“If you love the science, it’s right here, every day.”

Mehzabeen Mehedi is a graduate of East West University of Bangladesh where she gained her BSc in Electrical & Electronic Engineering in 2014. After moving to Wales (UK), for her Master’s from Bangor University, she then worked towards her PhD in E&E Eng. from Liverpool John Moores University in Liverpool, during which time she interviewed for Nexperia. Initially as a Graduate- then Post-Graduate Application Engineer, Mehzabeen works at the Manchester site with a growing team, doing what she loves.

“Right from the start, Nexperia was a place that I could be comfortable,” says Mehzabeen, talking about her journey from her family back home in Bangladesh, to the less exotic but no-less-interesting locales of northern England. “Here, I have freedom to explore what I want to do, I have the scope to learn what I need, I have amazing resources to be able to produce great work, and time and space to grow. All with the people who were there at my interview.

Tell us about the people you met before you got the job
Well, I work with the people who interviewed me, that was my first ever interview outside academia. I connected with them on that day, got to know them, they got to know me, and that made my first day at work a lot easier. We had already met, I already knew that they were friendly people.

Is it really that straightforward? You applied, they offered, job done?
I’ve been here since early 2022 and it’s my first job so yes, for me it’s just as good as they say it is. Everyone’s helpful, there’s no politics or distractions, just people who want to do the best work, get the right results, make the world a better place … things like that. I also don’t think that Nexperia is like any other company, because I came with a PhD, and they didn’t say ‘you have no experience,’ like I understand other companies might. They said, “let’s see how you can relate your PhD with the work we do here, and let’s maybe make some breakthroughs.”

What does your work involve?
I’m on the Automotive team, with around 14 others. It’s a real mix of things, from hardware projects in the lab to helpdesk work to root notes to addressing customer queries. There’s a nice variety, and I’m responsible for prioritizing my workload, scheduling it according to delivery, which I appreciate. And when there’s something new, someone will ask me if I want to pick it up—am I interested, am I available, do I want to add this to the list—and more often than not, I will, because it’s interesting!

On a day-to-day basis, what’s it like here?
This is an advanced technological environment. We prove and we improve things, we run experiments, we test efficiencies, monitor results and make recommendations and changes. If we aren’t where we need to be, we find out why, what can we change, how do we sort it out. And then we make it work. What’s it like here? It’s fast, friendly, fascinating.

Being part of something bigger, what does that mean to you now?
I’m a fan of the physicist Richard Feynman. His talk in 1959 was called “There’s plenty of room at the bottom” and it introduced the concept of nanotechnology. If you dig deeper, you will find bigger, whether that’s in semiconductors or thermal performance or materials or whatever you’re working with. The dimensions change, the obstacles are bigger, but so are the breakthroughs I think, moving to quantum and so on, lowering size, cost, it’s a big world down there.

What about women in technology, what are your thoughts?
To be honest, I don’t know why more women don’t come into this field. Physics and mathematics are fascinating, and semiconductors leads on from them, so why not? As a woman is it different? I don’t see why, I mean, I can be a CEO, I can be a leader, there’s nothing to say why I shouldn’t. But I think women aren’t coming forward enough. For me, I knew early that I wanted to do something in science, not business. I wanted to learn about nanotech, then I wanted to see what happened inside these silicon chips, how they worked, how they failed, how to stop the failures, how improve its performances. Which is why I’m here. My thoughts are—women in technology, follow your dreams, if you love the science, it’s right here, every day.

How does your career look in the years ahead?
With Nexperia, I’m building a great career. Technology is advancing every day, and we’re looking at new challenges in MOSFETs to solve. We’re looking at new ways to do better things, and that means a lot of exploration which means progress, right? My career is just beginning, and I have the people around me who fully support me, I have access to the kind of resources I could only dream of.