On June 23rd 2020, IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Ottawa has created a historical move by carving its name as the winner of the 2020 IEEE WIE Affinity Group of the Year Award. This award is given annually to an IEEE WIE Affinity Group
that has shown outstanding leadership and initiative in organizing activities.
Out of more than 900 WIE groups in the world, IEEE WIE Ottawa was
recognized to be the best for the year 2020 by the IEEE WIE Committee
(WIEC). For IEEE WIE Ottawa, this award
consists of the appointment of the group’s chair, Anastassia Gharib, as a
voting member on the WIEC from 1 January 2021 until to 31 December
2021, prize money in the amount of $500 USD to be used for future WIE
activities, and a certificate of recognition.
According to Anastassia, “one of the greatest things that inspires me
and my team to organize activities as part of IEEE WIE Ottawa
initiatives is the feedback from WIE Ottawa members as well as
non-members”. “It is magnificent to receive thank you messages
from attendees of our seminars and workshops of how our activities help
them in their professional development, whether it is getting a new job,
learning new things, or as simply as doing the school work. We try to
be as accessible as possible to deliver high
quality seminars and workshops throughout the year as well as
collaborate with other IEEE and non-IEEE groups to raise awareness of
IEEE WIE Ottawa. It is personally amazing for me to see how through
these collaborations and outreach activities the team grows
with time, giving me the accomplishment feeling. Winning the 2020 WIE
Affinity Group of the Year Award is so inspiring, making the experience
with IEEE WIE Ottawa unforgettable,” she says.

This is a moment of pride for the WIE Ottawa team. Looking at
another feather added on our hat today gives us motivation to keep going
with the work we have done and thrive to be the best in what we do. Our
prime focus has been a belief to share the knowledge
and thus, our team always brings together events by analyzing topics
that our the Ottawa community needs the most. This achievement would not
have been possible without the support of our speakers, mentors, and
WIE Ottawa members. Thank you all! The moment
of glory has been gifted to us, and we are thankful to the IEEE WIEC for
giving us another reason to be on top of our energy and give back to
our community.


To all the volunteers who are and have been the part of the IEEE
WIE Ottawa, kudos to all the hard work and thanks for being a great
team.

#IEEEWIEOttawa