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.

Ardalan is a computer scientist who has recently received his Master's degree in Computer Science at Simon Fraser University. His main area of research is 3D, 2D, and medical image processing. He received the Albert Kingman Young Investigator award at the 23rd World Congress of Dermatology for his research in dermoscopy image processing. Ardalan is a nature enthusiast and that is where he spends most of his free time.

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

Tarek is a computer scientist with broad experience in developing and shipping large-scale commercial code, and working on hard problems in research. He worked in big international software corporates, such as Microsoft, as well as working in world-class research centres, such as Qatar Computing Research Institute. Tarek holds a M.Sc. in Computer Science from Simon Fraser University, Canada, a M.Sc. in Computer Science from The American University in Cairo, Egypt, and a B.Sc. in Computer and Systems Engineering from Alexandria University, Egypt. During his studies he received 6 fellowships and 2 awards, also published 11 scientific papers in reputable peer-reviewed conferences and journals. In his spare time, Tarek keeps practicing an old passion “Oud”, and old middle-eastern instrument, claimed to be the grandparent of the guitar, and for meditation, scuba-diving is the answer!

 Zhi Yuh is a data analyst at Westcoast Women in Engineering, Science and Technology. He studies statistics and economics at SFU and hopes his knowledge from statistics could help WWEST to produce informative data to show people. Asides being a data analyst at WWEST, he is also a research assistant in Measurement and Modelling Lab at SFU and a teaching assistant in for Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, SFU. He enjoys playing badminton and watching shows during his leisure time.

Vanessa Reich-Shackelford is the Podcast Producer at Westcoast Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology for the Best of the WWEST podcast. Vanessa is also the main point of contact for the WWEST Partners Program. She is currently pursuing a post-baccalaureate in Communication at Simon Fraser University, 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.