Get to Know Us
UVic Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology (WEST) is a student group that partners with industry professionals to engage female-identifying students in real-world projects to build their technical and hands-on skills!
Skills You Will Gain
Over 8 weeks, WEST students learn technical skills, such as a programming language or Computer-Aided Design, through weekly seminars and work sessions. The workshops focus on enhancing proficiency by covering the theoretical and technical aspects of the skill, as well as its practical applications. Students conclude the workshop by applying their acquired skills to a case study provided by an industry partner. At the end of the work sessions, students will demonstrate their acquired knowledge through a science fair-style showcase event.
Current Projects
WEST X UVic Robotics 2025 Mars Rover Project
This semester, WEST has partnered with UVic Robotics to deliver a 3 month project focusing on creating a Mars Rover Prototype, to eventually be entered in the Canadian International Rover Challenge.
For this project, Students have been divided into 3 subteams for this project, with each team focusing on either Software, Electrical, or Mechanical aspects of the Mars Rover build. Each subteam has their own individual lectures tailored towards whichever focus they have chosen, along with weekly build sessions where students are able to apply what they’ve learned to their prototypes. At the end of this project, all subteams will put together everything they’ve learned and create a final prototype, which will then be entered in the Canadian International Rover Challenge.
MRI Simulator Project 2025
In this project, WEST has partnered up with Fraser Health Authority. This is WEST’s first project which focuses on Biomedical Engineering, with our participants being tasked with designing and building an MRI simulator to help children feel more comfortable undergoing an MRI scan. The MRI simulator that results from this project is to be used in Surrey Memorials pediatric care unit.
This project will be taking place over 2 semesters, with the first 4 months focusing on design. Students will be divided into different subteams, with each team focusing on different parts of the project (Software, Mechanical, Electrical). In the last 4 months, the project will then shift to a ‘build’ phase, where participants will then begin assembling and testing the MRI Simulator build based on the design created over the previous 4 month period.
Past Projects
Schneider Electric 2025 Workshop
This workshop with Schneider Electric was designed to be a supportive environment where students can learn, experiment, and innovate without the fear of failure. Each section of the workshop began with an introductory lecture on a specific topic related to keypad design. Students then had the opportunity to dive deeper into more advanced topics if they were interested.
During this workshop, students learned how to design a multidisciplinary technological project. The project involved creating a keypad, allowing students to explore project management principles, electrical design, 3D modeling, and open-source software. Students also received hands-on experience assembling each portion into a finalized product.
Introba Passive Building Prototype
Introba is an international building engineering and consulting firm with over 1000 employees in offices in Canada, the USA, the UK, and Australia. As a collection of mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, sustainability analysis, energy modelers, policy researchers, and climate resilience planners, they collaborate with clients to create “Living Systems” that are smart, secure, resilient, and connected.
Starting September 12th and ending in December, this project will run for approximately 3 months with participants engaging in hands-on workshops every week. Participants will work in small teams to design and build a prototype that meets a given list of constraints. Once the prototypes are built, the final structures will be exposed to real outdoor weather conditions with a temperature monitoring probe and data recording to evaluate their performance.
Schneider Electric 2024 Project
Schneider Electric is a digital automation and energy management company. They use energy technologies, real-time automation, software, and services to help monitor energy usage in home, data centres, and industrial buildings.
The Schneider Electric Victoria office specializes in metering hardware, metering firmware, and energy management software, both on premise and in the cloud.
This project ran from Jan 22nd to April 8th, 2024. University of Victoria undergraduate students worked in teams to tackle Schneider Electric’s problem statement. Participants had the opportunity to build their resume, network with engineering professionals, and pitch their solutions to a panel of industry leaders.
FortisBC Fall 2023 Project
Fortis BC is the province’s largest energy supplier. They proudly deliver renewable energy, natural gas and electricity to 1.2 million customers in 135 BC communities, and 58 First Nations communities across 150 Traditional Territories.
Their focus lies in implementing a diversified portfolio that goes beyond traditional natural gas. They are actively integrating renewable natural gas (RNG), hydrogen, and syngas into our infrastructure. By embracing these alternative energy sources, they aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to a more sustainable energy future.
This project ran from Sept 18th to Dec 4th, 2023. University of Victoria undergraduate students worked in teams to tackle FortisBC’s thermal energy problem statement. Participants had the opportunity to visit an anerobic digester, network with engineering professionals, and pitch their solutions to a panel of industry leaders.
Schneider Electric SEEM Project 2023
Schneider Electric is a digital automation and energy management company. They use energy technologies, real-time automation, software, and services to help monitor energy usage in home, data centres, and industrial buildings.
The Schneider Electric Victoria office specializes in metering hardware, metering firmware, and energy management software, both on premise and in the cloud.
This project ran May 10th to Sept 23rd, 2023. This project was developed for high school and first year engineering students. Participants visited the Schneider Electric Victoria Office, attended a Women in Industry Panel, and pitched their designs to industry professionals at the Victoria International Marina.
11 students from grade 11 to 2nd year engineering participated in this project.
FortisBC Anerobic Digester Project 2022
Fortis BC is dedicated to a low-carbon, renewable energy future, that can be seen reflected in their Clean Growth Path Way to 2050. They are working hard to support BC’s clean energy future with a range of energy solutions that includes harnessing power from our hydroelectric facilities, expanding our supply of renewable and low-carbon gases, and investing in innovative, energy-efficient technologies.
This project ran Aug 14th to Oct 26rd, 2022. This project was developed for first and second engineering students. Participants pitched their designs to industry professionals at the Victoria International Marina.
Past Workshops
Redbrick Python Fundamentals 2024 Workshop
Redbrick is a software startup that was established in 2011 to provide software publishing firms with a specialised marketing platform. Redbrick was started as a software company focused on providing publishers with a platform to showcase and distribute their content. It has also grown into a media technology company, establishing Assembly, a multi-brand digital publishing company, and creating technologies to maximize revenue and ad placement.
This project ran from June 5th to July 24th, 2024. Throughout the workshop, participants attended weekly seminars and engaged in hands-on coding activities to reinforce learning and understanding. Participants also had the opportunity to solve a real world problem presented by Redbrick, share their solutions and findings at a final showcase event, and network with industry professionals.
Workday Resume 2024 Workshop
On July 2nd, 2024, WEST partnered with Workday to host a Resume Review Workshop. This event was open to high school and university students and provided an opportunity to strengthen resumes with direct feedback from Workday hiring managers.
Participants submitted their resumes in advance and, during the workshop, received targeted feedback highlighting both strengths and areas for improvement. Students then worked one-on-one with industry professionals to refine their resumes, practice tailoring applications to job postings, and gain personalized coaching.
In addition to resume development, the event gave participants the chance to network with Workday professionals and learn strategies for pursuing future job opportunities.
Student Testimonial
Isabelle Friesen (above, left)
“Participating in WEST introduced me to a bunch of other women in the engineering field. I was able to build strong relationships which helped me both with the project and my classes. The project itself took me one step further in a lot of my course work. I became super engaged in my thermodynamics class as I suddenly had somewhere to put what I was learning, and questions I wanted to ask about it.
I believe in WEST’s goal to provide female identifying students with solid opportunities to build confidence in their ability to make their career a reality. I rejoined WEST this year as a project developer so I can continue to help this group grow and engage more students.”
Got questions?
Feel free to reach out.