Faces of WISEST: Ingrid Pederson

My first engineering job after graduating from Dalhousie University was as a field engineer on oil rigs. I worked on three continents and was often the only woman on the rig. When there were other women they were almost always working inside the accommodation block as medics, radio operators or cleaners. This made me keen to see more women in the STEM fields, pursuing challenging and interesting work while getting paid decent wages. 

My experience as a minor hockey coach taught me the importance of role models. At the same time, I was also the first and only woman to join the men’s hockey league. Within a couple of years, my team went from zero to four girls which made me so happy! 

I first started volunteering for WISEST in 2008, shortly after moving to Edmonton from St. John’s. My husband Chris walked by the WISEST office and had an impromptu conversation with Gail Powley, the WISEST vice-chair at that time, mentioning that I had volunteered with Newfoundland’s WiSE program. Gail called me and bam! I was volunteering with WISEST’s 25th anniversary committee, the program committee, and the fledgling WiSER executive. My volunteering efforts expanded in 2009 to include Choices and SET conferences and many other WISEST activities, including public speaking workshops for SRP, WISEST Board member, Program Committee Chair, leading numerous WISEST booths at community and university science events, giving careers in engineering presentations at schools in Edmonton and surrounding area, conducting workshops on behalf of WISEST at CCWESTT and other conferences, and mentoring students and early career professionals through the WiSER/UA-WiSE Trio Mentoring Program.