Alison S.

Biography

Alison graduated from Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy in Canmore, AB. While there, she led a sustainable event planning software project, co-led the school’s biology team into receiving the silver level of achievement in the 2021 iGEM competition, and was the co-leader of her high school’s sustainability club.

Alison was drawn to UCalgary’s engineering program because it offers the best of both worlds. It provides a general first year to give engineering students a chance to explore different programs before committing to one, while also ensuring that students can major in their first choice, so they don’t have to compete for spots. This showed her the universities’ compassion and understanding for students, allowing them to explore their interests and guarantee their ability to pursue them. She was immediately drawn to UCalgary’s entrepreneurial culture and various research opportunities.

Alison is in the Bachelor of Science – Engineering program. She chose this program because she is passionate about renewable energy and fighting climate change. She believes that engineering will provide the tools to tackle these issues on a technical level.

She aspired to work for an engineering company that specialized in solar storage technology or another area of passion within the renewable energy industry. She is also interested in potentially launching her own engineering company in the future.

The Prestige Award has already greatly impacted Alison’s time at UCalgary. She had the opportunity of attending the SLXCA, where she met other scholarship winners and worked toward entering a community of like-minded individuals.

Alison is interested in research opportunities surrounding clean energy advancements, including finding ways to make clean energy more efficient and less costly for wider distribution. She is particularly interested in solar energy research or learning ways to tackle climate change issues and improve the quality of life in underdeveloped countries.