2026 Early Accomplishment Award Recipient

Professional engineer Sheliza Kassam may be early in her career, but she’s already received more responsibility than most peers at the same stage, and she’s handled it like a professional much farther along.

A field operations project manager and project engineer at Pembina Pipeline Corporation, Kassam has taken on responsibilities often reserved for more senior roles. She became the first sole engineer to support the company’s Drayton Valley and Brazeau pipeline systems, critical infrastructure that significantly contributes to company production. She led the system’s internal hazard and operability study, identifying high-priority risks and leading efforts to address them, and designed and authenticated construction packages that reduce fire risk and cut winter maintenance by more than 30 per cent each week.

“As a field operations engineer, I apply a community-first mindset to engineering, grounded in the belief that behind every pipeline and process are people, and their safety comes first,” says Kassam.

Kassam’s impact also reaches future engineers. Through the Schulich School of Engineering’s outreach program, she delivers presentations across Alberta to encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM professions, such as engineering, and mentors emerging professionals through Canadian Women in Energy programs. She’s received major awards for leadership and community service, including Alberta’s Young Women in Energy Award and the Engineers Canada Meritorious Service Award for Community Service.

Kassam introduced a Fitbit-based rehabilitation initiative in 2025 for children with cancer through Kids Cancer Care, an Alberta-based charity supporting affected families. After securing a provincial grant, she partnered with Google to provide devices to monitor activity, heart rate, and sleep, enabling care teams to track recovery trends between clinic visits. The initiative expanded through a YMCA partnership where children use the devices in a structured program that combines goal setting with data-driven insight, turning recovery into something visible and measurable.

Kassam’s achievements in operations and safety, paired with her leadership and community impact, reflect a career that is already shaping how critical infrastructure is managed and empowering the next generation of engineers.

Notable Achievements and Recognition

• Winner, Meritorious Service Award for Community Service, Engineers Canada (2025)
• Member, APEGA (2023–present)
• Winner, Young Women in Energy Award, Young Women in Energy (2024)
• Recipient, Rona Hatt Chemical Engineering Award, Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation (2018)
• Honouree, Women of Worth, L’Oreal Paris (2017)
• National Engineering Scholarship, General Electric Foundation (2016)
• Top 20 Under 20 Canada, Plan Canada (2014)
• Top 30 Under 30, Alberta Council for Global Cooperation (2014)