Graduate Student Council
The Western Space Graduate Students’ Council provides a means of bidirectional communication between participating graduate students and the Western Space Executive Council. The student's council is comprised of a senior leadership team consisting of a President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary, each of whom serves for a one-year term. Each Western Space-linked department is represented by a member of the council for a period of one year. The council actively seeks to create a sense of community amongst students emanating from a variety of departments across campus by organizing various social gatherings enabling graduate students from the different departments to meet in a non-academic setting.
Jin Sia (he/him), Master Student, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
PresidentBiography: Jin is an MESc student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and at Western Space. Under the supervision of Dr. Jayshri Sabarinathan, they are currently working on space qualification and systems engineering for the Integrated Vision System, a prototype lunar rover multispectral imager. He is also the Thermal Lead for the Ukpik-1 CubeSat, where he ensures that the temperatures it will experience in orbit remain within safe limits. They are passionate about human planetary exploration, having served on the crew of a space analog mission at the Mars Desert Research Station.
Lauren Stone, (she/her) PhD, Earth Sciences
Vice-PresidentBiography: Lauren is a PhD student working under Dr. Gordon Osinski in Western’s Department of Earth Sciences and Institute for Earth and Space Exploration. Her interests include astrobiology, molecular geomicrobiology, and the origins of life. Her current research investigates the effects of impact shock on the habitability basalts— the primary rock type at the Martian surface. Additionally, she is investigating geologic and geochemical changes resulting from microbial activity within impact shocked basalts under simulated early Mars conditions relevant to NASA’s Mars 2020 mission.
Jack Hostrawser (he/him), Master, Earth Sciences
SecretaryBiography: Jack Hostrawser, (BA, Hon. BSc,) is a master's student under the supervision of Dr. Osinski. He is interested in all aspects of lunar resource development and is pursuing means of quantifying and characterizing deposits of frozen volatiles in permanently-shadowed regions of the lunar poles. He has remote-fieldwork and analogue-mission experience, and would love to talk to you if could get him to the Moon.
Daliah Raquel Bibas (she/her), Master, Earth Sciences
Project LiaisonBiography: Daliah is a 2nd year MSc Geology student in the Department of Earth Sciences. She studies the Clearwater West impact-induced hydrothermal system in Quebec under the supervision of Dr. Osinski and Dr. Blamey. She is characterizing the system, comparing it to an analog environment in which life could have arisen on Earth, and determining its subsequent astrobiological implications. She is passionate about the Philosophy of Astrobiology and aspires to complete a PhD in this field in the future. Outside of her graduate studies, she enjoys travelling, painting, playing piano and guitar, and cuddling with her rabbit. As Project Liaison, she looks forward to representing Western Space’s student teams and organizing various educational events and social gatherings for graduate students in the collaborative program this academic year.
Sashank Vanga (he/him), PhD, Earth Sciences
Department of Earth Sciences RepresentativeBiography: Sashank is a Geology PhD candidate at Western, in the Planetary Science collaborative specialization. He is under the supervision of Dr. Catherine Neish, and is currently working on comparing LiDAR and satellite remote sensing data from terrestrial analogs of Mars. Outside school, Sashank likes to stargaze, play video games and do science outreach.
Katie Hutton (she/her), Master, Electrical Engineering
Department of Electrical Engineering RepresentativeBiography: Katie is working on training machine learning algorithms on LiDAR point clouds for the purpose of damage assessment on the Lunar Gateway space station, under the supervision of Dr. Ken McIsaac. She has always had an interest in space and is enjoying participating in the collaborative specialization program.
Charmi Bhatt (she/her), Master, Physics & Astronomy
Department of Physics and Astronomy RepresentativeBiography: Being an active member of the Physics and Astronomy Grad Council and I can facilitate collaborations between western Space and P&A, especially focusing on increasing enrollments from P&A to Collaborative specialization. I also work as Outreach Assistant at Cronyn Observatory and would be interested in contributing to/developing outreach activities conducted by Western Space.
Cole Gregg (he/him), PhD, Physics & Astronomy
Department of Physics and AstronomyBiography: Cole Gregg is an Astronomy PhD candidate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration. His current research interests are in dynamical astronomy and minor body detection. Cole is currently working under the supervision of Dr. Paul Wiegert, examining the interstellar meteoroid population in the Solar System through dynamical modelling of material ejected from nearby star systems. He hopes to contribute to the understanding of interstellar transfer and the population estimates for interstellar visitors currently present in the Solar System.
Steffen Shaigec (he/him), MSc, Geography
Department of Geography RepresentativeBiography: I am a second year MSc student in Geography investigating the elements of urban structure that influence urban-climate systems with LiDAR-based remote sensing. I am a lead member of Western's CubeSat Science team and contributor to ESRI Canada's GIS Centre of Excellence. My interests include all things sustainability, space, and entrepreneurship within Low Earth orbit.
