Shairae Taepa was raised in te reo Māori, attended Hukarere Girls High School and she’s now co-winner of the world’s first Emerging Metrologist of the Year Award.
She’s the first wahine Māori to carry this honour - but what exactly is a metrologist?
Taepa says she was inspired by her teacher at Hukarere to become a metrologist.
“My ICT teacher, Dr Michael Peterson, had introduced me to electronics as an extra thing in his class and so I was like, 'What’s this? This is far better than database and learning Microsoft. It was quite different,” she says.
Now working at RF Test Solutions in Te Whanganui a Tara, Taepa (Te Arawa and Ngāi Tūhoe) explains metrology is the science of measurement.
Calibration repairs
“What I specialise in at mahi is low-frequency calibrations. We get a vast variety of electrical measurement instruments and they come in from companies within aerospace and health sectors and emergency services. What we do is calibrate them and repair them and just make sure that they're accurate and reading accurately.”
Last month Taepa, nominated by her mahi, RF Test Solutions, shared the inaugural Emerging Metrologist of the Year award.
“I’m very lucky to be able to have all my grandparents there to receive that award in front of them. Definitely makes me feel proud and it is for them as well. I want them to be proud of me as well and you kind of strive for that.”
Taepa says hard work has paid off for her and she encourages rangatahi Māori to study the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics at kura as she says there is work out there for anyone interested in the field of metrology.