3 Canadians Named Recipients of the BlackBerry Scholars Program

Today BlackBerry announced the 10 young women recipients of the BlackBerry Scholars Program, an initiative designed to inspire more women to enter the mobile computing industry and pursue careers in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

And three of the 10 winners are from Canada and will be attending the University of Waterloo.

The recipients will receive full, four-year university tuition scholarships to the school of their choice for degrees in STEM-related fields, as well as mentorship and professional opportunities.

The BlackBerry Scholars Program received more than 500 applications from 65 countries over a two-month period. The 10 recipients announced today were selected by a panel of inspirational and accomplished women leaders in their own right.

The Canadian recipients were:

  • Anastasia Santasheva from Maple, ON who will be pursuing her degree in Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo
  • Tian Qi (Dinah) Shi from Mississauga who will be pursuing her degree in Software Engineering at the University of Waterloo
  • Xiao Yan (Cheyenne) Guo from Toronto who will be pursuing her honours degree in Mathematics at the University of Waterloo

“The BlackBerry Scholars Program was designed to inspire women in STEM fields, but it was the judges who were truly inspired,” said BlackBerry Global Creative Director Alicia Keys. “Women are vastly underrepresented in STEM industries, and collectively we need to do everything we can to encourage more women to pursue careers in these fields. We’re proud these bright scholars will blaze a trail and open doors for women in technology, mobile computing, science and much more.”

Image: Geeks and Com’