Vanessa Raponi, a Materials Engineering and Management student at McMaster University, has been selected as the 2017 Dillon Consulting Limited Undergraduate Engineering Scholarship winner.
Awarded by the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation and Dillon Consulting Limited, this $5,000 scholarship is presented to a woman studying engineering in an accredited program who is a leader in her community, a dedicated volunteer and a strong ambassador for the engineering profession.
Raponi is an active member of the McMaster Engineering community, recognized for her work in the founding of EngiQueers, an advocacy group for LGBTQ students and supporters. As well, Raponi is a past winner of McMaster’s business case study competition, MARS Apprentice, and played an integral role as the business manager of McMaster’s EcoCAR 3 team, a four-year student competition that aims to turn a muscle car Camaro into a hybrid vehicle.
She was a member of the McMaster delegation of the international Engineering and Commerce Case Competition (ECCC) in Montreal, Quebec where she was awarded ‘Best Speaker’ by Siemens.
Raponi has extensive co-op work experience through placements at Bombardier Aerospace, the Grenoble Institute of Technology in France, PepsiCo and the not-for-profit Engineers of Tomorrow.
Raponi said she was extremely proud and humbled by receiving the Dillon scholarship.
I strive to be a role model through ambition, hard-work, and leading by example. I have done everything within my power to soak up as many opportunities associated with my five academic year degree as possible.
The Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation has been providing scholarships, networking and promotional opportunities to women in engineering for 23 years, and was established in memory of the 14 women killed at École Polytechnique on December 6, 1989.
Dillon is a Canadian employee-owned professional firm specializing in planning, engineering, environmental science and management
“Vanessa is precisely the type of leader and individual that will lead us to a better tomorrow” says Nicole Caza, partner, Dillon Consulting Limited. “Dillon has a long-term commitment towards helping to elevate women that study in our services areas. Vanessa is a strong example of what women in engineering can achieve. Congratulations Vanessa!”
Along with other CEMF scholarship winners, Raponi will be recognized for her accomplishments at an award event being held in Ottawa, Ontario this September in conjunction with the Engineers Canada meetings.
“It is heartening to see so many qualified and capable applicants. This makes our job to choose just one, very hard,” says Julie Lassonde, CEMF President. “Vanessa is a worthy award winner and we look forward to watching her continue to help connect young Canadians, through her passionate volunteerism, with engineering and its vast possibilities as a viable career choice for other young ladies. We’re delighted to see that her infectious enthusiasm for engineering, and are thrilled to be supporting her in her future endeavours.”
