Students

Convocation ‘24: Taha Zafar, BSc Civil Engineering Co-op

Donna McKinnon - 17 June 2024

 

Taha Zafar’s experiences as an engineering student have been, in several ways, atypical. Drawn to civil and environmental engineering because of the opportunity to impact the daily lives of the general public, Taha also boasts a strong artistic side and has worked as an in-demand DJ and music producer in Edmonton, a role he plans to continue after graduation.   

Music isn’t his only extracurricular activity. Throughout his degree program, Taha volunteered at the GEER Store, run by the Engineering Students’ Society, where he also served as vice-president of communications. These were among his most favourable experiences, he says, because of the interactions with fellow students and the advocacy role he played within the engineering community.

As a co-op student, Taha worked as a project coordinator for Synergy Projects Ltd. and CAP Engineering, respectively. While these roles were incredibly valuable, he cites his experience as vice-president of marketing with Diversity in Engineering (DivE) as his most fulfilling role.  

“I met some amazing like-minded people who shared my goals for a more equitable student experience,” says Taha. “I really do feel that the work we did with DivE greatly improved the student community and culture in the Faculty of Engineering.”

Taha plans to use his newly acquired knowledge and skills as a transportation engineer to support not only his music career over the next few years, but also his dream of being a cat dad. 

Congratulations Taha!

 

What program are you graduating from?

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering Co-op.

What led you to choose your current area of study, and why the U of A for your studies?

Growing up, I always found real-world applications of math and science fascinating, especially as they relate to overcoming social challenges. This fascination led to a growing interest in engineering as I prepared to graduate high school in Calgary. While researching universities and programs, the University of Alberta stood out to me due to its reputation as a leading university in applied sciences. Furthermore, its qualifying first-year engineering program was an attractive option for me as I was unsure about my specific career goals at that point.

A few months into my first year of the engineering program, I knew that I wanted to pursue a degree in civil engineering. I found the multidisciplinary aspect of civil engineering to be very attractive, as civil engineers often work with city planners, designers and architects to provide solutions that directly impact the day-to-day lives of the general public. Out of all first-year engineering courses, the ones that related most to civil engineering were some of my favourites.

What is one of your favourite memories from your time at the U of A?

I have so many good memories from my time at the U of A, but a few stand out to me.

Some of my fondest memories involve volunteering as a cashier at the GEER Store. In the ETLC building, the Engineering Students’ Society (ESS) has a little store where they sell engineering merch, approved calculators and other tools or memorabilia for engineering students. During my volunteer role as the vice president of communications for the society, I took up many shifts at the GEER Store. There were so many rewarding experiences that came out of this role, from helping students navigate their way through campus to simply interacting with people in the engineering community that I usually would not get an opportunity to talk to.

Another one of my favourite memories goes back to first year. First-year engineering can be a very intimidating experience, particularly the workload since it felt like a huge step up from high school. However, once I was acquainted with some of the other students in my cohort, working through assignments and labs together made first year engineering an incredibly enjoyable experience. Although going online three-quarters of the way into my first year made it challenging, I am still friends with many of the people I met in my first year. 

Tell us about your favourite professor and/or class.

A few professors and classes stood out to me. Some highlights include CIV E 398 (Introduction to Continuum Mechanics) with Clayton Pettit and CIV E 474 (Structural Design II) with Carlos 'Lobo' Cruz Noguez. Out of all the classes that I took as an undergraduate, however, the one that I enjoyed the most was CIV E 411 (Transportation Engineering II) with Stephen Wong. He took a fantastic approach to teaching us the content of this course, which started by looking at transportation engineering from a sociological perspective. This taught us the importance of equitable planning before getting into the technical side of transportation planning and modelling. Because of this approach, I found the technical side to be more interesting as I understood how the work of transportation engineers affects the world around them.

Did you take on any leadership roles while you were a student? 

During my undergraduate studies, I took several leadership roles with student groups around campus. When we went online for the pandemic, I decided to get involved with Diversity in Engineering (DivE) to help advocate for underrepresented groups in the engineering program. By joining DivE, I discovered my passion for communications-related work, including social media management and graphic design. Coming from an artistic background and running my own social media for my music brand, I decided to run for their vice president of marketing position and got elected by the team. This role was incredibly fulfilling, and I met some amazing like-minded people who shared my goals for a more equitable student experience. I really do feel that the work we did with DivE greatly improved the student community and culture in the Faculty of Engineering.

