The Chemical Engineering Graduate Club (CEGC) at the University of Calgary has become the newest CSChE Graduate Student Chapter. The group kicked off its activities at the beginning of the March with a technical talk by Dr. Ruth Cardinaels, an assistant professor from University of Eindhoven in Netherlands. She specializes in the development of multiphasic materials, examining their rheological and dielectric properties at the microstructure level. Her audience included more than 30 graduate students from chemical, petroleum, and mechanical engineering, along with faculty members from the Schulich School of Engineering. Afterward they attended a networking luncheon where students could discuss their research ideas with Dr. Cardinaels.
About 40 graduate students attended CEGC’s second event, held in mid-April, which offered a panel made up of these University of Calgary alumni:
- Ivonne Otero Navas (PhD 2017), a Chemical Production Specialist at the pipe coating products group Rosen IPS Canada
- Hadi Aghahassani (MSc 2014), a Project Engineer with the civil engineering firm WSP in Canada
- Alireza Zehtab Yazdi (PhD 2015), a scientist working with advanced materials at Imperial Oil
- Soheil Sadeghi (PhD 2015), a Canadian Patent Agent Trainee at NOVA Chemicals
- Mohammad Moravvej (PhD 2018), a bridge designer with multinational engineering firm COWI North America
They spoke of their experiences in graduate school and how they transitioned to becoming industry professionals, tackling a set of prepared questions as well as fielding questions from the audience. They also provided resume and helpful advice on how to approach a job search, as well as participating in a comprehensive networking session that provided participants with plenty of time to interact with the panelists.
Each of these events received resoundingly positive feedback from attendees and CEGC plans to hold more talks on regular basis.
The CIC now has 36 student chapters at universities across the country, which you can find on this map. If you have a student club that would like to be affiliated, please complete this form to register and become eligible for grants to support your activities.