Hooman Vaseli (PhD) – President Candidate
I’m Hooman Vaseli and I’m running for the ECEGSA President role.
Currently, I am finishing up my 2nd year of PhD. I also did my undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering here at UBC. So I have explored and got to know quite a bit about Vancouver and life at UBC. Additionally, I am already experienced with being part of an exec team when I co-founded the Medical Innovation Student Team (MIST) during my bachelor’s.
With the pandemic almost behind us, in close collaboration with other VPs, I’m envisioning a great year ahead of us with many academic and social events to nurture our career paths, both in industry and academia, and to promote positive mental health. After all, we need to keep ourselves happy and thriving to be successful engineers and researchers. Most importantly, it’s in these events that we find a valuable network of friends and colleagues and maybe a connection to our next step in our future careers.
I’m passionately looking forward to being a part of the next ECEGSA exec team and making you all great memories.
Masoud Mokhtari (MASc) – VP Academic Candidate
I’ll do my best to listen to your academic concerns and bring them up to the influential people that can affect processes and make changes based on student needs. In terms of events, my focus will be on the quality of events over their quantity. I will ensure that your time is well spent and you learn something useful.
Kithmin Wickremasinghe (MASc) – Secretary Candidate
I’m Kithmin and currently a 1st year Master’s student who is really enjoying his time here at UBC. I love working with people and making new friends, which I believe is one of the best things graduate students get to do here at UBC, and I want to help make this graduate experience better for others through the ECEGSA. I was very impressed with the experience ECEGSA gave us the past few months, and this is why I want to join the ECEGSA, and fill its dedicated secretary role for the upcoming term and help to coordinate the society’s activities in a very energetic and enthusiastic fashion. I also want to be part of the ECEGSA to get to know what it’s like to become a leader among graduate students and how my skills will help all of you. Please feel free to connect with me via LinkedIn.
Shaurya Patel (PhD) – VP Social External Candidate
I believe one of the biggest aspects of graduate school is the social aspect. Discussing research with others can lead to many interesting collaborations and ideas. Additionally, being social helps immensely with mental health and I would like to continue hosting the events we are already doing and come up with others to increase the engagement in our community.
Jennie Chen (MASc) – VP Social Internal Candidate
A wise man once said: “Work hard, play hard”. From my past experience of leading a design team, I know that socials make everything better! In the VP Social Internal position, I hope to establish a sense of rapport within the ECE graduate student body through inclusive, diverse, and frequent events so that there is a little something for everybody!
Whether it be outdoor activities, food events, or pub nights, my vision is a community with genuine connections and bonds formed outside of the workplace which will in turn benefit academic and professional developments.
To achieve this vision and on top of past, tried-and-true events, I propose some possible new types of socials:
- Bi-weekly teahouse! This would be a simple, recurring event where we can sit down, grab a drink and/or snacks, and chat with each other. If there is interest, maybe there can also be guest musical performances from our very own peers!
- Team-based game tournaments! Through gruesome battles, participants would have to fight to defend the honor of their team/research lab (and for bragging rights).
- Language/skills exchange! One of the most wonderful aspects of studying at UBC is the diversity of its student body. There’s so much that we can learn from each other, such as practicing languages or even learning how to knit a sweater.
Aisha Eldeeb (MEng) – VP Social Internal Candidate
I would like to apply for the VP Social Internal position. I think engaging in this role will provide me with the opportunity to put a lot of emphasis at attracting at much graduate student to our events as possible, by utilizing available marketing resources.
Also, I would like to work with the Executive Team to run surveys to encourage students to choose from a variety of events. In other words, I would like to bring light to students’ feedback on the events topics and themes before we decide or start planning them.
Lastly, by being involved in the VP social role, I am planning to dedicate events for new students to engage them in campus life as soon as they join our department, to guide and help them in achieving their educational and career goals while adjusting to the graduate student life simultaneously.
Sana Ayromlou (MASc) – VP Social Internal Candidate
I know the importance of providing people to be social for their mental health and academic success, so what I have in my mind is to have more events in which people can spend more time together and share common activities. Especially in the summer the weather is good, and people have more time, I think it would be amazing some trips to different sightseeing and camping areas in British Columbia. So, I would be happy to plan day-long events or even night-stay camping events. Also, as we have so many international students, I think having events to gather during long holidays can be a good idea.
In summary, my vision is to divide events into two formal and casual events. Casual events would be less effortless and more frequent like boardgames events which is a fun activity to do, or even walking on campus because I think frequent communication really helps people feel socialized. And formal events like going to the pub, hiking, or even some formal gala at the end or beginning of the semester to help them be in more diverse environments.
Farhad Abbasi (PhD) – Treasurer Candidate
I like to support students in their academic, career and social life. I intend to do so by holding workshops, making direct connections between industry recruiters and students and also holding fun social events for students.