ECE Major Antonia Ang Lights the Way for Other Women at Tandon

Antonia Ang grew up on the West Coast, but she chose to apply to NYU Tandon to experience the opposite of what she knew — the energy of New York City, a campus woven into a dynamic borough, and the chance to be surrounded by people who think differently from her.

A competitive gymnast turned electrical and computer engineering major, she's navigated research, lab reports, and a city of eight million people to become a student leader, a writer, and a mentor. We sat down with Antonia ahead of her May graduation to talk about what’s shaped her path — and where she might be heading next.

You grew up in Thousand Oaks, California — a pretty different world from Brooklyn. What drew you to NYU?

Thousand Oaks was definitely a quiet, comfortable suburb. Before college, most of my travel was only for gymnastics competitions, so I think I wanted to be in a city, surrounded by people with all kinds of different experiences. New York felt like the opposite of everything familiar, and I was excited to become an engineer here.

Here you are in electrical and computer engineering. How did that happen?

My curiosity kept evolving. I became interested in the systems side of things — circuits, signals, programming. At the time, I was a bit indecisive about a subject area, but ECE felt like a place where I could work on anything: medical devices, communication systems, machine learning; It’s a really broad field.

Let's talk about the moment your trajectory at Tandon really shifted.

It sounds like a small exchange, but it changed everything. When I was a freshman, a senior at the Writing Center, Kavitha Rao, was teaching me how to write a lab report, but she actually taught me much more than formatting. She talked about the importance of connections in her own path, preparing for internships, getting involved, and lifting other women up. We started brainstorming together for what my time here could look like, and she showed me many different pathways. I think back to our conversation a lot, because it gave me the momentum to join so many communities here at Tandon.

She's the reason you got involved in the Society of Women Engineers?

Yes! She encouraged me to join and talked about how important SWE had been in her own career. I feel so fortunate that I was able to have that kind of conversation early on — it shaped so much of my college experience — and I hope to bring this support to the younger generation of women at Tandon.

Over the years, I’ve realized how mentorship can be a chain. Someone invested in me, and now I want to do the same for students coming up behind me.

SWE gave me the community and a framework. I started out as the media manager, creating flyers and online posts, and I recently assumed the presidency.

Kavitha also pointed you toward Tandon's Vertically Integrated Projects program?

She did. The program connects students across different years and disciplines to work on long-term design projects — and that structure turns out to matter a lot. I joined Rogue Aerospace, which is a rocketry project, and the Robotic Design Team, which participates in NASA’s Lunabotics Competition. It’s a very different kind of learning than coursework. You build something real with a team of students at different stages of experience, so everyone brings something unique to the project.

Speaking of mentorship — you've also found it in a somewhat unexpected place. Tell us about Abby Rabinowitz.

Professor Abby Rabinowitz is the Director of the Expository Writing Program, and she’s been one of the most important people in my time at NYU. I love to write — it's something that has always mattered to me — and finding a mentor who helped foster that in an engineering school was really special. We actually started a book club, The Tandon Book Club, to create a space for literature here. She currently serves as the Faculty Advisor for the Society of Women Engineers, which has built our connection to Tandon faculty and administrators in an amazing way.

You also write for the Washington Square News.

Yes! I feel like writing is one of the best forms of sharing our understanding, in a shape that’s very different from numbers and formulas. As engineers, there are so many moments when we need to explain our work to people outside our field or help others understand our vision, and I hope that my writing can help move that forward.

You're graduating in May. What comes next?

There are still so many subjects I’d love to learn and problems I can see myself working on. I’ve completed internships at Northrop Grumman and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, which have shown me even more opportunities, so there are many paths that seem exciting.

What would you tell a first-year student who just arrived in Brooklyn?

Walk through as many doors as you can. It’s what Kavitha told me, and it opened so much of my college experience. The opportunities are here. The people are here. Find someone who is doing what you hope to do and ask them about their path. And if someone asks you the same thing a year later, help them. That's how mentorship works.

For new students, and especially for the young women at Tandon, I think one of the most important things you can do is build spaces for connection. Engineering is such a rigorous field, so finding support makes all the difference. For me, the Society of Women Engineers became that place for belonging, and our doors are always open. Our mentorship program creates matches across all years, and we host events every week for women to meet.

Can you tell us about some of SWE’s specific initiatives and events?

Our SWE Mentorship Program Kickoff went really well! We held our celebration with WoMentorship, and we’re excited about our great mentor-mentee matches that were made. My hope is that our members can find connections and conversations they might not otherwise have access to.

We also recently welcomed several NYC Girl Scout troops to Tandon for our Girl Scout Discovery Day, where we held workshops that introduced them to engineering fields such as electronics or mechanical design. Our event was made possible by a grant from the SWE Headquarters and it was amazing to have so much support from Tandon. The ECE Department donated circuitry kits, Dr. Elizabeth Waters gave a great tour of the NYU Makerspace, and the NYU Robotic Design Team 3D-printed SWE souvenirs, which was really special. Our SWE volunteers were incredible role models, and it was inspiring to see how much they fostered even more curiosity and engagement. I think it encouraged many young girls to imagine themselves in new career paths, which is so important, especially for those who haven’t necessarily grown up with exposure to engineering.

In April, SWE will be hosting the Tandon Women in Engineering Summit to celebrate all women at Tandon, from students to our distinguished faculty. Our gathering will include a keynote from the school’s benefactor, Chandrika Tandon, and we’re so excited to see how the future of our community will grow.