Amy

Panel Moderator - Amy Deeb, Ph.D., P.Eng. (she/her)

Biography:

Amy is a professional engineer with the Autonomous Vehicles team at Lloyd’s Register Advisory.  She holds a Bachelor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada (2013), a Master of Science in Space Systems Engineering from the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands (2015) and a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada (2021). 

Dr. Deeb’s research experience centres on increasing the capabilities of autonomous systems in harsh environments, with a focus on the marine environment.  Amy has experience developing situational awareness, localization and mapping, fault tolerance and collaborative behaviours for autonomous underwater vehicles, autonomous surface ships, uncrewed aerial vehicles, and nano-satellites.  She has applies her machine learning training to develop tools for analyzing and interpreting field data sets including analyzing underwater acoustics data for small commercial fishing vessels.  Day-to-day, her job functions involve surveying literature, investigating and implementing novel solutions, analyzing measurements, and communicating the viability of new approaches.

In addition to her roles and responsibilities within LR, Amy has been active with Engineers Nova Scotia’s Women in Engineering Committee, IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society, and the IEEE/MTS OCEANS 2024 Halifax Local Organizing Committee.

Yousra

Biography:

Yousra Abdelhady is a Naval Architect and Professional Engineer and PMP certified, with international experience in Egypt, the Netherlands, and Canada. She is currently a Senior Engineer at Transport Canada in Marine Safety & Security. Yousra’s career spans diverse roles in Naval Architecture, Project Management, Production, and Modelling, including experience in engineering consultancy, shipbuilding, refitting, and plan approval for classification societies.

She now contributes her expertise to the government sector. Outside her professional career, Yousra is actively involved in volunteer work, particularly in education, mentorship, and community engagement. She serves as Vice Chair for the SNAME Canadian Atlantic Section and as a Technical Committee Member for the SNAME Maritime Convention 2026. She is also a mentor with SNAME, supporting students and early-career Naval Architects. In addition, she volunteers as a connector with Amal Unite and Empower, helping newcomers integrate into professional networks. Additionally, she is a volunteer firefighter in her local community.

Christopher

Biography:

Christopher Whitt is a Nova Scotia-based consultant and registered professional engineer specializing in ocean technology, with a background in electrical engineering, signal processing, and acoustics. His career spans roles at JASCO Applied Sciences — where he led large-scale ocean acoustic monitoring projects, autonomous platform integration, and global field operations — and Irving Shipbuilding, where he managed noise and signature engineering for Canada's new frigate program. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Memorial University and has pursued research interests ranging from digital communications to broadband beamforming. A long-time IEEE member and volunteer, he has chaired major conferences including OCEANS 2024 Halifax and CCECE 2022, and continues to serve in technical leadership roles across the organization. 

Jean-François

Biography:

Jean-François Bousquet joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Dalhousie in July 2013, where he is currently the Director of the Microelectronics Innovation and Design Integration Hub.  He is a graduate of École Polytechnique de Montréal where he completed his B. Eng. in Electrical Engineering in 2001. He also completed his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Calgary in 2007 and 2011 respectively, where he focused on the implementation of low-power integrated circuits applied to wireless communication. Between 2009 and 2011, he was employed as a high-speed analog IC designer at Ciena for the development of coherent fibre optics communication networks. Since he joined Dalhousie, he has developed a research program on underwater communications and technology. He is particularly interested in enabling underwater networks, using low-power electronics systems. His passion is to use highly-integrated circuits to enable reconfigurable communication systems.  Between July 2019 and July 2023, he was Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Then, between 2023 and 2025, he was Associate Scientific Director of the Transforming Climate Action program at the Ocean Frontier Institute.