Emily Cvejic: Computer Engineering Technology 2019

Winner of Hats Off to You! – Provincial competition encouraging girls to break barriers and study in male-dominated programs.

As a child, Emily Cvejic followed her electrician father around and helped him with all sorts of projects. She loved taking things apart to figure out how they worked. "I spent days taking apart pens, toasters, broken game consoles, and anything else I could put my hands on, to see how they functioned. When I got older I moved on to motors, due in large part to my passion for motorcycles that my father introduced me to."

When it came time to choose a CEGEP program, Emily discovered Computer Engineering Technology and realized it would feed her curiosity, allow her to continue exploring how things work and combine that with information technology and engineering. She was already interested in circuitry and machines, and Computer Engineering Technology brought the two worlds together.

Choosing Vanier was easy. "I love the architecture of Vanier's building. It is so beautiful. Then when I came to Open House and Student-for-a-day, I liked the feeling and the community. And it had the program I wanted." The program has surpassed her expectations allowing her to explore new technologies through projects that combine computers and artificial intelligence.

"What's great about technical programs is they are taught by brilliant teachers who are engineers and have real world experience. Computer Engineering Technology is a challenging program that fits in so much. When I look back, I am amazed at all I have learned such as programming languages, coding, how to build a physical prototype, electrical technology and digital systems, PC hardware components and rea- time operating systems. We also do IoT – the internet of things for consumers." Clearly, Emily is excited about her program that puts her at the cutting edge of modern day technology.

Not only was Emily impressed with her teachers but also with the tools available in the program including a 3-D printer, a reflow oven to melt components, robot arms to work with, an assortment of drones and quadcopters as well as the tools for printing circuit boards.

Emily's favorite part of the program are projects she worked on and her internship. One project in particular stands out. She and another student designed and built a prototype of a ground effect vehicle. They designed both the fuselage and the wing. The principle of the vehicle is that it uses ground effect to allow the wing, which is outfitted with a motor, to hover over the ground and fly using very little energy. Working from a particular wing shape, Emily and her team designed the structure using 3-D modelling then built the ribbing from balsa wood and covered it with a "monokote" covering.

When it came time to do her internship, Emily worked for Ossicles Inc. a start-up company dedicated to creating technological tools for performance horses. She and a fellow student designed sensors on horse jumps to detect when the top bar of an obstacle had been even minutely dislodged by a horse going over the jump. Another start-up company was so impressed with Emily's team's final presentation that they want her to work on the design for tennis elbow smart wraps.

For all her efforts, Emily received a 2019 bursary from Hats Off to You! – Chapeaux les filles! a provincial competition that awards young women who have chosen to study in male-dominated technical programs. It's not always easy because sometimes fellow male students are not supportive, but Emily made some good friends in her program and she is not letting anybody stop her from pursuing her dream of learning more and using her skills to better the world.

What are Emily's plans for the future?

"I want to study mechanical or aerospace engineering at the University of Ottawa," she declares enthusiastically. "I realize I want to use technology to help people and I'd like to explore how aerospace technology, which is usually put to use by the military and national defense departments, can actually be used differently to help developing countries."