2024 William Muir Edwards Citizenship Award — Melissa Bennett

Melissa Bennett is one of the 2024 recipients of the William Muir Edwards award.

Melissa takes citizenship as a call to action, and their commitment to creating inclusive spaces in engineering has been transformative.

The roots of Melissa’s community advocacy go back to high school and their first exposure to the Fem+ Engineering Mentorship Program, a seven-month mentorship experience for women, non-binary and 2SLGBTQ+ high school students interested in exploring the possibilities within engineering. The role models they met there inspired them to, in turn, mentor students as they entered or considered entering the engineering program.

But it didn’t stop there.

“I wanted to inspire other young women to create change through engineering,” says the sixth year Civil and Environmental Engineering Co-op student. “I’m working to change the current reality of equity in engineering — and I want more people to believe that engineering can hold a future for them — that they have a place here.”

Toward that end, Melissa has worked to increase awareness of underrepresented identities in engineering through the Diversity in Engineering (DivE) student group. On the executive team for three years, she has served as research lead, president and most recently, VP-Finance. Melissa says their biggest accomplishment is obtaining physical space for club members to plan events and connect with others. For her, it’s always about finding ways to create and build inclusive communities. 

“When I interact with students in earlier years of their program, such as in DivE or in classes, I try to provide advice on what I wish I would have known, and to be someone they can rely on for help whenever they need it,” Melissa explains. “Recently, I advised a peer about resequencing their program due to needing to focus on their health, as I have needed to do this myself. Creating space for more people and perspectives is how we change the future of engineering."

Melissa’s advocacy efforts are broad, encompassing everything from sharing Indigenous history and art when chairing meetings and events in order to deliver more meaningful land acknowledgements, to providing a diversity of disabled perspectives to ensure that DivE events are truly accessible. They have also raised disabled students' voices to the Provost's Office for the EDI Action Plan through the College of Natural and Applied Sciences EDI Student Group Committee, presented to AlbertaSat on the importance of EDI in STEM, and emceed DivE's Mixer for Underrepresented Genders in Engineering. Additionally, Melissa volunteers for the Queer Youth Prom Edmonton and is active in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Students' Society , including helping organize the First Year Night to encourage more young women and gender-diverse people to join the program. 

“I believe that there is no better recipient of the William Muir Edwards Citizenship Award than Melissa,” says Christina Strilets, a long-time friend and colleague who met them as a fellow DivE member.

“One of Melissa’s contributions to the engineering community is making publicly available

informational social media posts on a wide variety of topics from researching significant Black scientists and engineers during Black History Month, as well as contributing to an online campaign with the club called “Queer Canada Moments” where various bits of Canadian queer history were shared to educate the general public. These informational posts invite the engineering community to learn more about groups of people whose history and contributions to society have often been overlooked. Ultimately, a more educated and well-rounded engineering community makes for one that is more understanding and welcoming of individuals from all backgrounds, and Melissa embodies what we should all strive for as members of a global community.”

After graduation, the advocacy work will continue, says Melissa, contemplating a number of different career opportunities within the field of engineering.

“Regardless of my path, I will find a community and ensure that its members have their needs met. Community provides fulfillment for me, and I will find that in every path I choose."

Named in honour of the Faculty of Engineering’s founding professor, the William Muir Edwards Citizenship Award recognizes Engineering at Alberta undergraduate students who have made exceptional contributions to society. It’s a celebration of citizenship and of engineering students who go to extraordinary lengths to make our world a better place. Special thanks to the David Morris Family Foundation for supporting our students and making the William Muir Edwards Citizenship Awards possible. 

Do you know an undergraduate student whose volunteerism, contributions, and efforts, both on-campus and off-campus, work to make the world a better place? Learn more about the nomination process »