Faculty of Engineering & Faculty of Science

Raha Hassan was a student in the Research & Clinical Training Ph.D. program in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior. Her dissertation examined the correlates and consequences of temperamental self-regulation across childhood, with a specific focus on the difficulties children experience when they are overcontrolled. Her research was funded by a Vanier doctoral scholarship and grants awarded to her by the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Foundation, and the Society for Research in Child Development.  

This fall, Raha began working as an Assistant Professor at Western University in the Department of Psychology. She is looking forward to a career in academia where she can continue to build her program of research.  

Raha is endlessly grateful to her supervisor, Dr. Louis Schmidt, for the many professional opportunities and unconditional support he provided to her. She hopes to foster the same level of enthusiasm about child development in her students that Dr. Schmidt helped foster in her.  

Emily Calandrelli graduated from West Virginia University with Bachelor of Science degrees in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering before completing her Masters studies in aeronautics and astronautics as well as in technology and policy at MIT. At various times during her student career, she was a NASA Glenn Research Assistant, a NASA Ames Academy Research Assistant, a legislative intern in the US House of Representatives and a visiting scholar at the Harvard NASA Tournament Lab.

Ms. Calandrelli began her professional career as executive producer and host of Xploration Outer Space on FOX, becoming the first woman to host her own nation-wide science show in the United States. Now in its tenth year, the Emmy-winning show features Ms. Calandrelli – an Emmy nominee herself – introducing viewers to both outer space and various NASA facilities. One of the hallmarks of Xploration Outer Space is its commitment to profiling and encouraging greater diversity in the aerospace industry with, for example, an episode focused on Indigenous experts and a story about the deaf students whose participation in studies during the Apollo era contributed to a better understanding of how the body reacts to space travel. Ms. Calandrelli was also a correspondent with the Emmy-winning Netflix series Bill Nye Saves the World and, since 2020, she has been the host and co-executive producer of the hit Netflix series Emily’s Wonder Lab, a show that teaches children about science.

Ms. Calandrelli is a frequent public speaker on issues including space exploration, scientific literacy and equality. She is a successful author of the children’s book Reach For The Stars, of two best-selling science experiment books in the Stay Curious and Keep Exploring series and of the six-volume chapter-book series The Ada Lace Adventures featuring an eight-year-old girl solving mysteries with technology. The series was included on the US National Science Teachers Association’s list of best STEM books and has been part of a program called Story Time from Space in which astronauts on the International Space Station read books to children watching and listening from Earth.

Ms. Calandrelli has also become a champion for making science, technology, engineering and mathematics more inclusive and accessible. She advocates, for example, for stronger parental leave practices within the aerospace sector and her efforts have contributed to the significant improvement of the leave policies affecting more than 250,000 employees in the American aerospace industry. She is also part of the executive team with the Brooke Owens Fellowship which is helping to make the aerospace workforce more inclusive and gender diverse.

Named one of Adweek’s “11 Celebrities and Influencers Raising the Bar for Creativity” in 2017, Ms. Calandrelli is a much sought-after public speaker who has presented to organizations including Google, Pixar and the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Her TEDx talks “I Don’t Do Math” and “Space Exploration is the Worst” have garnered more than one million views on YouTube.

Dr. Mark Crowther trained in Hematology and Thromboembolism at McMaster University. He is Chair and Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Leo Pharma Chair in Thromboembolism Research at McMaster University. He is also Chair of the Senior Research Committee for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, past Treasurer of the American Society of Hematology, and past President of The Anticoagulation Forum. Dr. Crowther’s clinical activities focus on patients with thromboembolic disorders. His research examines methods to prevent and treat thrombosis. Dr. Crowther has more than 580 peer-reviewed publications with an H factor of more than 130 (Google Scholar) and has presented at more than 550 meetings worldwide. He has been inducted into the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and has recently completed his LLM at Osgoode Hall Law School.