High school senior Nour Ayman Elsayed and five of her fellow students spent a day job shadowing engineers working on advanced aircraft engines at GE Aviation’s On Wing Support Center in Dubai.

At the 1,500-sqm facility, where engines are hoisted on huge overhead gantry cranes to be serviced and repaired, the six female students learned first-hand about high-tech aircraft engine maintenance and repair, career options in the aviation industry, and more broadly about opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

“Seeing an aircraft engine up-close and understanding what goes into its maintenance and repair was very eye-opening,” Nour said. “Through this experience, I recognized I have more opportunities in engineering, particularly in the aviation industry. It was also very thought-provoking to hear how women are more present in this industry today.”

The students from Al Khaleej International School in Dubai were participating in the job shadowing as their prize for having won first place in an innovation competition that was part of the GE-hosted ‘STEM for the Next 50’ innovation camp, held in November 2021 in partnership with INJAZ UAE.

Fellow senior Roudha Mohamed Al Marzouqi, said of the job shadowing: “This experience is helping me decide on a possible career in engineering; it is also motivating because I got to see women working in this field and making an impact in an industry that is male dominated. With diversity, more ideas come, and it makes the workplace more efficient as well.”

In addition to watching engineers perform their duties, the students directly engaged with the engineers who shared their experiences and advice with them. They also toured the facility, which serves carriers from around the region with prompt maintenance and repair services.

The facility can host up to 20 LEAP-1A and LEAP-1B engines annually for quick turn work scopes, including hot section module replacements, in addition to delivering ongoing service support for all other GE/CFM engine models.

In November, the students participated in the ‘STEM for the Next 50’ innovation camp, which was held in celebration of the UAE’s Golden Jubilee and welcomed more than 200 female participants from high schools in the UAE. It was held at Expo 2020 Dubai.

The competition asked the student teams to use critical thinking and problem-solving to find innovative solutions to challenges around the energy transition.

Read more stories about GE working to support youth skill building and workforce development across the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.