Portia Rayner

2022 McCall MacBain Scholar

McGill Faculty of Engineering, MSc, Mechanical Engineering

Education:
University of Alberta (BSc’22)

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

A mechanical engineering student at the University of Alberta, Portia sought to encourage young women to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). She mentored high school students, taught at outreach camps, and coordinated logistics for the TeamUp Science junior high competition. Portia also mobilized a team to create Ada Code Challenge, a workshop that introduces girls to the fundamentals of programming hardware. In addition, Portia edited an undergraduate research journal and worked part-time in a lab. As a former elite athlete, Portia is keen to help develop technologies for injury prevention and treatment. One of her projects was a balance board to prevent seniors from falling and hurting themselves. She began a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at McGill as a McCall MacBain Scholar.