Waterloo Engineering women were honoured during March's National Engineering Month with a faculty member, two graduate students, and an alumna included as part of #30in30, an initiative that featured 30 outstanding women in engineering over 30 days.
Stacey Scott, a systems design engineering professor, Deitra Sawh, a systems design engineering doctoral candidate, Mihaela Vlasea, a mechatronics engineering graduate and researcher, and Vimy Henderson, a civil engineering graduate were chosen by women engineers asked to select who they view as a mentor and an inspiration. This is the second year of #30in30 sponsored by NSERC/Pratt Whitney Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering – Ontario.
Scott, an international expert on digital tabletop computer technologies, is described as a
The Director of the Collaborative Systems Laboratory, which specializes in the development of next-generation technologies to support collaborative and social activities, Scott is also the Associate Director of the Games Institute, an interdisciplinary research institute at the University of Waterloo.
Her research interests focus on the design of large-screen surface computing systems, such as interactive walls and tables that support collaboration and socialization in real-world task domains, such as military command and control, emergency response, and gaming.
Strong advocate of STEM
In addition to her teaching and research, Scott is also strong advocate of women pursuing careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. Since she was a graduate student she has actively promoted girls and young women to pursue degrees in technical fields, providing leadership through invited lectures, workshop presentations, and mentorship activities. She also served as the co-chair of Waterloo’s Women in Engineering Committee for two years and continues to be involved in many of its outreach activities.
Scott says the best parts of her job are igniting a passion for new technologies and seeing a student’s confidence and competence in a technical field grow.
“I particularly love the one-on-one supervision and mentorship of student researchers, as you get to know them quite well over the months or years of a project or thesis,” she says. “This relationship building and mentorship is extremely rewarding to me.”
Sawh, who graduated with a BASc in systems design engineering from Waterloo, is currently a doctoral candidate researching artificially intelligent methods of fraud detection. She spent 10 years in the financial industry where she discovered that anomalies generated by humans evolve from the conditions of the system rather than following a pattern. Based on this principle, Sawh expects her research will change the way engineers approach data mining.
Sawh also trains undergraduate engineers in sales skills. Her seminar entitled 6 steps to selling has attracted hundreds of participants who found the six steps easy to remember and applicable to both professional and personal scenarios.
Passionate about additive manufacturing
Vlasea, a Waterloo Engineering researcher who recently completed her PhD in mechatronics engineering, has over eight years of professional and
One of the most exciting projects that she is currently involved with is a collaborative venture with researchers, pathologists and orthopaedic surgeons from Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto and University of Waterloo in 3D printing of bone substitute implants that can be seeded with live cells. The implant would replace the patient’s damaged bone site and it will encourage tissue growth by allowing cells to populate the implant and replace it in time with new healthy tissue.
Also featured as part of #30in30 is Vimy Henderson, who completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees in civil engineering at the University of Waterloo. Her doctoral thesis, titled Evaluation of the Performance of Pervious Concrete Pavement in Canada includes a guide for the design, construction and maintenance of pervious concrete pavement in Canada. Henderson, a pavement and materials engineer and project manager at Golder Associates, works with municipalities throughout Canada to provide pavement rehabilitation and design recommendations.