Zenith Fellow, Class of 2022
University of Concordia, Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering
Mentor: Dr. Kris Lehndhart

Rym Yasmine Chaid is a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Concordia,  with a focus on aerospace, thermo-fluids and propulsion. In 2019, she's had the honor of being selected as the recipient of the distinguished Petrogiannis Award, celebrating the leading woman in engineering of her undergraduate cohort. Since then, she has been selected as a Student Leader, representing the University and the Aerospace Department and speaking on behalf of the Student body to the accreditation board. As an aspiring astronaut/aquanaut and a passionate advocate of space exploration for both Space and Earth applications, Rym has a very multidisciplinary field of interests that she intends to pursue throughout her career and personal activities, such as space propulsion, space medicine, astrophysics and space psychology.

Being born and raised in a developing country in North Africa, and having lived her first few years in the Sahara Desert before moving to the capital, Rym was exposed at a very young age to the importance of sufficient health care in remote communities and developing regions. She understood the importance of utilizing any resources available to combat medical emergencies in austere environments and the “MacGyver” kind of ingenuity with which one had to handle crisis scenarios. While her focus on medical access for all in austere environments kept growing stronger, her passion for space exploration was already reaching the stars (pun intended) and she realized that space medicine was extreme medicine. How do we ensure that the humans we send to outer space get the best possible medical support they need? Today, Rym is a very active member of the space medicine community, participating in research projects with multiple entities across Canada and the Globe, with the goal to create advancements and develop remote healthcare technologies for the betterment of medicine in Space and Earth applications. 

At 16 years old, she already held an eager interest in medical care and making significant changes to her community. She joined the “Escouade Secouristes” and became a first responder for her college community, taking care of medical emergencies, treating patients and ensuring the safety of all students and staff around campus. 

With a deep interest in research and improvement of healthcare delivery, Rym is currently a student researcher in space medicine and space engineering as part of SpaceConcordia at her University, where she is a core member, sits on the executive council and is the Head of the Space Health research Division. It was upon meeting the inspiring fellow students involved, that she decided to focus her efforts on helping develop the brand new Space Health Division, the first of its kind in Quebec!

In her first year of University, she had already done significant work within the team where she very quickly took on leadership duties as the Lead of Experimental Biotechnology, the Payload Safety Officer, Lead of Pathology, Lead Structural Designer and the Chief of Engineering for three different projects! In her second year, she has been selected to become the new Head & Director of the Space Health Division, and has since then been leading the multidisciplinary team of graduate and undergraduate students, overseeing collaborations with Professors, engineers and Doctors across Canada and Europe, as well as supervising the three research projects currently ongoing within the Space Health Group. With her team, she is currently working on the MICRO2 experiment, a microfluidics payload, in pursuit of better understanding the human immune response through changes induced by reduced gravity, as well as stress on genes induced by hypergravity, that will be sent to Space as part of the payload of SpaceConcordia Rocketry’s liquid-propellant rocket Starsailor, to be launched in 2022. Rym also serves as the Mission Specialist in the MICRO2 project for the Canadian Reduced Gravity Design Challenge (CAN-RGX) campaign with SEDS-Canada to fly in a parabolic flight in Summer 2022.

She is also working with her team on designing and building an ultrasound-compatible soft robotic heart simulator that aims to study the effects of long exposure to microgravity on the human cardiovascular system and the onset of cardiovascular pathologies. As for their third project, she has been developing with her group a heart simulator and medical interface which would eventually serve as a platform for performing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in Space and on Earth, and understanding the effects on the human body when performing CPR in Microgravity!

In her free time, Rym loves to help out and learn from the Rocketry Division who is currently building their rocket which aims to be the first student-built, liquid-fueled rocket to ever launch to space! In the past, she has helped the propulsion and safety teams and is currently helping out with the de-spin team.

Rym is also a very active member of the National Chapter of the Mars Society of Canada and the Co-Founder & President of the Montreal Chapter, where she also acts as Director of Research/Mission. She has been working on the advancement of a space-oriented Educational Program for children and teenagers. She has also created and is currently working on organizing with her team a brand new Canadian Space Exploration Conference launching in 2022, an initiative to bridge the gap between industry and academia and discuss the role in Canada’s strategic placement in mission planning. She has also co-founded a scholarship to enable Canadian students to participate in analog astronaut missions and participate in various research projects, and is working on the onset of developing research projects that she intends to send with her team for a potential mission in the Canadian Arctic in the coming years.

At the International level, Rym is part of the Space Generation Advisory Council where her work involves analog astronaut mission development and Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS) research. In 2020, she was selected to complete a clinical research internship for a first of a kind study in Canada, in space medicine with the McGill Health Research Institute under the supervision of the Canadian Space Agency to study the effects of inactivity on astronauts and the elderly, where she had the opportunity to assist the doctors and researchers in performing muscle biopsies, brain and heart MRIs, and a multitude of physiological and psychological tests.

Apart from research, Rym is a huge advocate for diversity, equality and accessibility in STEM and has been actively involved with her community. She has been a science communicator and a stem tutor for almost 6 years now, hosting workshops, volunteering and presenting at STEM festivals and conferences, as well as accumulating around 800 hours of tutoring for CEGEP/college and university courses! Recently, she has also started acting as a mentor for young female students, with the hope to guide them and empower them throughout their journeys in the male-dominated fields of STEM. With the goal of reaching a broader and more international audience, she is building a social media presence to join the incredible space community and give back what she has been able to learn!

Beyond her passion for space, Rym is a huge passionate of the arts, being a former ballerina,  classical violinist, and enjoys charcoal drawing, painting and social dancing with her friends. When she’s not seeking something new to learn, she loves discussing ancient civilizations, mythology and dinosaurs. She is also a huge amateur of martial arts and aviation, and hopes to gain her Private Pilot License soon, to be able to fly! In the future, Rym hopes to explore her interest for extreme environments and their physiological effects on the human body by conducting and participating in research missions in various austere environments like the Arctic, the Jungle, the Desert and High Pressure environments (Mountains & Underwater). 

As a Zenith Pathways Fellow, Rym is extremely excited to be working with Stardust Technologies on innovative space projects and building the ground for future Canadian students with this brand new Space Fellowship Program!