Community
Women in Mechanical Engineering
CSME Women in Mechanical Engineering welcomes you to this page. With this page, we intend to inspire and empower women to embark on engineering as their career while celebrating the achievements of Canadian women mechanical engineers, who have taken the leadership in the mechanical engineering profession and serve as role models for others.
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Mentorship Pairs
Our Mission
Advancing Equity in Mechanical Engineering
We hope to show, through examples, how they were inspired to become mechanical engineers and to share their advice to women who consider a career in engineering. This is an on-going project — if you wish to contribute personal insights or recommend women mechanical engineers who have had inspiring careers, please contact CSME's History Chair Ian Frigaard, ian.frigaard@ubc.ca. We would love to hear from you and share your info/advice with others.
Role Model Spotlight
Spotlight: Dr. Carolyn Ren, FCSME
Carolyn Ren, a fellow of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, was recently featured in a book published by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum (CIM). The book, Women of Innovation, details the stories of 20 inspiring engineers who overcame adversity and excelled in their careers. Dr. Ren is a professor in the department of mechanical and mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo, a Canada Research Chair, and co-founder of two corporations. Her story of immigration to Canada makes all of her accomplishments that much more inspiring: https://magazine.cim.org/en/voices/carolyn-ren/.
Role models
Other truly inspiring women mechanical engineers
Ruxandra Mihaela Botez, Ph.D., P.Eng.
École de Technologie Supérieure — Montréal, QC
Tier 1 Research Chair in Aircraft Modeling and Simulation Technologies
Inna Sharf, Ph.D., P.Eng.
McGill University — Montreal, QC, Canada
Professor and Director Aerospace Mechatronics Laboratory
Marilyn Lightstone, Ph.D., P.Eng.
McMaster University — Hamilton, ON, Canada
Professor, Mechanical Engineering Chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Qiao Sun, Ph.D., P.Eng.
University of Calgary — Calgary, AB
Professor, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Schulich School of Engineering
Cristina H. Amon, Sc.D., P.Eng.
University of Toronto — Toronto, ON
Professor, Mechanical Engineering Dean, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering Alumni Chair in Bioengineering
Catherine Mavriplis, Ph.D., P.Eng.
University of Ottawa — Ottawa, ON
Associate Professor NSERC - Pratt and Whitney Chair for Women in Science and Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering
Elizabeth A. Croft, Ph.D., P.Eng.
University of British Columbia — Vancouver, B.C.
NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering, Professor and Director, Collaborative Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Systems Laboratory
Izabela Witkowska, M.Sc., P.Eng.
StandardAero (SAL), Winnipeg, MB
Principal Engineer Senior Airworthiness Engineer
Jean Zu, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Stevens Inst. of Technology — Hoboken, NJ
Dean, Schaefer School of Engineering and Science Past-Chair, UoT Dept of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Get involved
Contribute to this page
This is an on-going project. To contribute personal insights or recommend women mechanical engineers who have had inspiring careers, contact CSME's History Chair Ian Frigaard.