The 2023-2024 Donald Lecture Series resumes with a lecture by Dr. Farah Alibay, aerospace and aerothermal engineer, on Friday, January 26th at 7 P.M. in Centennial Theatre on the Bishop's University campus.
Born in Montreal, aerospace engineer Farah Alibay spent most of her childhood in Joliette and her teenage years in Manchester, England, tinkering with any project she could get her hands on and fascinated with space and exploration.
These passions led her to pursue a Bachelor's and master's degree in aerospace and Aerothermal Engineering from the University of Cambridge before moving to the US to pursue a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In 2014, she joined NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory where she is currently part of the Mars 2020 mission, working on the Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in February 2021, and the Ingenuity helicopter, which performed the first powered flight on another planet in April 2021. Prior to joining the Mars 2020 team, she worked on several other missions, including the InSight Mars Lander and its companion mission the Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats. Since 2022, she has been the engineer in charge of flight systems for the SPHEREx telescope, an infrared telescope to be launched in the coming years.
Outside of her day job, Ms. Alibay has a passion for science communication, having appeared in numerous newspapers, TV and radio shows and conferences around the world. She encourages the involvement of women and minorities in STEM and has made it her mission to help make the field more diverse and equitable. She is also active in her local community, notably as a Big Sister in Los Angeles' Big Brother Big Sister program and as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), helping children navigate the foster care system. Finally, in her spare time, Ms. Alibay explores the mountains near her home where she enjoys hiking, climbing and mountaineering.
Made possible by the generous support of Bishop's alumnus John Donald '60, DCL '12, the Donald Lecture Series brings speakers of national and international renown to the Bishop's campus to provide insight, provoke thought, and stimulate debate on the most compelling issues and events in the world today. All lectures are free of charge and open to the public.
