Meet The Female Malaysian Engineer Set To Own A Top US Tech Firm
The pioneer credits her father for encouraging her interest in STEM as a child.
By Katrina Khairul Azman — 15 Mar 2018, 04:25 PM
Rupa Shanmugam has been interested in science and technology since she was a child in Kampar, Perak. Later this year, she will be taking ownership of SoPark Corporation in New York.
Rupa is currently the President and COO of the leading US-based technological company, which is Western New York's largest electronics manufacturing service provider producing printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies, cable and electromechanical assemblies.
In February, Rupa was awarded the Women in Leadership Award by the Buffalo Niagara Chapter of NYS Women, Inc in recognition of her leadership, enterprise and excellence in her profession, as well as her contribution in giving back to the Western New York community.
Rupa credits her father for encouraging her interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by having her help him around the house
Rupa told Buffalo News that her father, a physics teacher, encouraged her to pursue a career in electrical engineering as she displayed interest in the field at a young age.
From plumbing to carpentry, she said, "I used to help him around the house when I was growing up. I used to wire everything. He called me his right-hand man."
"I had my first woodworking project when I was 6 years old. That’s probably why he saw that."
With the field of STEM traditionally being male-dominated, Rupa was the only female in her college engineering classes and for years of her working life
In a 2016 interview with New Straits Times, she said, "I attended and received a diploma in Electronic Engineering from the Federal Institute of Technology in Kuala Lumpur. While attending college there, I was the only girl in the class for three years."
"For the next five years, I was the only woman technician when I worked in Singapore at Thomson Consumer Electronics, Western Digital and then Carsem in Malaysia."
"Through hard work, strong work ethics and having people not only believe in me but mentoring me, I advanced in various roles in manufacturing – from operator, technician, engineer and manager to now being the president/COO of SoPark Corporation," Rupa told NYS Women, Inc.