Spending the summer the WISEST way

This summer at the University of Alberta, 60 high school students curious to learn more about research spent six weeks participating in the university’s WISEST program. First introduced in 1984, Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology (WISEST) was established to bring more men and women into “non-traditional” careers. Non-traditional careers are those careers where there is a dominance of one sex over another. Careers such as engineering, science and technology are male dominant careers whereas nursing, nutrition and human ecology are female dominant.

Research by the students was conducted in various fields such as mechanical, civil, software and environmental engineering, paleontology, and the biological sciences, among other fields. My research field was software engineering, and with a graduate student, I created a file to enable an occupational therapist’s notes on virtual 3D objects in a virtual environment. I learned about programming languages such as Java and XML (similar to HTML), IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) and BIM Server. I learned about learning from my mistakes, asking questions and most importantly, having fun while working.

The program also equipped young researchers with skills not only required for the transition from high school to university, but also in the job place. We participated in networking sessions with various women in different fields, we discussed the ethics of researchers and we participated in on-campus and off-campus tours. On campus, I learned more about Mars and the probe that was sent to study it. Did you know that students at the University of Alberta designed the heat sensor that was then manufactured in Denmark? It was through this that the Weather Network was able to tell us the temperature in Mars!

The six weeks flew by and before I knew it, we were preparing for our final Celebration of Research Day to show off our work. This was the end of the fantastic summer program, but it was also a great way to celebrate our exposure to various fields of interest, memories never to be forgotten and friends made for a lifetime.