It’s not all applied math and science! Studying engineering and technology encourages creativity, innovation and leadership to make a difference in society.
This event, organized by Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, will introduce women in engineering with experience in every field of engineering and computer science offered at Concordia University. These women will share their extraordinary journeys and what brought them to be successful!
This event will be held in a zoom session in blocks of 30 minutes. Each block will introduce a different woman in a different sector, giving students a thorough glimpse of engineering and computer science as a discipline.
Participants, who are high school girls from grades 8 and above, and from Cegep, will be presented to by some Concordia University’s most innovative engineering and computer science graduates!
In addition, the girls will be encouraged to ask questions about the Women's academic and professional journeys. These women work in fields such as artificial intelligence and software engineering, games industry, water management and environment, quality engineering for aerospace manufacturing, chemical engineering, among many other topics.
Maryam Raza is a Process Engineering Manager at Canada Post who's leading a team of engineers working on continuous improvement projects in one of Canada's busiest processing plants. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Concordia University in 2012 and her Master’s degree in Quality Systems Engineering in 2020.
Helia Mohammadi is the National Healthcare Chief Data Scientist and Healthcare Lead for Microsoft Canada and a thought leader in the research and healthcare industry. With over 14 years’ experience in research and applied AI, her work has leveraged and extended Machine Learning and Cloud solutions to deeply influence key domains including predictive analytics, genomics research, and precision medicine.
Yolanda Fang is a water resource EIT working at the Surface Water group at Hatch. She is highly experienced in hydrologic and hydraulic modelling for both urban and rural watershed studies, drainage infrastructure design, and stormwater management. She first joined Hatch as a coop student in 2018 working for the Utilities Group where she managed utilities relocation and the design of underground water infrastructure for large-scale railway, bridge and tunneling projects.
Carolyne Gagnon graduated from Concordia University in 2013, with a bachelor of Electrical Power Engineering, a year of professional work experience and a long list of extracurricular volunteer roles within Concordia's community. With a thirst for knowledge she ventured out in search of a challenging and fulfilling career. After 6 different companies and more than 9 different roles in the past 7 years, she has been successful in her quest. From engineering design, to beer logistics, you name it, she has tried it. Currently she finds herself facilitating a merger from an acquisition Schneider Electric recently purchased. Outside of the day to day job, she is still extremely emerged in extracurricular activities at work, and within her community, her favourite being fostering animals.
Rebecca Cohen Palacios is the co-founder and director of the non-profit, Pixelles. Internationally recognized, Pixelles focuses on empowering more women (& everyone) in the games industry through 100% free workshops, mentorship, creation & portfolio-building programs, mid-career support, scholarships, networking events and other innovative initiatives. In 2018, Rebecca founded and built another community, Game & Color to provides a space for Montréal game developers of color to connect, be heard and find a more inclusive, welcoming place in the games industry.
Sandra Kazmé graduated from Concordia University in 2016 with a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering, with elective option in Aerospace. During her final year, she was part of CIADI which gave her the opportunity to seize an internship at Pratt & Whitney Canada where she has been working ever since, most recently as a Quality Engineer ensuring quality systems in a fast-paced manufacturing environment. During her free time, she mentors young students as part of FIRST Robotics helping them solve challenges through innovation, and inspire the engineers of tomorrow.
Morvarid Bajgiran received her B.Sc. in Materials Science and Engineering from K. N. Toosi University, Tehran, Iran, in 2017, and she has recently obtained her M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Concordia University. During her master’s, she has worked as a research assistant at the Thermal Spray and Surface Engineering Research Centre at Concordia University. She has employed surface engineering techniques to develop several coating-based heating systems to prevent icing in water pipes. She was also the recipient of the runner-up and people’s choice awards in the three-minute thesis (3MT) competition, where she managed to summarize her master’s thesis in three minutes for non-engineer audience!