Engineer Khambatta

"I chose structural engineering because I was always interested in science at school. I attended some information nights and found that I wanted to do civil engineering. I majored in structures while at the University and found that I really enjoyed it,” Nishmin Kham­batta respon­ded to Parsi­ana’s query as to what it was that inspired her to take up this comparatively rare line of work for women. Nishmin graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and Bachelor of Commerce degree with first class honors, making it to the honors list and bagging the University of Sydney prize for her effort.

Khambatta: aiming high

Having migrated to Australia at the age of seven with her parents — her father Adil is an electrical engineer, she informs us — Khambatta has already started work as a structural engineer with the firm of Taylor Thomson and Whitting Private Limited, informs Manashni (February-March 2006),the newsletter of the Australian Zoroastrian Association of New South Wales.

"It was quite difficult to get into the course of my choice as I chose to do a combined degree in engineering and commerce at the University of Sydney,” Khambatta informs us. " University places in Australia are generally government funded and hence are limited. In order to get into university you need to get a certain level of marks in your final year exams at school. These marks get converted into a University Admissions Index. It is the UAI which decides what course you can do,” she writes.

A brown belt in karate, Khambatta says she also enjoys other sports like soccer and activities like walking and reading.