Women in Engineering

Dr. Monique Frize took two years of pure science and mathematics at the University of Ottawa before being given a tour of an electrical engineering lab with monitors and oscilloscopes that inspired her to switch to electrical engineering. She received an Athlone Fellowship to support a Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College in London. She worked for seven years at the Notre Dame Hospital in Montreal and then, based in Moncton, was appointed Chief of Biomedical Engineering for seven New Brunswick hospitals. While working, she completed a PhD as a distance student from a university in the Netherlands and in 1990 was appointed Chair for Women in Engineering, and Professor of Electrical Engineering, at the University of New Brunswick. She considers her mentors to include Professor Philip Thompson at the University of Ottawa, Nandor Richter, and Ursula Franklin of the University of Toronto. She collaborated on a system to interpret Electrocardiograms (ECGs), a camera to identify pain, and a Physician Parent Decision Assist System to support the intensive care of infants in hospitals. She has written books about the history of women in science and engineering, three textbooks related to engineering ethics, the story of Laura Bassi, and, finally, her own memoirs. She created the Canadian Institute of Women in Engineering and Science to persuade women to donate their papers to the University of Ottawa archives

Madiha Kotb's fifth grade teacher noted her "talent in math" and that, plus marking her 16th birthday with Niel Armstrong's moon walk, led to her decision to choose a career in engineering. She started the materials engineering program at the American University in Cairo, but with the unexpected passing of her father, she and her husband moved to Canada, and she completed her degree at Loyola in Montreal in 1976. After a couple of years in Nigeria, she returned to Canada to do a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering, and took a job with the Quebec Department of Labour to develop regulations and standards for boilers and pressure vessels. She became a member of the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors and related technical committees of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Eventually she became Chief Boiler Inspector for Quebec. She became Vice President of Conformity Assessment for ASME, then a member of the ASME Board of Governors, and, finally, served as the 132nd President of ASME. She was also aligned with nuclear power initiatives, seeing the construction, commissioning, and eventual decommissioning of the Gentilly 2 nuclear power plant. In retirement, she has worked as a consultant and written a chapter of the book "Daughters of the Nile, Egyptian Women Changing Their World", intended to inspire female students.

Friends of Sarah Devereaux's family were civil engineers, so she knew from an early age that this would likely be her calling. While an undergraduate student at the Technical University of Nova Scotia, her interests transitioned from structural to environmental engineering, and she stayed to earn a Master's degree in Water Resources. She then joined Halifax office of Dillon Consulting, initially conducting construction reviews, and then transitioning into project management, starting with small projects and graduating t multimillion dollar assignments. She designed storm water systems, storm water ponds, and landfills and became the business unit manager for community infrastructures. She describes several projects, including: work for the Municipality of Guysborough, Nova Scotia; review of waste management systems for remote coastal communities in British Columbia; and resolving the "Million Dollar Hole" left at the US naval base in Argentia Newfoundland. She also volunteered with Engineers Nova Scotia, the Consulting Engineers of Nova Scotia, and eventually Engineers Canada. She has served on committees dedicated to increasing the participation of women in the engineering profession.

Dr. Suzelle Barrington was the first Canadian woman to receive a doctorate in agricultural engineering from Macdonald Campus at McGill University. She grew up on a farm near Moose Creek, a half hour east of Ottawa, and, after a year of science at Carleton University, switched to agricultural engineering at McGill. She was turned down for her first job with the Government of Ontario because she was a woman, but got a job as an agronomist in Howick Quebec. She got a job as an agricultural engineer in 1978 in Huntington, and worked hard to improve the productivity of her team. She returned to Macdonald Campus to do graduate studies, receiving a PhD in 1985, and continued there as a professor. Her doctoral research was on means to seal wastewater in soils. She continued on with odor control, building an Olfactometer to expose individuals to odors in a controlled manner, and so developing standards to quantify acceptable concentrations of odor in waste or factory discharges to the atmosphere. She developed a system for anaerobic digestion of wastewater, sludge, or livestock manure that did not require an expensive digestor. She has also worked extensively to promote engineering to women and generally increase the diversity of engineers, serving as President of the Women in Engineering Committee of the Quebec Order of Engineers. In "retirement", she has just finished writhing the history of subsurface drainage in Quebec, which dates from approximately 1920. She expresses her concerns about the amount of waste, including food waste, generated annually in Canada, and about environmental degradation and its impact on climate change. She closes with advice to a high-school student considering a career in engineering, and to a newly graduated Engineer-in-Training.