Dr. Yasaman Amannejad

Biography:

Dr. Yasaman Amannejad is an Associate Professor at Mount Royal University. Her background is in Software Engineering, and her research interests are in the intersection of Performance Engineering and Machine Learning. She enjoys working on projects with real-life applications and has collaborated on various joint projects with academic and industry partners. She is an active volunteer and leader in various roles with IEEE Canada.

Dr. Leanne Dawson

Biography:

Dr. Leanne Dawson is an Assistant Professor in Software Engineering (teaching stream) at the University of Calgary. She teaches machine learning and introduction to programming courses for undergraduate and graduate engineering students. Dr. Dawson has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Calgary and completed a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Calgary. Dr. Dawson graduate research focused on the potential implementation of dynamic line rating in Alberta, using machine learning to analyze large weather data sets. Dr. Dawson is passionate about education, focused on investigating the application of EDI principles in course design to help improve the quality of learning for engineering students coming through the program at the University of Calgary, and the application of generative AI and other software tools in engineering education. She is also passionate about empowering students through leadership and professional development training.

Dr. Marjan Alavi

Biography:

Dr. Marjan Alavi is the Chair of the Systems and Technology Master of Engineering (MEME) Program at W. Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology (SEPT) and past chair of Manufacturing Engineering at McMaster University, Canada. She is an Assistant Professor at SEPT teaching in two Bachelor of Technology (Btech) programs: Automation Engineering Technology Program and Software Technology - Degree Completion Program (DCP). She is also an Associate Member of the Mechanical Engineering and Computer and Electrical Engineering Departments at McMaster University.

Marjan received her B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering (Control and Instrumentations) from K.N. Toosi University of Technology and her M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering (Micro- and Nano- Electronic Devices) from Sharif University of Technology. She earned her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. She was a recipient of the Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) 2010. In 2015, she joined the Energy Systems Group, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research interests include model-based and data-driven approaches for the diagnosis and prognosis of hybrid systems.
 
Marjan is a professional Engineer in the province of Ontario, Canada. She has several years of industrial experience as an Electrical Engineer. Marjan has taught several Electrical Engineering courses at the College and University levels, including Digital Electronics, Embedded Systems, the Internet of Things (IoT), Cyber-physical Systems, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Smart Cities.  
  
Dr.  Alavi is a senior IEEE member. She has served on the IEEE Toronto Executive Committee as the Treasurer for four years (2016-2020). She has also served as the Vice Chair of the IEEE Industrial Applications Society 2015 and the Vice Chair of Women in Engineering (WIE) 2018-2022. She was a technical reviewer of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics and is currently the Guest Editor of Frontiers on the Internet of
Things. Dr. Alavi is currently the Chair of the Women in Engineering Affinity Group in Hamilton Section, Canada, and the Vice Chair of the Membership Services Committee, IEEE Canada / Region 7.

Dr. Windhya Rankothge

Biography:

Dr. Windhya Rankothge is a Research Associate at the Canadian Institute for Cyber Security (CIC), University of New Brunswick, Canada. She is leading the ADGA - CIC research project, focusing on cyber risk management of critical operations. Dr. Windhya received her PhD in Information Technology and Communication in the year 2017 from the University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. Her research interests are Risk Management, Network Security, Cyber Security, and Software Defined Networks. Dr. Windhya has published her research work in numerous journals and conferences and is an IEEE senior member. Also, she has served for different international research communities as a reviewer, advisor, and executive committee member. Currently, she serves as the Vice-chair of IEEE Women in Engineering Region 7 and Secretary of IEEE New Brunswick Section.

Dr. Maryam Davoudpour

Biography:

Dr. Maryam Davoudpour received the MASc and PhD degrees from the Moscow State Technical University of Bauman in Information Technology and Control Complex Systems. She also completed a NSERC post-doctoral fellowship. She is a member of the DMZ (Digital Media Zone) at Ryerson University. Dr. Davoupour is with Ryerson University since 2008 and has joined Humber College in 2016. She has extensive industrial and academic experience and has been involved in various successful R&D projects. Dr. Davoudpour is the recipient of the Research Excellence award of Humber College President’s Award 2020.

Dr. Davoudpour’s research interests are in the areas of Nonlinear Modeling, Knowledge-Based Expert Systems, Petri Nets, Modeling Context-Aware Systems, and Internet of Things. She is an active reviewer of various IEEE publications and conferences.

Dr. Davoudpour is currently the Chair of the IEEE Toronto Section (2022-2025) and in the past, she has served as the Vice Chair (2020-2022) and Secretary (2018-2020) of the IEEE Toronto Section.  She is also the chair of the IEEE Instrumentation, Measurement, Robotics and Automation chapter in Toronto and she is the Chair of Women in Engineering (WIE) at IEEE Toronto, as well as the vice-chair of WIE IEEE Canada and also WIE representative for Central Canada.

Dr. Davoudpour was selected as an Honorable Mention for the 2018 WIE Inspiring Member of the Year Award by the IEEE Women in Engineering Committee (WIEC), for her inspirational leadership and outstanding contributions to the IEEE WIE and IEEE communities. The purpose of this award is to recognize a professional member of IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) who has made an outstanding contribution to WIE, their community and the engineering community, through dedication and involvement in projects or activities directed toward fulfilling one or more of the WIE goals and objectives.

The WIEC also selected the IEEE Toronto WIE Affinity Group as the recipient of an Honorable Mention for 2018, 2019, and 2021 WIE Affinity Group of the Year Award.