Meet the Girls of Revolve NTNU

Written by Caroline Tran Photo by Marion Christine Løkkevig

Technology Week is an event where girls from different high schools in Norway get to come to NTNU and visit the university. The event consists of three days filled with technology, interactive workshops and inspiring presentations with the purpose of encouraging girls to choose technology when applying for studies after high school.

In November the take off of Technology Week’s took place! Revolve NTNU got invited to hold a presentation - and we said of course yes. We talked about why we chose to participate in such a project, how it is being a girl in a student project consisting of mostly boys and also what kind of challenges we face. We think that it is awesome that girls dare to take up challenges and love to motivate to that. This is why we decided to do an Enquête with the girls in Revolve NTNU to show more of our passions and dailylife within the project! It’s surprising how many girls that hesitate to apply for technology studies and projects because of lack of knowledge about it and because they think the qualification requirements are much higher than they actually are! People tend to forget that we are just students and it is all about the learning process and the knowledge and competency you end up with - not the knowledge and competency you start with. It is about the desire to do something with that lack of knowledge, and the drive to do something to obtain it.

10 ENQUÊTE

Tonja Joseph State Estimation

What does a normal day in Revolve NTNU look like for you? I usually prefer coming early and enjoy the few hours of complete peacefulness in the office with the other earlybirds and a cup of coffee. Then I usually spend most of my day reading research papers, programming, testing my program in a simulator and asking people around me for help/ discussion. Other than that, a lot of time is also spent on joking and teasing other members, giving unserious feedback (getting unserious feedback), playing table tennis, eating sub-optimal meals together in the common spaces, complaining, and just walking around confused about why nothing works... The good life! Unless there are mandatory things I need to attend at school I usually spend all day at the office, trying my best to leave no later than 11pm, but that may not always work out.

Why did you apply for Revolve NTNU? I have been a part of the team before (2018) and loved it so much that I couldn’t stay away. When applying the first time I remember being really scared and thinking about this decision for a very long time before daring to apply. In the end I just thought to myself that I had to put myself out of the comfort zone once in a while and that it was now or never. I also convinced myself that if I was lucky enough to get an interview it would be up to the interviewers to determine whether I was good enough or not. I also wanted to do something different than “all the others” and connect with other people over a technical project rather than parties and alcohol .

What was your biggest fear of applying and how did it turn out? That I was not capable of delivering what was expected. It turned out much better than expected. We are a team and support each other. However I have definitely gotten some tough feedback and it has been hard to face some of it. People are quite straightforward but I guess it has made me a lot stronger emotionally. The down-periods have been quite like I feared, but the up-periods have been so great that it has weighed up for the rest!

Christine Sääv Borg Control Systems

What does a normal day in Revolve NTNU look like for you? I work with the control system of the driverless car where I am implementing a model predictive controller (MPC) for substituting the driver. A normal day consists of a lot of reading. For implementing the MPC I need to understand both the vehicle and the control regime, so reading interesting papers is taking a big part of my day. I also do a lot of programming and having fun with the others at the office.

Why did you apply for Revolve NTNU? I applied for Revolve NTNU to get more work experience and to get “hands-on” experience.

What was your biggest fear of applying and how did it turn out? My biggest fear was to not be as smart as the crazy smart people at Revolve NTNU. The reality is that it is great being with crazy smart people as they can teach you a lot!

Maria Sagberg Bakk SES and Driver

What does a normal day in Revolve NTNU look like for you? I come in at 11 or 12 after working with school at home or attending classes. The office is a good place for both working together as a group and by myself. This semester most of the work is planning. For this I use software like HyperWorks and SolidWorks. Deadlines and wanting to be the best makes you motivated. How long I stay depends on the tasks I have set for myself; sometimes until 18, other days it is 3 in the morning, but every day is different.

Why did you apply for Revolve NTNU? I applied because I want to work in the car industry or motorsport. Revolve NTNU is clearly the best way to learn more about this while studying in Trondheim!

What was your biggest fear of applying and how did it turn out? I was afraid that I would fail all my classes.

Clara Ghattas

Monocoque Group Leader and CAD Responsible

What does a normal day in Revolve NTNU look like for you? A normal day usually starts with me doing some admin and planning for my group, for example, lately I’ve been working on an extensive production plan for the upcoming production period. I will usually then talk to everyone and see what they are doing and if they need help with anything. After, I get stuck into CAD, and continue with the designs for the monocoque. There are a lot of iterations in CAD and a lot of checks to make sure every system works with each other. That is why a big part of my CAD work is communicating with other members who have systems that affect my design, to make sure we are on the same page.

