Maria Clara Simões is currently a member of the IEEE Portugal Student Activity Committee and President of the Técnico Students’ Camerata. She recently completed her Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a final grade of 20 out of 20. Balancing music and electronics — her two great passions — she learned how to manage the organization of activities and projects at the Técnico IEEE Student Branch, rehearsals and concerts with the Camerata, and her academic responsibilities, both as a student and as a teaching assistant. In an interview with DEEC, Maria Clara shared more about her journey, from choosing her degree to becoming involved in various initiatives.

Electrical and Computer Engineering has always been present in her life. “I have an uncle who is an electrical engineer,” she began. For this reason, her interest in the field started in childhood, when her uncle gave her brother an electronics kit:

The kit had an amplifier, a radio, and we used to play with light bulbs and switches (...). I remember watching my brother and being with my father assembling circuits. That’s a memory that stayed with me.

Maria Clara Simões, MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering

That interest remained dormant for some time, resurfacing during secondary school when it came time to choose a degree. “I knew I wanted to go into engineering in secondary school, but I didn’t know exactly which field,” she explains. She explored areas such as mechanical engineering, physics, and aerospace engineering, but “none of them were quite the right fit,” until the word “electrical engineering” reappeared. “I remember researching it, going to Técnico’s website, and talking to my uncle about it. For me, it was the choice that made the most sense because of its breadth. It was a degree that gave me solid engineering foundations throughout the entire undergraduate program and didn’t limit me,” she says.

She was also influenced by her brother, who enrolled in the same program and shared course content and lab preparation with her. Her curiosity for the field continued to grow.

During her undergraduate studies, she discovered her passion for electronics. She recalls that it began in a rather unlikely way: while studying for an exam in a course where she was struggling to understand the material, she suddenly experienced a “click.”

I was studying for an exam when suddenly everything started to make sense, and it all seemed so obvious that the exercises almost felt like a game.

Maria Clara Simões, MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering

After the exam, she decided to review the undergraduate curriculum, marking the courses where she could learn more about electronics. “It was the one that truly made my eyes light up. (...) For me, the most fascinating thing about electronics is that something can always be improved,” she highlights, noting that there are many parameters for system optimization, from energy efficiency to reducing circuit size.

At the beginning of her Master’s degree, she joined the Técnico IEEE Student Branch chapter specialized in electronics, CAS/SSCS (Circuits and Systems / Solid-State Circuits Society), where she participated in the development of the MESA project. She is currently a member of the Student Activity Committee (SAC), which manages and supports student branches at Portuguese universities, for example in processes such as elections, funding matters, and communication with the Executive Committee.

Around the same time she joined IEEE SB, she also began an internship at SiliconGate. She initially followed the work of a master’s student and eventually developed her own dissertation there. Her work consisted of designing an LDO (a low-dropout voltage regulator) integrating amplifiers and inverters to ensure that the supply voltage delivered to a given circuit remained stable, regardless of system temperature variations. “My LDO was designed to withstand very high current variations, up to 300 mA , and was intended for processors that require that kind of current, such as those used in IoT systems or edge AI processing,” she explains.

Sometimes, the more things we have to do, the more organized we become — and the more time we gain.

Maria Clara Simões, MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Alongside her thesis, internship, and IEEE activities, Maria Clara also took on the presidency of the Técnico Students’ Camerata (CEIST). “It’s a very nice story,” she says, recalling that she first learned about the group through posters around Técnico. She applied to join but received no feedback. Knowing one of the group’s members, she decided to investigate. “The Camerata is inactive,” they told her. However, that response did not discourage her. She took the initiative to schedule a meeting and later rehearsals, even with a small number of musicians.

Motivation returned to the group, and they decided to hold a Christmas concert that year. Although rehearsals only began in October, the concert took place at the parish of Benfica and featured a string duo — composed of one Camerata member and a student who later joined the group — as well as a choir formed by friends and family members. They performed Vivaldi’s Gloria. “At the end of the concert, there was a great sense of pride in knowing that this project had real potential to grow,” she says.

We were four, now we are thirty (...). We experienced very intense growth. I started by ‘turning the crank,’ but then the machine began working on its own.

Maria Clara Simões, MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Over time, several proposals and projects emerged, including invitations from the University of Lisbon Chamber Choir to perform Bach’s Magnificat, from a stage director to participate in a concert cycle, and to stage an opera. They are currently working on Mozart’s The Magic Flute. This year, they will also present Celebratorium, which will include works from Luís de Freitas Branco’s repertoire.

When asked how she managed her time while balancing so many activities, Maria Clara emphasizes the importance of both discipline and prioritization. “I realized that I did have time to handle all these things; I was just losing time on things that weren’t as necessary. People talk a lot about phones, but it’s true — I started spending less time on my phone and suddenly the two or three hours I had were dedicated to the Camerata, and I was still able to study at the same level, be involved in IEEE, and teach,” she explains.

I think the key phrase is ‘if you love what you do, it doesn’t feel tiring,’ but it’s also very much about discipline. I had my list of priorities very clearly defined.

Maria Clara Simões, MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Today, she also seeks to motivate younger students to pursue Electrical and Computer Engineering: “The truth is that all areas are pillars of society — telecommunications, energy, circuits, control systems, robotics, cyber-physical systems. For me, that’s a major advantage. It’s genuinely a degree I strongly recommend because of its breadth,” she concludes.

She also highlights the team spirit among students in the program, across different academic years, and their willingness to help one another and build friendships, regardless of gender.