Since 2020, the McGill Engine has hosted an annual Women in Entrepreneurship Panel to highlight McGill Faculty of Engineering alum or student entrepreneurs in Tech. This event is co-hosted with Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering (POWE), a student-run club dedicated to creating an open community to support self-identifying female engineers. Operating under the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS).
2025
About our panelists
Georgia Powell
Co-Founder & CEO @ NURA Medical 
Madison Santos
CSO & Co-Founder @ TissueTinker 
Madison Santos is the CSO and co-founder of TissueTinker, an early-stage biotech venture developing 3D bio printed in vitro tumor and organ models to pre-screen cancer therapeutic drug candidates to improve the to-market rate of new cancer therapeutics. Madison is a Biomedical Engineering Master's student in the McGill Biomedical Technology & Cell Therapy (BTCTRL) Laboratory, and current PGSS Innovation Commissioner, supporting the McGill graduate innovation ecosystem.
Kimia Shafighi
CEO & Co-Founder @ Biocene 
Kimia Shafighi is the CEO and co-founder of Biocene, a clean tech startup dedicated to developing sustainable solutions for water ecosystems impacted by harmful algae overgrowth. Biocene's innovative technology, Algo, harnesses eco-friendly mechanical systems to clean water bodies while transforming algae biomass into valuable products such as biofuels, bioplastics, and biocoke. With a bachelor’s in bioengineering and a master’s in neuroscience and machine learning from McGill University and Mila, Kimia has led Biocene from its inception to its current pilot projects with Parks Canada. She is passionate about sustainability, innovation, and empowering women in entrepreneurship.
2024
About our panelists
Maria Calderbank, CEO & Co-Founder @ Fulcra
- Fulcra provides an innovative and better way of managing chronic lower back pain. Their unique orthotic device provides on-demand support to the wearer during movement, increasing spinal stability.
- McGill BEng, Mechanical Engineering
Cynthia Hitti, Co-Founder & Team Lead @ CRCTS
- CRCTS (Cricket Rearing, Collection, and Transformation System) is a novel semi-automated device designed to rear and harvest crickets to produce a nutritious powder for human consumption.
- Bioengineering Master's student at McGill University
- McGill BEng, Bioengineering
Dr. Yun Yao, Co-Founder & CEO @ Soralink
- Soralink offers a complete solution for industrial machine condition monitoring, failure prediction, predictive maintenance, as well as productivity tracking.
- McGill PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- McGill MEng, Electrical Engineering
- McGill BEng, Electrical Engineering
2023
About our panelists
Amy Lorincz, Co-founder & CEO @ Vope Medical
- Vope Medical has developed an AI-driven software to address a significant unmet need for clear vision in minimally invasive surgery (MIS).
- McGill MSc, Experimental Surgery, 2022 graduate
- Concordia University, BEng, Industrial Engineering, 2019 graduate
Chaity Tarafder, Co-Founder @ NameShouts
- NameShouts is a SaaS startup that is simplifying the way people make first connections, one name at a time.
- McGill B.A., Economics
Flora Uwadiegwu, Technical Program Manager @ Lyft & Co-Founder @ WeTechNG
- WeTechNG is a community of women that intersects through various areas of technology: a community that collaborates, innovates and supports. Join the next generation of Women in Tech today by being an ambassador or fellow at wetechng.com
- McGill MEng, Chemical Engineering, 2017 graduate
Justine Massicott, Co-Founder & CTO @ Lighthouse
- Lighthouse is a powerful navigation platform allows users to query for items across and within worlds - significantly facilitating discovery and improving the industry’s cross-world search capabilities.
- HEC Montreal, Masters, Data Science, 2018 graduate
- Université de Montréal, Masters, Philosophy, 2017 graduate
Nathalie Myara, Co-fondatrice Présidente Directrice Générale @ Eduplan Solutions
- Eduplan Solutions is a company specializing in education, health and social services technologies, which provides various professionals, parents, and students; in particular, learners with disabilities or learning and/or adaptation difficulties intelligent platforms for the development and management of intervention plans, as well as other related platforms and services.
- Université de Montréal, MEd, Orthopédagogie, 2006 graduate
- Université de Montréal, PhD, Psychopédagogie, 2011 graduate
2022
About our panelists
Guanbingxue (Shirley) Huang 
- Studying Mechanical Engineering
- Co-Founder of Pètience
- 2021 ELLEvate Women Entrepreneurs Pre-Accelerator
Nina-Marie Martinez 
- Studying Mechanical Engineering
- Co-Founder of Freely
- Vice President External of McGill Association of Mechanical Engineers (MAME)
Zhi Xin (Joey) Koay 
2021
About our panelists
Chloë Ryan
- Studying Mechanical Engineering
- Co-Founder of Acrylic, Director of BRIDGE and Next36 Entrepreneur & Assistant Project Manager at WSP
- LinkedIn Profile
Celeste Nantel
- Studying Mechanical Engineering
- Co-Founder of Acrylic, Next36 Entrepreneur
- LinkedIn Profile
Shlesha Van
- Studying Mechanical Engineering
- Co-Founder of Ora-3D
- LinkedIn Profile
Christina Katsari
- PhD Candidate in Materials Engineering
- Co-Founder of Alpha Iota Alloys
- LinkedIn Profile
2020
About our panelists
Naureen Anwar
- Studied Electrical Engineering at McGill from 2005-2010
- CEO of NameShouts, a free a web app which helps you pronounce a person's name correctly
Boyana Stefanova
- Studied Mechanical Engineering at McGill from 2002-2007
- Community Builder at MAIN, Québec's first network of business accelerators and incubators
Laura Al Khoury
- Studied Mechanical Engineering at McGill from 2013-2017
- Co Founder of Yuma, a weekly meal subscription for employees starting at $7/meal