Why did you apply for Revolve NTNU? I am an exchange student from Scotland, and before moving to Norway I found all the student opportunities that NTNU offers and went through them all to see what sounded good. The only thing that stood out to me was Revolve, and I said to myself “You HAVE to join when you go”. My future career goals are to work with cars in some sense, so Revolve seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn more and apply what I’m learning in my degree to a tangible product. Everyone I spoke to was very passionate about the project, and that communicated to me so much about the community here and how much people enjoy doing what we do. To me also, Revolve was a good opportunity to make some Norwegian friends. Everyone I know who has studied abroad, has said that exchange students tend to stick in their own international bubble, and I didn’t want that to happen.

What was your biggest fear of applying and how did it turn out? For me the ongoing struggle is the fear of not living up to expectations or last year’s team, or just not being good enough to be on the team. Honestly, when I applied, I never thought I would actually make the team. It is kind of intimidating to look at the final car from the previous year when you apply, and knowing that next year, it will be your work, your design, your system. It’s a lot to live up to, especially with Revolve’s great reputation. But I think as girls, we really tend to underestimate and doubt ourselves, when really the reality is that the girls in Revolve are some of the best and hardest working people I have ever met.

Jeeviga Gunathasan Graphic Designer

What does a normal day in Revolve NTNU look like for you? I’m responsible for designing the monthly newsletter, magazine and merch, among other things. It’s really fun, and I’m learning a lot. A normal day in Revolve NTNU is filled with meetings, working with my tasks, but also hanging out with extremely kind and fun students and eating cake from time to time. I’m new to the team, so I feel like I’m meeting someone new all the time and I feel welcomed by everyone.

Why did you apply for Revolve NTNU? It was a coincidence actually. A friend of mine told me that the Revolve team was looking for a new graphical designer, so I thought it would be a great way to get relevant experience and learn new things.

What was your biggest fear of applying and how did it turn out? My biggest fear was that I didn’t have that much experience and had to get a hold of my tasks in a short amount of time. But the rest of the team are really helpful and understanding, which just motivates me even more.

Marion Christine Løkkevig

Film and Photography

What does a normal day in Revolve NTNU look like for you? Normally I sit at the office and edit either pictures or video clips. If something happens either in the office, the workshop or elsewhere I will join whoever else is going and take photos and videos. Then the cycle repeats.

Why did you apply for Revolve NTNU? I wanted to join a student organization, but hadn’t quite made up my mind for which yet. That was when I met the previous Film & Photography responsible for Revolve and he made a year in Revolve sound really cool so I decided to give it a chance and apply.

What was your biggest fear of applying and how did it turn out? I didn’t really think about that too much. One of my thoughts were that if I made it, it would be awesome and if I don’t, then I’ll try to find something else to join. Now that I’m a part of the team I think it is much more interesting than what I expected (as I didn’t have that many expectations). In the end, I’m really happy that I joined.

Andrine Resvoll Event Manager

What does a normal day in Revolve NTNU look like for you? I’m responsible for planning our big events such as RevolveDagen and the Unveiling of our cars, among other marketing tasks. These days it’s all about planning the first of the big events next semester: RevolveDagen - our own career day. It’s held at the end of February, where students get the chance to know more about Revolve and our sponsors. The planning consists of contacting companies about collaboration, organize competitions and activities, mailing potential speakers and keeping a regular communication with our sponsors about their participation at the event. In the period ahead of RevolveDagen, there will also be som work regarding promotion of the event.

Why did you apply for Revolve NTNU? When I first heard of the organization I became fascinated by the project and wanted to apply. I’m not that interested in cars and F1, but applied because of the great experiences you get, and all the things you get the opportunity to learn during a year. I also thought it would be great to work with many dedicated students towards a common goal. I wanted to be involved in Revolve, but wasn’t that interested in a technical position. Therefore I applied for a position in the marketing group. In that way I can get a good insight into the mechanical and electrical aspects of the project, in addition to learning about economics, marketing, business plans and general project work.

What was your biggest fear of applying and how did it turn out? I actually didn’t have any big fears of applying for Revolve. When I started at NTNU I wanted to do something beside my studies and Revolve seemed like the coolest project to join. The biggest uncertainty for me was just that I’m a new student, and maybe it would be too ambitious and overwhelming to join such a project my first semester. On the other hand, it seemed like a great opportunity to challenge myself and get structural routines in my everyday life. When Caroline offered me a place in the team, I couldn’t say no. So far, Revolve is an interesting experience, and I learn a lot all the time!

