Leanne Dawson

Leanne Dawson

Positions

Assistant Professor (Teaching)

Schulich School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Software Engineering

Contact information

Phone number

Office: 403.220.7379

Location

Office: ICT203

Background

Educational Background

BSc Electrical Engineering, University of Calgary, 2013

MSc Electrical Engineering, University of Calgary, 2016

PhD Electrical Engineering, University of Calgary, 2023

Biography

I am an Assistant Professor in Software Engineering (teaching stream) at the University of Calgary. I mainly teach machine learning and introduction to programming courses for undergraduate and graduate engineering students. I finished my PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Calgary in June 2023. I completed my Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Calgary in August 2016. I completed my Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Calgary in April 2013. My graduate research focused on the potential implementation of dynamic line rating in Alberta, using machine learning to analyze large weather data sets. I am passionate about education, focused on investigating the application of EDI principles in course design to help improve the quality of learning for engineering students coming through the program at the University of Calgary, and the application of generative AI and other software tools in engineering education. I am also passionate about empowering students through leadership and professional development training.

As a teaching-stream professor, I do not have funding for graduate students. If you are an undergraduate student interested in doing summer research in engineering education, please email me to discuss potential opportunities.

Research

Areas of Research

Engineering Education

Courses

Course number Course title Semester
ENEL 682 Applied Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics Winter 2024
ENSF 544 Data Science for Software Engineers Winter 2024
ENSF 611 Machine Learning for Software Engineers Fall 2023
ENDG 233 Programming with Data Fall 2023
ENEL 682 Applied Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics Winter 2023
ENSF 611 Machine Learning for Software Engineers Winter 2023
ENDG 233 Programming with Data Fall 2022
ENDG 233 Programming with Data Fall 2021

Awards

  • Schulich Excellence Award - Undergraduate Training, University of Calgary. 2023
  • Schulich Excellence Award - EDIA, University of Calgary. 2023
  • IEEE Canadian Foundation Women in Engineering Prize, IEEE. 2020
  • Vanier Canadian Graduate Scholarship, NSERC. 2018
  • NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship-Doctoral, NSERC. 2018
  • Michael Lazar Community Service Award, University of Calgary. 2018
  • Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship, Alberta Innovates. 2017
  • TA Excellence Award, Schulich School of Engineering. 2017

Publications

  • Investigating the Feasibility of Dynamic Thermal Line Rating using Historical Weather Patterns. L. Dawson and A. M. Knight. CIGRE Canada Conference. (2018)
  • Quantifying the Risk in Dynamic Thermal Line Rating. L. Dawson, S. Karimi and A. M. Knight. CIGRE Paris Sessions. (2018)
  • Transmission line length, operating condition and rating regime. L. Dawson and A. M. Knight. IEEE Canadian Conference in Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE). 1046–1051. (2016)