Payam is a computer scientist who has received his Master's degree in Computer Science at Simon Fraser University. During the course of his thesis, Payam developed the first fully automatic approach to finding cancerous lesions in 3D medical images. He was involved in one of the biggest projects for cancer treatment in Canada, in collaboration with the BC Cancer Agency and The University of British Columbia and Quantitative Imaging Network in the USA for the evaluation of responses to cancer therapies. He has published over 10 scientific papers and has won several awards during his study, including The SFU’s People’s Choice Award at the Faculty of Applied Sciences Heat of the Three Minute Thesis. He has 3+ years of experience in full life cycle Software development involving OOP design development, testing, documentation.

Gabby is a White Papers Coordinator at Westcoast Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology where she contributes to the white papers. She is a Communications and Cognitive Psychology student who spends her free time working as freelance photographer, brand collaborator and editor.

Vanessa Hennessey is the Podcast Producer at Westcoast Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology for the Best of the WWEST podcast. She also helps with the many fun projects that WWEST is undertaking. She finished her post-baccalaureate in Communication at Simon Fraser University in 2019, co-hosts/produces a podcast on "the X-Files" (her favourite character is, of course, Dana Scully), and has 2 cats and a dog that she is crazy about.

Alicen Ricard is a Communications Coordinator at Westcoast Women in Engineering, Science and Technology. She runs the WWEST social media accounts, generates original content for the WWEST blog, and produces WWEST’s biweekly newsletter. In her spare time she watches far too much television and then cosplays the characters. She also owns her own crochet company and blog.