idea of Let's Be Genius and presented the idea to Brahmbhatt and he had his own ideas.

"We want to encourage engineering students like us by allowing others from around the world to share their stories," Bruneau said. "We put our ideas together and it turned into a project that was international."

They reached out to people in Russia, China, India and New Caledonia. They pitched the idea of their project and received a lot of support and stories to share as motivation and inspiration. They interviewed professionals, students, and engineers in training.

Brahmbhatt said he's participated in engineering competitions, so he can advise others on that aspect.

"We came up with this idea as they've finished their first year and are going into their second,", Brahmbhatt said. "We knew what we wanted to do and wanted to get more involved. The one problem every student in university has is you are on your own. You don't have the support and guidance you had in high school.

"I think it's really important to have role models and people to look up to for answers."

He explained that professors are there to teach and everyone is running on a tight schedule. But there's more to engineering. There's a lot of networking and practical hands-on work required. He and Bruneau have some sources for professional advice, but not all students have that and it can lead to students to dropping out. Even when they graduate and go into the field, they have skills, but no network to fall back on to help further their career.

"We try...