PMPYA International Scholar Winner Sponsored by PCF: Luna-Rossa Lomitusi-Ape

Congratulations to Luna-Rossa Lomitusi-Ape on winning the International Scholar Award.

Luna-Rossa is a Pacific scholar from Samoa and notes one of her biggest successes as receiving a New Zealand government scholarship to further her education in engineering at the Auckland University of Technology. STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) is largely a male-dominated field with minimal Pacific representation and this is the reality Luna-Rossa faces as a young Samoan woman pursuing Electrical Engineering.

She finds it very important to be a strong advocate for young Pacific women to learn more about engineering and STEM as a career path. Luna-Rossa’s advocacy work focuses on encouraging her peers to learn more about STEM subjects, enabling her to reach out to students to share her experiences through being an Ambassador at AUT and a student RU-Okay representative. Luna-Rossa hopes that her journey serves as an example that with the right mindset and people around you, anything is possible.