Nina Zamith

Nina Rampon Zamith is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, attending The British School of Rio de Janeiro for high school. She currently plans on majoring in Mechanical Engineering at Columbia Engineering.

Nina’s passion for engineering stemmed from her mother. As the daughter of a Lieutenant Colonel of the Air Force, she was exposed from a young age to the wonders of Brazilian aviation from visiting the Santos Dumont and Aerospace Museums (Museu Aeroespacial da Força Aérea Brasileira) to watching live performances by the Demonstration Air Squadron (Esquadrilha da Fumaça). As she grew older, she naturally gravitated towards subjects, projects, and activities that would help her understand how it was possible for a 3,175 kg T-27 Tucano to perform such stunts.

Throughout high school, she was an enthusiastic participant in her Mathematics AA HL and Physics HL courses as well as in the Mathematics and Scientific National Olympiads (Olimpíada Brasileira de Matemática das Escolas Públicas e Privadas and Olimpíada Nacional de Ciências) – where she won gold medals in three separate occasions. Similarly, she conducted a research project focused on investigating the Gaussian and Gibbsian methods in determining the orbit of the Hubble Space Telescope and assessing orbital perturbations using Gauss’ variational equations for her Extended Essay.

Soon, Nina found herself becoming fascinated by the overlap between the realms of Physics and Mathematics as attested by her involvement in the F1 in Schools Brazil Tournament. Throughout the tournament, she was responsible for the car’s design and aerodynamics. Influenced by her Janine Benyus’ Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature and lectures she attended by Professor Mauro Andreassa from the Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia, Nina effectively designed a front wing in Fusion that resembled the wings of a harpy eagle, effectively increased the velocity of the prototype in the air track.

As she grew satisfied with her answers, Nina found an urgent need to share them. Using the organizational and public speaking skills she harbored attending over 20 Model United Nations Conferences both as a delegate and Secretariat Member (going as far as to win Best Delegate Award in the MITMUNC conference in 2021 and chair the Historical Security Council BRAMUN), Nina founded the social project Einsteins do Amanhã (Einsteins of Tomorrow) which aims to disseminate scientific knowledge and love for STEM amongst Brazilian youth. From 3rd to the 7th of July of 2023, she held the project’s webinar in partnership with Rio de Janeiro Secretary of Education. The webinar featured interviews with an array of respected academics: the COO of Brazilian aerospace company Akaer; Vice-President of the Brazilian Physics Society; and former Environmental Secretary of the State of Rio de Janeiro amongst others.

A webinar, however, is not enough. By studying Mechanical Engineering at Columbia, Nina aspires to help advance Brazilian research within both the Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace industries.