University: Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Nigeria

Degree Program: Bachelor’s of Engineering in Mechatronics and Systems Engineering

Deborah Fashida is a brilliant second-year Mechatronics student at ATBU whose engineering path was sparked at age seven by the speed and mechanical precision of Formula 1 racing. Her global perspective expanded rapidly in 2022 when she earned a competitive scholarship to spend ten months attending an American high school, exposing her to high-level robotics and real-world computing. Determined to erase the digital gap back home, Deborah founded Mun Iya, a grassroots tech literacy initiative that delivers practical coding skills and hardware exposure to underserved children in Northern Nigeria. As a WAAW Scholar, she balances her challenging mechatronics coursework with community training, aiming to break the stigma surrounding motorsports and advanced robotics for African women while engineering localized automated systems.