IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2023 - 7

students who are female or from underrepresented
groups who may need more
encouragement, and their teachers and
parents do too, " explains Ward.
" What I appreciate about this VP job
is that I think the IEEE is better poised
to offer some services than an individual
institution, " she continues, adding that
" because we operate in 180 countries
globally, what we build can have a greater
impact because it is for use everywhere
in the world. "
The Importance of Representation
Dr. Ward knows what it means to be
underrepresented, having been the first
female professor of engineering in BC,
the first woman holding a Ph.D. degree
appointed as professor of electrical engineering
in Canada, and the first woman
in electrical engineering to become a
fellow of the Royal Society of Canada,
among other milestones. When she
reflects on those isolating times, she
remembers keeping her idol, Madame
Marie Curie, in mind for inspiration.
" There were no women in engineering
that I knew, especially any who were
engineering professors at the time, " she
recalls. " Because there was no Internet
while I was getting my Ph.D., to know
what other people were doing in the
field in those days, you had to go to the
library and dig. " The example of Marie
Curie, plus knowing one woman in the
class ahead of her in the Ph.D. program,
proved that there was a precedent.
Curie was the reason Ward became
fascinated with science and mathematics
in the first place. " I learned of her as
a young girl in Lebanon and thought,
'I want to be like that,' " she shares, noting
that she had a strong aptitude for
math and a deep curiosity both about science
and how people behave. Ward concentrated
her baccalaureate in science,
but when it came time to decide what to
study in college, engineering was the furthest
from her mind because it was not a
career path she understood at the time.
When an uncle who studied in the
United States advised her to consider
electronics and electrical engineering,
Ward pushed back, saying, " but I'm a
girl. " He assured her that women were
doing electrical engineering now and
countered two misconceptions of hers:
that she would have to climb up ladders
onto roofs to work and that she would
not be considered beautiful. Further, he
explained that engineering meant solving
problems in the world and that she
would be trained not just in electronics
but also trained to have ideas. She was
convinced, but she had some convincing
of others to do.
Ward applied to the American University
of Beirut to study engineering
and was rejected. When she asked the
dean of engineering for a reason, he said
it was because she was a girl and would
go on to get married after graduation,
not using her degree to benefit society.
" I'm not going to get married, I promise, "
replied Ward (laughing now she says, " I
didn't mean it! " ). Still, as an American,
his perception of a woman from the Middle
East not going on to work for a living
was entrenched. There was the further
complication he added that the facilities
in the mountains where engineering students
worked during the summers lacked
toilets for women and were not suitable
for them.
She also had to convince her father,
who wanted her to be a doctor. Although
Ward was accepted into the American
University of Beirut to study medicine,
she did not want to go and convinced
her father to let her go abroad for school.
Enrolling at Cairo University in Egypt-
still to study medicine-she transferred
to engineering within a week. " I wrote a
very emotional letter to my father about
how I would not be happy in medical
school, " says Ward. " I assured him that
engineering was what I wanted to be
doing, and that I could do it well, so he
gave me his blessing. "
He believed in her so much that
when Ward returned to Lebanon after
completing her five-year degree in electrical
engineering, she learned that her
father had told all the neighbors who
had problems with their televisions or
Ward with some of her Ph.D. students at a dinner party in her home, 2015.
A testament to her impact on her
students: Ward, walking one of her
prior Ph.D. students down the aisle at
his wedding when his parents could not
make the trip to Canada, summer 2022.
DECEMBER 2023
IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE
7
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2023

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