Anita Antwiwaa is a Ghanaian engineer. She is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Space Systems Technology Laboratory (SSTL) at the University of the Nations. She is a member of the ANU-SSTL outreach team working in various primary and secondary schools in Ghana to promote STEMI education using space technology.
Dr. Anita Antwiwaa, is the current Head of the Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering at All Nations University College, Ghana and Head of Operations of the Space Systems Technology Laboratory at All Nations University Ghana. With a Ph.D. in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Sam Higginbottom University of Agricultural Technology and Science, India, and a Master of Technology in Communication Systems Engineering from SRM University, India, she has been fascinated with space since childhood. « I wanted to explore space and what happens outside our world. As a young African girl, I dreamed of becoming an astronaut or pursuing a career in space technology, but my family considered my dream impossible. « I completed a Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications Engineering at All Nations University College in Ghana from 2006 to 2009. I was retained by the university as a teaching assistant, but little did I know that eight years later I would become the department head of the same department I graduated from and the operations manager of the university’s space program. »
In turn now she advocates for encouraging girls to join STEM fields.
« Our laboratory, the University of the Nations Space Systems Technology Laboratory (ANU-SSTL) successfully launched the historic GhanaSat-1 (first of its kind in West Africa) which is the first satellite developed by young Ghanaian engineers at the University in 2017 to take photographs of the Earth and monitor Ghana’s coastal areas. » The lab has an outreach team that works in various primary and secondary schools in Ghana to promote STEMI education using space technology with a focus on girls. « I find myself in a field where I am the only female among the men, and also the leader. I always have to prove myself worthy of the task at hand. That puts a lot of pressure on me. I always have to work very hard to get that approval and acceptance, » she says. I think women in technical fields need support to encourage them to break through that male world barrier that surrounds this sector. »
