As an engineering graduate, Cristina Mazza enjoys the challenge of solving problems, even if the problem is not necessarily one of a technical nature. As a Master of Science in Management candidate at Ryerson University, she currently is researching the relative influence of supply chain participants to sustainable firms for attaining competitive advantage, after having earned her Bachelors in Energy Systems Engineering & Management from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) last year.

During her undergrad, Cristina was heavily involved with several organisations such as Women in Engineering and Engineers Without Borders. She also held leadership positions as President of the UOIT Engineering Student’s Society and as the Canadian Nuclear Society UOIT branch chair. For her contribution to campus life, she has received several awards, including UOIT Leadership Awards for Community Involvement and Accountability & Ethics, as well as the Lifetime Achievement award from her university’s student association. In addition to on-campus leadership, she has also presented at engineering competitions and conferences on a variety of topics, including environmental, economic, and social, comparisons of various energy systems, the feasibility of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and design implications of next generation nuclear reactors.

Passionate about innovation and sustainable development, Cristina believes that conservatism and environmental sustainability are not mutually exclusive. Additionally, she believes that female empowerment and conservatism do not have to be at odds either. Driven especially by her passion for clean energy and a desire to gain business expertise, she is currently the Corporate Administrator for ECOstudio, a Toronto-based startup that draws on university faculty and student expertise in designing and building a net-zero urban home. She hopes more initiatives like this will further illustrate the role technological advancement can play in addressing environmental and social concerns.

Cristina recently participated in Equal Voice’s Daughters of the vote initiative as the delegate for the riding of Whitby. On March 8^th, 2017, she spoke in the House of Commons on the need for clean, reliable, and affordable off-grid energy for northern and Indigenous communities in Canada, a topic she was motivated to speak on after learning about the extent of energy poverty in Canada. With an estimated 1.2 billion people living in energy poverty worldwide, her dream would be to be involved in an initiative to tackle this issue one day.