Dr. Jennifer Pereira is a research officer in the field of experimental aerodynamics at National Research Council Canada. Dr. Pereira has been working in this field for over five years and has a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering as well as a PhD in Experimental Aerodynamics from McGill University. Her research work is focused on subsonic and transonic wind tunnel testing of aircraft and aeronautical products.
Transcription – Meet Jennifer Pereira
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[Dr. Jennifer Pereira sits in front of a white background]
[Text on screen: Dr. Jennifer Pereira – Research officer, National Research Council]
Jennifer Pereira: My name is Jennifer Pereira. I'm a research officer. I work in the field of experimental aerodynamics at the National Research Council.
As far back as I can remember, I've loved airplanes and pretty much anything that flies. And I think that prompted me to ask questions like why do things fly, how do things fly, and that just brought on more and more questions. And that was probably my first introduction to science and why I was interested in it.
In high school, probably mathematics and physics. I feel like both subjects, they give you an understanding of concepts and they give you solutions to problems. And once you truly grasp those concepts, then you'll see examples of that in your daily life and then you can apply what you've learned in the class.
In university, you know, you'll study a lot of problems where you can make simplifying assumptions. When you get into the real world, a lot of those assumptions aren't valid, and then you have to figure out how do we find a solution to this problem. A lot of times you have to do experiments to figure out those solutions, there's so much more to learn.
Growing up, a role model for me was my great aunt. She's a biochemist. It's interesting because, of all my close relatives, she's the only scientist. So it never really occurred to me that girls couldn't go into science.
[Text on screen: #choosescience]
Now that you know my story, I encourage you to start your story. Choose science.
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