Role Model Woman Engineer or Geoscientist of the Year Recipients
The award is given to someone in Victoria who excels in a personal pursuit, volunteering for the public good or exceling in their career. She does not have to live a balanced life but can be completely obsessed with her chosen passion. Please nominate someone for this year! deadline is May 15, 2025. Email names to dawegvictoria@gmail.com and I’ll forward it to the nominating committee.
2024 Recipient
Susan MacDougall
After finishing a degree in Mechanical engineering at Queens, Susan wanted to use her career to have a positive impact on the environment so went on to learn energy modelling and passive design principles – furthering her passion for sustainable buildings. In 2015, she founded Focal Engineering to provide industry-leading building performance consulting services. The Victoria-based company has now grown to 12 people.
Susan has contributed to many committees related to energy modelling and the BC Energy Step Code and has co-authored guides and documents that aim to improve energy modelling and building performance in BC. She has worked on policies across BC to improve energy performance of buildings and has taught courses on energy performance for the University of Victoria and for Passive House Canada.
Susan is active in the community, focusing on roles that promote sustainability and support women in engineering. She currently volunteers on the Passive House Canada Board and is a 30×30 Champion. In the past, Susan volunteered with the provincial energy modelling association for 6 years, leading it for 4 years as Chair, and has had several roles with EGBC, including Councillor from 2016-2020, one year with a brand new baby. For her generous efforts, Susan has been awarded a Fellowship with Engineers Canada.
2023 Recipient
Dr. Katherina Tarnai-Lokhorst, P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon), BASc, MBA, DSocSci
Katherina’s influence as a role model for women in engineering and physical sciences crosses disciplines and international boundaries: an award-winning educator in mechanical engineering, she has collaborated with scholars and industry representatives around the globe. Katherina lives an authentically transdisciplinary life, applying her deep understanding of the impact of technology on society and her passion for making the world a better place to co-create an engering culture where each and every person feels they belong, feels welcome to follow their path and feels free to fulfill their calling. Katherina participates on multiple boards including the Degree Quality Assessment Board for the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training, the Artisanal Gold Council (http://artisanalgold.org), the UBC Alumni Advisory Council and as Board Chair of The BC Association for Living Mindfully (http://bcalm.ca). Her latest project is “http://okhorstgroup.com/the-edge/”, a series of vignettes, blog posts and infographics that enable readers to explore the edge of their understanding of how behaviour impacts the ability to create a culture of inclusion and belonging where each and every person feels they belong, feels welcome to follow their path and feels free to fulfill their calling.
2019 Recipient
Anita Mathur
When your favourite subjects are the sciences, what do you do but study engineering? This was Anita’s logic as she entered the University of Calgary. When you graduate as an engineer in Calgary, what do you do but enter the oil and gas industry? Who knows what career moves shape your path next? Working in Joint Ventures revealed the power of engineering fused with law, so Anita decided to move to England to study law in Cambridge. She returned to Canada to sample working in the regulation of hazardous wastes, did another stint in the oil and gas industry, and then embarked on a water management project. When that ended, it was time to close the loop and return to oil and gas, but on the regulatory side.
Since taking her pension, Anita has explored a few other avenues, including contracting.
To balance her career, Anita has stayed active in the Scottish Country Dance world, both dancing and teaching. She also remains active in the service club, Zonta. These two worlds are active in many cities and countries, and this has served as a great framework for travel plans: off to Brisbane for Zonta Convention 2024!
2018 Recipient
Daphne Sidaway-Wolf
Daphne Sidaway-Wolf, P.Eng., Baccalauréat (maths. et sci. physiques), B.Sc,(Agr. Eng.), M.Sc.
I didn’t know it then, but I became interested in food engineering when I was two. “Salmonella” became part of my vocabulary after my dad explained Salmonella to me. A university lab partner asked: “You like your engineering courses- why not switch to engineering?” Result: undergraduate and master’s degrees (McGill) focussing on food engineering and a productive career.
Summers involved mineral exploration across Canada, living in tents or being stuck overnight on a logging road, plus tutoring English and math. Grad school jobs included computer operator/consultant, TA and Food Engineering Instructor. Post-university positions resulted in travel across Canada and the US, Mexico, France, Germany, Japan and China. Positions included Energy Engineer and Chief, Food Processing Section at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa; and diverse roles at the BC Ministry of Agriculture, including Director of Trade and Intergovernmental Relations, where I helped ensure the $5B Federal/Provincial/Territorial agreements met BC needs for innovation. As Director, Food Safety, BC Ministry of Health, we developed ProcessSafeTM, for food processors- based on FOODSAFETM- and I provided technical input into COVID guidance documents.
I have been on/led countless work and volunteer committees. Rewards come from committee deliverables AND incidental opportunities such as seeing a young woman discover engineering as ‘her’ field, my being offered a perfect job because of volunteer work, and this award!
Learn, volunteer, expand your horizons
