Growing up, Armita Khashayardoost (EngSci 2T4 + PEY) did not lack for engineering role models — in fact she almost had too many.
“Both my parents are engineers, and so are many other members of my family,” says Khashayardoost, who was born in Tehran and moved with her family to Toronto when she was seven years old.
“As I got into high school, I even found that most of my teachers in STEM were women, which is not a common experience for many young girls.”
With so many engineers around, Khashayardoost says her first instinct was to rebel; she briefly considered a career in law. What changed her mind was her love of math, and her belief in the versatility of an engineering degree.
“I figured that even if I ended up not wanting to be an engineer, it’s still a good background to have for any post-graduate program, including medicine or law,” she says.
“But once I started doing Engineering Science, I found I just really loved the problem-solving aspect of it, and I decided that I wanted to continue.”
Khashayardoost is among over a thousand students who will receive their degrees at U of T Engineering Convocation on June 17. Approximately three-quarters of them are graduating with practical job experience already under their belts, via the Professional Experience Year Co-op program.
After her third year, Khashayardoost spent a year working at Alphawave Semi, a Toronto-based technology company that designs and manufactures custom computer chips and other hardware. It was shortly after that that she had a major epiphany.
“I had always been passionate about dealing with climate change, and I realized that our grid has become dependent on a distributed network of computing devices, such as smart thermostats,” she says.
“The fact that we now have this network opens up a lot of opportunities to enhance our energy efficiency. But at the same time, it also leaves us vulnerable, because those devices can be hacked.”
This insight led her to the lab of Professor Deepa Kundur (ECE), who became her undergraduate thesis supervisor, where she worked with postdoctoral fellow Ahmad Mohammad Saber. She says that their expertise in grid resilience and cybersecurity was a major influence, and indirectly led to her landing the job that she will take up after graduation.
“I’m moving to the Netherlands to take a job with Northpool B.V., which is a major European energy trader,” she says.
“I’ll be taking a year to get trained up, and then after that, I’ll be moving to Vancouver to work at their Canadian office.”
Khashayardoost is excited about the role that energy trading can play in building a greener economy.
“In Europe, they have a lot of energy sources that are renewable, but non-dispatchable — for example, wind turbines that produce a lot of electricity some of the time, and very little at other times,” she says.
“It’s led to this whole elaborate market where energy gets traded as a commodity in real time. You’re trying to get a good price, but you’re also trying to make sure that you’re not overloading the grid or failing to meet demand. It’s a whole new way to think about how power is created, bought and sold.
“I think these insights will become critical to us here in North America, as we continue to add new forms of energy generation and storage, including more renewables.”
Throughout her degree, Khashayardoost made sure to give back to the community. For example, she started a local chapter of Stars for Scholarly Youth. The charity provides tutoring, mentorship and English literacy support to newcomers to Canada, especially youth from grades 1 to 12.
“Haris Ahmad is the person who originally founded SSY in Alberta. He reached out to me and shared stories about how his group’s mentorship helped students gain confidence, make friends, and feel like they belonged in school,” says Khashayardoost.
“That really resonated with me—when I moved to Canada at age 7, I struggled with many of the same things. Having a mentor to look up to back then would’ve made a huge difference in helping me feel less alone and more hopeful about my future.”
Khashayardoost says that last year, SSY created about 100 pairings between students and U of T undergraduates who could serve as tutors and mentors.
She also joined Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) in her second year, eventually rising to become co-president for 2023–2024, along with Sophie Sun (EngSci 2T4+PEY).
“I knew off the bat I wanted to be part of the club, as I had heard so much about it from my mom’s work, and I really wanted to make sure that other women got the same opportunities that I did,” she says.
“What kept me going back was just seeing how much impact we were having. I think a lot of women have the talent, but might lack the confidence to go into engineering. I felt it myself in first year: you get that impostor syndrome, where you feel like you don’t belong.
“But after five years, I have truly seen that I do belong here, that I am just as capable and can accomplish just as much. I want to help instill that confidence in others.”
As she heads toward Convocation, Khashayardoost is both nervous and excited, and grateful for all that her degree has provided.
“I want to thank my mentors — Professor Kundur, my parents and my friends — for all their support,” she says.
“I think Engineering, and especially Engineering Science, teaches you how to absorb a lot of information in very quickly, in a way that works for you. You learn how to learn, and that can prepare you for anything.”