However, I felt that there was still more I could do to get involved with the student community, and I later decided to run for vice president of community in the Engineering Students’ Society. Although I lost the election, the ESS’s Board of Directors at the time was familiar with my work in DivE and internally elected me as the vice president of communications. 

My first year as VP comms was rough, to say the least, as it was my first role with the ESS, and I spent a lot of it figuring out how things worked. However, once I figured out ways to better manage my team and improve the current systems in place, I co-wrote a proposal for these changes with Megan, who was also interested in the VP comms role. Our proposal passed unanimously at BoD, and I ran for a second year with Megan to ensure that these changes were optimized for future vice presidents.

If I am being honest, my two years as VP comms were pretty stressful due to the pressure of having to communicate directly with the student community as well as the deadlines for our marketing campaigns and projects. As a result, completing a task or project felt all the more rewarding, and I was able to pursue my passion for communications-related work on a much larger scale. It helped that I continued a role outside of the ESS as the social media co-lead for Engineers for a Sustainable World University of Alberta (ESW uAlberta) to take a step back if needed, keeping my workload dynamic. I also met some incredible people throughout my two years as the VP comms, including the volunteers who worked under my portfolio, the many students who attended our events, my fellow student group leaders and faculty members who were just as passionate about improving student life on campus. After two years in this role, I think it’s safe to say that I will miss the ESS the most out of my undergraduate experience.

Did you face any significant obstacles or challenges during your program?

A significant obstacle that I faced throughout my degree was uncertainty. From the start of my degree, I was not one hundred per cent sure if engineering was the right fit for me. Although there were some things that I really liked, I struggled on the more technical and mathematical side of things, which is a large majority of the degree. During semesters where most of my classes were primarily technical, I often focused more on my extracurricular activities or volunteer work than assignments or studying. However, throughout my co-op experience and by talking with academic advisors and the Engineering Career Centre, I learned that the actual work that civil engineers do is significantly less focused on the mathematical and scientific concepts we learn in the program. Furthermore, I started to realize that getting this degree didn’t necessarily bind me to civil engineering since many of the skills I learned during my academic and work terms were easily transferable to other careers. Although it was still difficult for me to prioritize my academic studies during my last few semesters, my co-op and academic advisors’ advice made me feel more confident in my decision to finish my degree.

What advice do you have for current and future students?

My biggest advice to other students would be to recognize what you are hoping to get out of your degree as early as possible so that you can set yourself up for success throughout each semester. This goes for students outside of engineering, too. It can be incredibly hard to put your all into a degree when you do not know for sure how it will benefit you and your future career goals. Additionally, I often found myself comparing myself to others during the early semesters of my degree. By doing so, I was being unfair to myself by using someone else's goals to create an expectation for myself that did not line up with my own goals and objectives. Once I was able to figure out what I wanted to get out of my degree, I felt a lot more comfortable with my own performance in certain classes and was better at prioritizing certain tasks over others.

How do you plan on celebrating convocation?

Outside of school, one of my biggest hobbies and side-hustles is music. I produce and DJ electronic music in the majority of my free time and have been playing at venues across Edmonton throughout my degree. Funnily enough, a lot of other DJs I know are also graduating this year and our convocation dates are fairly close together. If post-grad doesn’t get too busy, I hope to work with them to throw a party with our close friends to celebrate the end of our degrees around the date convocation is happening so that we can catch everyone coming back to visit Edmonton!

What's next after graduation?

I don’t have a great answer for this. I used to be a planner, but throughout my degree, I have become more relaxed when it comes to short and long-term goals. Currently, I hope to get a simple 9-5 job, ideally doing something related to transportation engineering. I want my music career to be the main focus of the next few years of my life, so I hope to use my evenings and weekends to work on my art, play more shows and work with artists who have inspired me throughout my music journey. Maybe I can even make it my career one day; who knows? Most importantly, though, I want to get a cat as soon as I am financially capable of owning a cat.