Ingrida Juraite

Mathematician / Systems Engineer

A colour photograph of a woman giving a scientific presentation

Photo from BAE Systems: Space Technology SME Challenge Day at Satellite Applications Catapult (23/10/2019) (All images kindly provided by Ingrida)

  • BORN 1983, Kaunas, Lithuania
  • WORKED Kaunas, Lithuania; New Jersey, US; Kyoto, Japan; Loughborough and Chelmsford, UK
  • HONOURS Member of the Institute of Physics (IoP); BAE Systems Chairman’s Award for Innovation on Fighter Pilot Training; BAE Systems Chairman’s Award for Innovation on Venturer Autonomous Vehicle Trials; Vulcanus in Japan Programme Award; Statoil Best Product Setting Award; Secondary School First Student President Election Organiser Award
  • MINERVA SCIENTIFICA PROJECT Echoes from Essex 2020

A logo for Minerva Scientifica Connections 2020. Both 'O's of the word connections are connected to a network pattern. The text is blue on a yellow background.

PODCAST

On 23 June 2020 we celebrated International Women in Engineering Day through the “Echoes from Essex” project in collaboration with Chelmsford Civic Theatre. We asked 6 engineers from Essex, past and presentincluding Ingrida Juraiteto describe their work through the 5 senses. Their responses draw us into an unexpectedly diverse world of women in engineering. For more Minerva Scientifica podcasts click here.

Artistic Connections

All humans find beauty in different aspects of the world. As a scientist I enjoy many types of art, therefore was keen to join the Women of Science & Music project especially that it was from Essex where I currently live and work. One of my colleagues asked whether I would like to volunteer, and although the times are quite busy with home schooling and work, the topic sounded very intriguing, therefore for the first time I decided to join such an event.

MUSIC

Title: Echoes from Essex
Composer: FRANCES M LYNCH
Words by: Frances M Lynch
Written in: August 2020
For: Mixed Chorus, Piano, Harpsichord, Bass Viol, 2 Solo Violins, Orchestra
Performed by: Essex Virtual Choir
First Performed: by Essex Virtual Choir on September 20th at the “Hope for Essex” performance on Zoom in collaboration with Chelmsford Civic Theatres and Essex Music Education Hub

This is the signature tune of the “Echoes from Essex” project in which Ingrida Juraite took part. It highlights the lives of our featured historical Essex Women in STEMM and celebrates those who are building the future world now. The project ran from July – October 2020.

Thanks are due to Dr Patricia Fara whose historical research inspired the text for this song and formed the basis for the whole project.

You can download the full text here.

Please visit our Essex Virtual Choir page where you can click through to the resources page for the score and learning recordings.

Education

My career related education most likely started still in high (secondary) school where I joined a special mathematics class that had many additional courses such as economics. From there on, I participated in many events and won interesting awards such as an internship at a large company. And yet it was not an obvious choice for me to choose a mathematics degree. At the time, economics was very popular, and it became my number one choice at first. But I liked other things as well, chemistry, finance, programming, videography included. Since it did not seem right to make that choice then, mathematics was the answer as (together with physics of course) it is the core of everything. That is why I chose Applied Mathematics for my Bachelor Degree and then Industrial Mathematical Modelling for my Master’s Degree. Robotics later became one of the fascinating areas, which also led me to apply and be selected to do an internship in Japan.

Photo from BAE Systems: Space Technology SME Challenge Day at Satellite Applications Catapult (23/10/2019)

Occupations

Operator and manager assistant
While still at school, I needed experience and understanding of business to help me progress quicker, so after my introductory internship at Statoil, I decided to stay and work part-time, which continued until I graduated. It was also nice to have additional money, but that meant I missed a lot of weekend and summer fun.

Hotel Manager
To earn more money, when the wave of students going abroad started, I joined them and worked as a hotel manager at a small seaside hotel in New Jersey. This was one of the most brilliant experiences, tough, but I had an English professor as the hotel owner, giving English tips.

Research Assistant
I was lucky to be offered a place at the NTT Communications Science Laboratory in Japan as a research assistant, which was the most fascinating experience both educationally as well as culturally.

Procurement Manager
University was a little bit more flexible, therefore I started working as a part-time purchasing manager at the furniture manufacturing company. This progressed well, and I was offered a higher position, but at the same time the results of the UK exchange programme came out. I chose education, as I was not yet ready to start a full-time job.

Cleaner
While in the UK, I had a scholarship, but it was not enough, therefore I started working as a cleaner on the university campus. These were long days, with little sleep and lots of mathematics, all in a foreign language.

Researcher
After I completed my Master’s degree, I was offered a researcher’s position. I enjoy maths, and doing research, and since the job was exactly that, I stayed.

After work at the BAE Systems Stand, enjoying the state-of-the-art technologies as well as checking out planet models at the US Space Symposium (March 2019)

Scientific Achievements

I think my biggest achievement, a breakthrough, was my first scientific paper on chaotic systems published when I was working in Japan.

Did You Know?

I have two children, both named after mathematical terms.

AN INSPIRING WOMAN

The most inspiring aspect of not just one but all the women in science is the hard work they had to put in, patience and passion, and the relentless push forward they all had to maintain in order to achieve both the scientific breakthroughs as well as recognition. So now where and when possible I try to contribute to the STEM events, especially with the girls’ schools, and also instil critical thinking in my daughters.

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