D'Andre Wilson-Ihejirika excited by program that opens pathway to engineering success
February 23, 2022
In her engineering studies at the undergraduate and Master’s levels, D’Andre Wilson-Ihejirika didn’t have a Black professor that looked like her.
After learning of the new Indigenous and Black Engineering & Technology PhD. (IBET) Momentum Fellowships through Mikhail Burke who is the University of Toronto’s Dean Adviser on Black Inclusivity Initiatives & Student Inclusion, she jumped at the opportunity.
The program, among other things, aims to increase the number of Black and Indigenous engineering professors teaching and researching in Ontario universities.
Now pursuing a PhD. in Data Analytics & Engineering Education at U of T, Wilson-Ihejirika was exposed to a Black professor in her first semester last fall.
It just so happened that he was her former classmate.
Burke, who was born in Canada and resided in Grenada for a decade, is a course instructor in U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. He teaches three courses, one being Equity, Diversity & Inclusion within Engineering Concepts that she took.
“It made a huge difference being in the classroom with him,” said Wilson-Ihejirika who left the Bahamas 16 years ago to pursue university studies in Canada. “I felt uplifted to know that I can succeed in academia and maybe become a professor myself. In addition, we have shared experiences as he’s also from the Caribbean.”
Recognizing the need to reduce existing systemic barriers for junior Black and Indigenous scholars pursuing doctoral degrees in engineering and STEM program, several Ontario Faculties of Engineering collaborated to launch the IBET program.
Wilson-Ihejirika is one of two U of T doctoral candidates (the other is Mai Ali) who will receive $25,000 annually over four years along with mentorship, internship and networking opportunities with other engineering and technology PhD. candidates.
Having those pathways is something she enthusiastically embraces.
“I have already reaped some of the benefits of this amazing opportunity,” noted Wilson-Ihejirika. “I have got to meet a lot of other Black engineers doing their PhDs., the Deans of the different Faculties of Engineering across Canada and I have just had my first conversation with my mentor.”
An outdoorsy person with a love of nature, she gravitated to the sciences at an early age.
“By being able to choose Biology, Chemistry and Physics, I was able to pursue engineering at the end of high school,” Wilson-Ihejirika said.
When the time came to choose a university, McGill stood out on her list.
“I applied to about six or seven in Canada and the United States, but the program there seemed to be a good fit for me,” she pointed out. “Going there, upon reflection, was a fantastic experience. I was fortunate to get a scholarship that covered the cost of residing on campus in the first year during which I met another Bahamian. I also joined the Caribbean Students Society and the McGill chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) that allowed me to meet other engineers at my university and across Ontario and also serve as president.”
In an 18-month span until December 2011, Wilson-Ihejirika sat on the NSBE executive board.
After finishing her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering in 2010, she moved to Toronto to do a Master of Applied Science in Engineering at the University of Toronto. A few months before competing the graduate degree, she relocated to Fort McMurray, spending eight years with Suncor Energy.
“I was able to go out there and gain a lot of technical skills while acquiring my project management and professional engineering designations,” said Wilson-Ihejirika who enjoys reading fantasy novels, watching Netflix and fellowshipping with Christian women. “That experience really helped me in what I am trying to do by understanding some of the opportunities that are in the industry.”
While working in the oil sands, she founded BrainSTEM Alliance that specializes in youth outreach STEM programming.
“I noticed there were not that many opportunities for a lot of engineers and STEM professionals working there to give back,” said Wilson-Ihejirika who sits on the Wood Buffalo Regional Science Fair organizing committee. “I started BrainSTEM as an opportunity to bring together some of these professionals that want to give back as well as to support grassroots organizations that may not have the capacity or resources to do that on their own. We started off with Girls Inc. of Northern Alberta by bringing together a number of women in engineering and getting them to introduce young girls to different STEM fields. It’s really about increasing awareness in STEM and trying to encourage some of these youths to consider STEM when they may not have had exposure to it before.”
D’Andre Wilson-Ihejirika (Photo contributed)
She also co-founded the Bahamas Engineering & Technology Advancement (BETA) camp for junior high school students and started a fashion bag retailer company to raise funds for scholarships and grants for young women in the Bahamas. The initiative was a finalist in the Bahamas Ministry of Youths, Sports & Culture national entrepreneurship competition.
Wilson-Ihejirika credits her parents – Larry Wilson and Fran Dillet -- with laying the groundwork for much of her success.
Chartered accountants trained in the United States, Wilson is the Bahamas Anti-Doping Commission treasurer. Her also served on the island’s Olympic Committee and the Basketball and Golf Federations.
His wife, a feminist and principal of the family-owned business consulting firm, is the descendant of Haitian-born Stephen Dillet who was the first Black to sit in the Bahamas House of Assembly after the historic 1833 election in which non-Whites were allowed to vote for the first time.
“Both my parents are very community-oriented,” said Wilson-Ihejirika who, with her husband of a decade – Nnaziri Ihejirika is an engineer – have three young children. “Watching them give back as I grew up inspired me to want to do the same. They also taught their four children to explore and develop their interests and dream big.”
She spent a year with Elevate Talent team working to bridge the abyss between the untapped talent in Canada’s under-represented communities, community organizations that support them and industry-leading entities that value diversity and equity.
“A lot of what I did involved looking at the different trends in careers in technology, innovation and different employment opportunities and trying to design my micro-credential training programs in collaboration with different academic institutions and learning partners,” said the former Director of Programming & Employment Partnerships. “Working with some of our learning partners, me and my team developed data analytics, digital marketing, product management and business development in tech programs that will set up the participants for success and help to increase representation in the tech and innovation space.”
Wilson-Ihejirika plans to complete her PhD. in 2025.
The research is focused on mapping career pathways for under-represented groups in engineering.
“It is about trying to determine which aspects of the undergraduate student experience will influence career paths,” she said. “What that will look like is me continuing to analyze data that I can collect from various sources. I am trying to tie from the in-school experience to where they have gone in their careers afterwards so that we can use that information to better design the undergraduate student experience for those that are from under-represented groups in engineering. In that way, we can hopefully make the environment more inclusive and be able to better advise them on the pathway they can best take full advantage of their undergrad experience to help them in their career paths moving forward.”
Passionate about education and increasing representation, Wilson-Ihejirika is considering consulting that will allow her to work at the intersection of education and industry, professorship or working in innovation spaces after finishing her doctorate.
