Mengmeng Miao

Mengmeng embodies the desire to improve herself as well as the community around her. She attended MentorUP and WISER events before being accepted into the UA-WiSE/WISER mentorship program in the fall of 2015. Within a few months, she expressed interest in joining the WISER executive team and wanted to share the information about the events with the Chinese community in Edmonton. She took on the communications role and created the WISER page on Weibo, the Chinese Facebook equivalent. By May 2016, she took on the challenge of being mentorship program co-lead as well as maintaining her communications responsibilities. The mentorship program continued to be successful with the 3 formal events. She was lead organizer for the “Leadership and Communication Skills for your Career” workshop in February 2017.  

In 2016, She also co-founded Eyes High Education Ltd., a training institution that specializes in 3D design software training. With her co-founders, she raised $20, 000 in seed investment. She screened, hired, and trained four instructors and two office staff. 

During that time, she was also VP External for Chinese Graduate Students Club. Their key event was a networking dinner for students with over 40 STEM professionals from industry, government, and academia in attendance. Mengmeng leveraged her network to get a diverse group of professionals in the room. In May 2017, Mengmeng was elected co-chair of WISER. She is guiding WISER through uncertain financial times with grace. She has identified potential funding opportunities for the group and maintained the quality of the programs and events offered. 

During her undergraduate degree in materials science and engineering, she ranked first out of 107 students in her department. She is completing the final year of her PhD in materials engineering with a focus on nanomaterials, has published a number of papers, and given conference presentations. She is also raising a 2 year old daughter who will be very proud of her mother when she realises everything her mother has accomplished.