After three weeks of nomination process, we have received 8 nominations, including one for each of the President, VP Academics, VP Communications, VP Social, VP Internal, GSS Representative, and two candidates for VP Finance.
Update: one of the candidate of VP Finance decided to retract their nomination, therefore the position will be given to the other candidate. The information of the remained candidate is announced below.
Please cast your vote for VP Finance in the form below. Deadline for voting will be Wednesday June 10, 2020 at 7 pm.
The election statements of the other candidates are also listed below, but there will not be an election since there are not any competitors. Should you have any concerns over these candidates of this election, please complete the form above or email communication.mega.ubc@gmail.com directly.
President
Omid Hajieghrary (omid.eghrary@alumni.ubc.ca)
About me: I’m in my second year of MASc and will be starting my PhD after graduating for my masters (hopefully soon) I’m the guy that you should be proud of having me in your contact list!:D
Election Statement: After one year of experience as VP internal in MEGA, I believe I’m ready to take a more elaborate role in MEGA and with coordinating with new members, lead the MEGA in the path laid out by our marvelous predecessors. I’ll try to broaden our role in the department through collaboration with office and maybe even with undergraduates
VP Finance
Ammarah Kaderdina (a.kaderdina@alumni.ubc.ca)
Self Introduction: I am in my first year of my Master’s with my research focusing on ultrasound imaging, modern controls, and machine learning. This is also my first year in Vancouver (I’m from Ontario), and have been able to explore the city a little bit but would like to explore more once this global pandemic hopefully settles down. I did my undergrad in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. On my spare time, I like to re-watch Parks and Rec, run, and read books.
Election Statement: I decided to run because I want to get more involved with the Mech community. I believed that as part of MEGA I can bring new ideas that could help bring our community closer. Of the top of my head, some of the ideas I can think of are organizing a paint night and introducing pancake breakfast days.
VP Academics
Mahdi Izadi (mahdi.izadi@ubc.ca)
About me: I am a graduate student, passionate about academia, and eager to upgrade the learning process, by conducting students point of view to faculties, and decision-making committees
Election statement: As a 1st year, PhD student, I would have a great time and energy to contribute to the graduate milieu of Mech. dept.. Enhancing the quality of teaching assistant, through available resources in CTLT, is one of my ideas.
VP Internal Affairs
Ali Pourzahedi (alipourzahedi@gmail.com)
About me: I am a huge fan of sports and social activities. In my free time I enjoy playing music.
Election statement: I have always enjoyed volunteering in social communities, as it has helped me to build new connections and find new friends. As a member of the student association in my undergraduate studies, I was responsible for organizing academic and recreational events which has helped me develop my leadership and teamwork skills. I plan to bring those skills to MEGA to first of all ensure the physical safety of all MECH graduate students working in the offices and labs, and secondly, to promote the mental wellbeing of all students, by creating an even more engaging community where we could use everyone’s opinion to organize events that the majority is interested in. In this respect, I will work closely with the VP Social to organize fun as well as educational events that will help us to relieve some of the stresses of graduate studies, as well as to support us in our future careers.
VP Social
Atakan Zeybek (atakan.zeybek@alumni.ubc.ca)
About me: I enjoy dealing with science and besides hobbies such as sport. I can say myself as relatively social and suitable to group work.
Election statement: I like to meet new people and want to enrich my social surrounding in UBC. That’s also the reason why I am applying this position. The community realted to mechanical engineering would be a great place that I can improve its internal communication.
VP Communications
Rivkah Gardner-Frolick (rivkah.gardnerfrolick@ubc.ca)
About me: I’m a first year PhD student studying air quality modelling. I’m passionate about sustainability, STEM, and engaging more women in STEM. Outside of school I like cooking, pottery, and Netflix.
Election statement: I decided to run for VP Communications because I want to represent MECH grad students in the MECH Sustainability Committee. I plan to connect more grad students with MEGA and MEGA’s activities, as well as communicating our needs with the department to improve the grad student experience for everyone.
GSS Representative
Mohammad Reza Karimi (mrkarimi88@gmail.com)
About me: My name is Reza Karimi, a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering. Since I started my program in 2018, I was an active member of GSS and MEGA as Event Production Assistant (EPA), and VP Academic, respectively. As EPA, I supervised GSS events and sports leagues. I also served as the organization contact during the events and actively engaged with the GSS event manager. As the VP Academic, I organized academic, networking, and social events to enhance the Mechanical Engineering students’ community.
Election statement: The experiences I gained and the contributions I made in the roles I’ve taken during past two years, encouraged me to nominate myself for GSS representative. As an international student, I encountered many of the challenges that graduate students may struggle with. That is why I believe I can be the voice of graduate students and make a difference. As the MEGA’s GSS representative, my plans are including but not limited to: – Raise awareness on graduate student rights and available resources on-campus; – Advocating for students in mental health, academic needs, and career development.