Dr Bianca Capra
Bianca is a passionate aerospace engineer, educator and advocate for women in STEM and aerospace in particular. She graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical and Space) in 2001 and completed her PhD in Aerospace Engineering (Hypersonics) in 2006. Bianca currently lectures in aeronautical engineering at UNSW Canberra and researches highspeed flight, a field that remains heavily male dominated. She loves the technical engineering challenges of highspeed flight and communicating these to the broader society.
Throughout her studies, research and teaching roles she has often been the only woman in the room. This experience has driven her passion for advocacy for increasing diversity and inclusivity in engineering. She has experience across a number of organisations in developing and delivering policies, procedures and structural change to support all women into STEM and engineering in particular and help them navigate successful careers. She established, and currently chairs, the Women in Fluid Mechanics sub-committee of the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society (AFMS), is the Vice-President of the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society and the first woman to hold this position, the Vice Chair of the Royal Aeronautical Society Canberra Branch and the Director for Education on the Women in Aviation Australian Chapter.
Bianca is also a strong and active advocate for encouraging and supporting more young women into engineering and aerospace/aviation careers. She is the current of the RAeS Canberra branch, one of the 2019/2020 Science and Technology Australia’s Superstars of STEM and current co-chair of YoWIE, a program designed specifically to engage girls with engineering.
Bianca is a proud feminist, engineer and advocate for EDI in STEM. She has two children aged 5 and 3 and prefers cats to dogs. In her spare time, she pretends to be a self-coached social triathlete.