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Dr. Mandy Rowsell

When most people think about business education, hazardous materials logistics might not come to mind.

But for one ������Ƶ University spring graduate, developing methods for safely transporting dangerous goods through our communities was a key focus of her degree.

Graduating this week with a master of science in management degree, Reihaneh Mahdavinia says she’s always been drawn to understanding the inner workings of business.

“I’m fascinated by how things work behind the scenes,” said Ms. Mahdavinia, who is originally from Iran. “During an internship at a logistics company, I saw how a tiny bottleneck in their supply chain caused massive delays. We fixed it with a simple process redesign, and I was amazed at the impact operations can have.”

Ms. Mahdavinia focused her thesis on optimizing facility locations and transport networks for hazardous materials — an area where small decisions can have huge impacts.

“One wrong route can put lives or ecosystems at risk. I wanted to create tools that help businesses and policy-makers make safer, smarter choices.”

Finding balance

Ms. Mahdavinia credits the support of two important figures for helping her navigate and complete her program: her husband (who made sure she didn’t miss too many meals) and her supervisor, Dr. Ginger Ke, a leader in logistics optimization and risk modeling.

“Dr. Ke didn’t just guide my research,” she said. “She had this incredible balance of rigour and practicality, and she taught me how to think like an operations professional. I owe so much to her patience and wisdom.”

“I want my work to protect people and the planet.” — Reihaneh Mahdavini

Ms. Mahdavinia says the program wasn’t without its challenges, particularly when it came to re-learning advanced statistics, but she created a study group with classmates to help her through it.

“We met at the library every week and just kept going. That support made a huge difference.”

Now living in Vancouver, B.C., Ms. Mahdavinia has already landed a job in her field.

She’s excited to apply her skills in a real-world context, especially in an area with such a strong environmental ethos.

“Whether it’s through better routing models or risk assessments, I want my work to protect people and the planet.”

Though she’s now on the other side of Canada, Ms. Mahdavinia knows she will never forget the place she called home during her university years.

One image in particular stands out

“Watching the sunrise from Signal Hill after pulling an all-nighter on my thesis. I was exhausted, holding a stale Tim’s doughnut, but it felt like I’d really earned that view.”