“Karolina Kudelina has been a remarkable student ever since she started her bachelor’s studies in 2015; by now she has already completed her first year of doctoral studies. During this short period of time, she has published 20 research articles, exceeding several times the total volume required for the completion of doctoral studies. In addition, she has done praiseworthy work as a workshop teacher at the Young Engineer Programme and as an organiser of workshops for schoolchildren to ensure the new generation of engineers required for the green transition, furthermore, she has also appeared on television and radio,” stated Leo Rummel, the president of the Estonian Association of Engineers, entrepreneur, authorised thermal power engineer and energy efficiency expert, explaining the selection of the winner.

Karolina Kudelina graduated from the Narva-Jõesuu upper secondary school with a gold medal in 2015. Following this, she continued her studies at the Tallinn University of Technology where she received her bachelor’s degree in electrical power engineering in 2018, master’s degree in energy conversion and control systems in 2020, and is currently studying for a PhD in electrical power engineering and mechatronics. In 2020, she started working at the Department of Electrical Power Engineering and Mechatronics, initially as an engineer and, later in 2020, as a doctoral student and junior researcher.

In her master’s thesis, she researched the opportunities for identifying and reducing the faults of brushless DC motors used in robots, electric cars, and electric scooters, all of which are closely linked to the green transition. However, in her doctoral thesis, she has widened the scope of her research even further, including wind turbines, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing.

The Technical Student of the Year title has been awarded since 2007.

Estonian Association of Engineers (EIL) is a non-profit association operating in the public interest which brings together professional engineering organisations, enterprises, and educational institutions in Estonia. EIL was established in 1988 and continues the work of the Estonian Institute of Engineers founded a hundred years ago in 1921. EIL has been a member of the European Federation of National Engineering Associations (FEANI) since 1996. The aim of EIL is to promote engineering research and development, innovation, and education policy. This news article was published in the education portal of Postimees on 3 December 2021.