Jennifer Anne MacKinnon "Jenni" Sidey-Gibbons is a Canadian astronaut, engineer, and lecturer. She was selected by the Canadian Space Agency as one of the two members of the 2017 CSA group alongside Joshua Kutryk.
Early life and education
Jennifer Sidey was born on August 3 1988 in Calgary, Alberta. Her interest in science was supported by her mother, who often took her to museums and found role models from the fields of science and engineering. Sidey's uncle, a civil engineer, would also involve her in design tasks. One of the tasks included designing a baseball pitch that would drain effectively during rain storms for a passive water treatment plant. Jenni Sidey-Gibbons holds an honours bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University. Whilst she was at McGill, she carried out research in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency and the National Research CouncilFlight Research Laboratory on flame propagation in microgravity. She then completed a PhD in 2015 in engineering at Jesus College, Cambridge, where she focused on combustion under the supervision of Professor Nondas Mastorakos. In 2018, Jenni Sidey married British psychologist Chris Gibbons, whom she had met while at the University of Cambridge, with both taking the married name of Sidey-Gibbons.
Academic career
Prior to joining the Canadian Space Agency, Sidey-Gibbons worked as an assistant professor in internal combustion engines at the Department of Engineering of the University of Cambridge. The focus of her research was on low temperature flames and their effects on pollutants and emissions in gas turbine combustion. This work aids the development of low-emission combustors for gas turbine engines. She also taught undergraduate and graduate students in the Energy, Fluid Mechanics and Turbomachinery Division on topics ranging from conventional and alternative energy production to introductory thermodynamics and flame physics. Aside from these formal responsibilities, she also actively acted as a role model for young women considering technical careers in science-related fields. Most notably, she is the co-founder of the Cambridge chapter of Robogals, a student-run international organization that aims to inspire and empower young women to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through fun and educational initiatives. Through this work, she has taught programming to over 3,000 young girls across the United Kingdom. In 2016, she was awarded the Institution of Engineering and Technology'sYoung Woman Engineer of the Year Award, as well as a Royal Academy of Engineering Young Engineer of the Year Award.
