1) Please tell us a bit about yourself and how you plan to make a positive impact on the world through your engineering career. My name is Maha Peracha. Beginning this fall, I will be entering my first year as a mechanical engineering major at Wayne State University. Throughout high school I pursued a variety of different interests, from architecture to coding to basketball. These varying interests aided me in being able to see problems from unique perspectives and consequently solve them in unique ways. This has benefits in many aspects of my life but specifically toward my engineering career, as perspective is what creates change and inspires progress. My intended impact in the world of engineering is to create a safer world through a safer automotive industry. 2) Describe any life experiences that influenced your decision to pursue a degree in engineering. In the country of my parents, Pakistan, many people use motorcycles as their main method of transportation due to their comparatively low cost when juxtaposed with cars. However, the result is an increase in auto-accident mortality rates, as motorcycles offer significantly less protection to the human body. This problem is not just isolated to Pakistan; a man I met recently told me about how he had been driving with his young son in the backseat when a car hit a motorcyclist in front of him. The motorcyclist hit the man's car and was deceased on impact. This issue in safety that piqued my interest in mechanical design and had me wondering what could be done to increase motorcycle safety, and further, what I specifically could offer in that field. I hope that in a world 3) Who is your favorite inventor or engineer and why? My favorite inventor is definitely Marie Curie; I've been reading books on her and her discoveries since the third grade. Not only was she an inspiration as a woman in a male dominated field, but her dedication to her work is incredibly admirable. Her dedication was so strong, in fact, that her belongings in museums can only be approached when wearing safety gear, as they are so strongly radioactive, and are expected to remain radioactive for 1,500 years. She also still maintains her status as the first and the only woman to win two different Nobel prizes; one in physics and one in chemistry. Marie's revolutionary discoveries not only paved the way for modern day researchers but also inspired a generation of scientists and engineers like me. (Note: the attached file is of a CAD project I did for an engineering class where I used Autodesk Inventor to design a headscarf for a Lego figure. Sadly, I did not get a chance to get a picture of the finished 3-D printed result.)

“Be the person you needed when you were younger.” These words by Ayesha Siddiqi capture the essence of what I strive to do with my life: create a world where girls like me, especially in STEM, feel seen, supported, and inspired to lead innovation. The winter of 2015 was especially cold, but the girl at the dinner table didn’t need blankets. Her eyes burned with salty tears, and her head throbbed like an overfilled balloon. With sweaty palms and shaking hands, she wiped her eyes and tried to focus on long division. Convinced she wasn’t good at math and never would be, she saw no point in trying. At seven, she didn’t understand that mastery is earned, not inherited. That girl was me. For years, I saw my struggles as a personal failing—a problem with my brain that left me behind. I hid my shame by claiming I just wasn’t a “math person.” But in 2020, COVID-19 shut down schools, and I was left with only textbooks and time. Learning at my own pace, I discovered a passion for math I hadn’t known existed. I studied relentlessly and, when classes resumed virtually, I matched pace with my classmates. My final that year came back with an ‘A’—my first. That moment shifted everything. I stayed on the math track and never looked back. Now, five months from high school graduation, I look back at that journey with pride. I’ve chosen to major in data science, to use my math and problem-solving skills in a meaningful way. With only 15-20% of data scientists being women, my presence alone helps break barriers and invite others in. I want to exist as a lighthouse for other girls in STEM, guiding them through the choppy waters and dark nights that can overturn unsteady ships. I hope to leave behind a legacy of success; one that mirrors the work of Katherine Johnson and Marie Curie, two women whose dedication to their fields inspired me. I want my name to be spoken in classrooms, remembered for the changes I helped spark. By being visible in a historically exclusive field, I want to shift how young girls view their potential. That legacy has already begun. I tutor students in math and, more than anything, I focus on dismantling the myth of the “math person.” I tell my students what I wish someone had told me: their potential isn’t fixed, and every failure is a step toward growth. When they begin to believe in themselves and put in more effort, I see the seeds of my legacy taking root. The winter of 2024 was relatively warm in Michigan, but inside, at the dinner table, the warmth came from something else. Two girls sat side by side. One, young and frustrated, learning long division for the first time. She groaned at wrong answers and cheered at right ones. The other girl was me. I guided her through her struggle, reminding her she was capable—just as I once needed someone to remind me. This is the legacy I will leave: a world where more girls like her—and like me—believe in themselves and in their power to create change.