Helena Treffen

Ergonomics

What does a normal day in Revolve NTNU look like for you? Being an ergonomics responsible means that everything surrounding the driver, in the cockpit, is my job to design and make. I want the drivers to feel as comfortable and confident as possible, so they don’t have anything stopping them from driving their best under competition this summer. A normal day consists of a lot of CADing, which means designing the parts and planning how I’m going to make them. I am for example right now in the prosess of moulding and designing the seat, so that it’s custom made to fit all the drivers. We also do lots of social stuff and play a lot of ping-pong (which hopefully means that by the end of this school year I will be a master of ping-pong).

Why did you apply for Revolve NTNU? The main reason I applied to Revolve is because I wanted to do something besides school. I also wanted to see all the theories I learned in school in actual practice, to get a feel of what I’m actually learning.

What was your biggest fear of applying and how did it turn out? My biggest fear when applying was thinking that I don’t have enough knowledge and experience, at all, to build and make a car. I thought I had to have good knowledge and understanding of how the car works prehand. This almost made me recline my application. Thankfully I didn’t do that and it turns out that the learning curve is very steep. There’s also so many people here that are really eager to help and answer any questions you may have.

Silje Marie Malholm Safety Systems

What does a normal day in Revolve NTNU look like for you? My work consists mainly of making PCBs that make sure the car is safe to work with. A normal day in Revolve NTNU, depends on where in the progress we are. Just now I’m finished designing the PCB, which means that I’ve looked on the PCB from last year, figured out what works and not. Then I’ve replaced some old components with new ones I think work better, and drawn the schematics and designed the layout of the card. So now I’m going to solder and test the card and find out if it works or not.

Why did you apply for Revolve NTNU? I don’t really know. I had a good feeling about Revolve, but wasn’t planning to apply because of the work hours. Then I found out a couple of my friends applied and I thought that it could be fun. I’m also very glad to challenge myself, so that’s definitely the main reason I applied.

What was your biggest fear of applying and how did it turn out? My biggest fear was the work hours and that my interest wasn’t big enough. I’ve never had a special interest in electronics. I’ve always wanted to learn more about it, but never sort of dared to. Some part of me thought that everyone else knew a lot about electronics or were super interested in race cars or had a technical hobby. It turns out that you don’t need that much knowledge before you start; like me, I had nothing and I’m still doing fine. When it comes to the work hours it’s actually working out really fine. It doesn’t feel like school or work or something, it feels like a hobby, and there are a lot of nice people here to share the hobby with you. Some weeks are busier, and some are not that much of a work, so the workhours is really not a problem. My biggest fear turned out to be no problem - I’m developing, and I’m very happy I applied.

Caroline Tran

Head of Marketing

What does a normal day in Revolve NTNU look like for you? Truth is, there are no “normal days” for me. Every day is unique and different than the rest and that’s one of the reasons why I like my work here - the flexibility and autonomy to decide and control my days and tasks as I want to. Of course - there are some expectations: Some primetasks have to be done and there are meetings to attend, but other than that I can choose how to solve those tasks and in which order I solve them in. A day in Revolve NTNU can consist of everything from meetings with the board and members, planning workshops with my marketing group to arranging social activities for the rest of the team and be on stands at NTNU to recruit new members. I also do some work by myself at the office, like “paperwork”. Many of my days also goes to contacting companies to spread the word about Revolve NTNU and attending seminars and holding presentations about the project. Some days I like to visit the workshop or join the others on technical stuff to learn new things about our cars. There’s also the opportunity to take initiative and do something totally different like going on a long road trip to visit our sponsors in other parts of Norway!

Why did you apply for Revolve NTNU? I thought the project sounded cool, and I wanted to learn more about cars and production as I have some interest in it from my studies (half mechanical engineering). I actually wanted to apply for a technical position, but when I saw they searched for a new board, the tasks of the marketing manager appealed to me as they sounded interesting and more diverse. I thought to myself, why not, it sounds like an exciting challenge I wanted to push myself through (especially the part with public speaking as I’m normally not comfortable with it). I also thought that If I applied twice, it would show dedication and increase my chances right? Surprisingly for me, it turned out I got admitted at my first try!

What was your biggest fear of applying and how did it turn out? My biggest fear was not being able to deliver the results that I wanted to achieve through this project and the results that are expected of me. I’m a perfectionist, but after working with the project for some time I think I’ve learned to stress less. Things turn out okay even if it doesn’t always turn out exactly the way you planned, and I know it’s a cliché, but really - you learn a lot on the way and half the fun is learning things you didn’t know anything about beforehand! 21