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When Emily Nightingale began her engineering degree at Dalhousie University, she wasted no time getting involved in campus life. In fact, Dalhousie’s strong sense of community was one of the reasons she chose to leave her home province of Ontario to study in Nova Scotia.

“I'd never really looked out East because there's such a focus when you're in Ontario to kind of stay in Ontario,” she explains.

That changed when she stumbled upon Dalhousie’s Instagram page.

“I could see how involved people were and how much of a community feel that I could get just from the photos and the little glimpses online,” she says. “So, I started looking more into Dal.”

Within her first month, the now first year Dal Engineering student had already joined the Student Affairs Committee, the Women in Engineering Society (WIE) and the Dalhousie Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (DAL FSAE); opportunities she says may not have been available to her at other engineering schools.

“Some of the other universities are very large, and as first year students, you might get lost in the crowd,” she explains. “At Dal, it’s not just the upper students who get to join groups such as student design teams, and all of these experiences have changed my whole perspective on engineering.”

Hands-on Learning

Dalhousie’s Sexton Campus is home to a wide range of student societies and groups including its student competition teams. These multidisciplinary teams bring together students from all years to collaborate on ambitious projects such as building boats that sail across the Atlantic, launching satellites into space, and designing solar- and electric-powered vehicles that compete on international racetracks.

As a member of the Dalhousie Formula SAE (FSAE) team, Nightingale has jumped right into hands-on engineering work in her first year.

“FSAE was actually something I hadn't looked into before coming to Dal, but I knew that a couple of schools had similar design teams,” she says. “I didn't know it was available to first year students because I didn’t have much technical knowledge.”

Despite her initial uncertainty, she found a welcoming team eager to support her learning. Now a member of the brake subsection, she works alongside upper-year students to evaluate and refine the brake rotors and hubs for the 2026 competition car. The team is designing Dalhousie’s second electric vehicle from the ground up, following the success of their first model at the 2023 and 2024 international competitions.

“We’re starting from scratch, creating a new chassis and completely re-evaluating and redesigning the car,” she says.

While she says that her coursework provides essential engineering skills, being part of the design team has allowed her to apply that knowledge in real-world scenarios.

“It’s been a huge learning experience,” she explains. “In class, there’s usually a right answer—you check your work, and that’s that. But with FSAE, there’s no one solution.”   She’s had to justify her decisions to her peers and problem-solve in real-time, which has taught her to be resourceful and trust her ability to learn. The experience has also reinforced her decision to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering.

“I really love the work that I’m doing on the FSAE car and I feel like that’s probably where I can find the most overlap of something I’m already doing and loving and something that I can incorporate into my future,” she says.

Building Leadership

Beyond FSAE, Nightingale is an active member of the Women in Engineering (WIE) society, where she helps organize events like Go Eng Girl. She also serves on the Student Affairs Committee, acting as a liaison between her peers and the Faculty. Her involvement led to an opportunity to attend the Canadian Engineering Leadership Conference this past January, where she connected with mentors and gained valuable insights into advocacy and leadership. The experience further fueled her passion for getting involved on campus.

“I spent a week surrounded by students from different schools that were all in different leadership roles. A lot of them were upper your students who wished they'd got involved sooner,” she says. “I'm so lucky that I go to Dalhousie and I can access these resources in my first year because there are definitely schools where it's a lot harder to get involved.”

Nightingale is now hoping to pursue executive leadership positions with both WIE and the Faculty’s Diploma of Engineering Society. She credits Dal’s supportive and inclusive environment for giving her the confidence to step into these roles.

“It was definitely daunting to step into new roles and move to a different province, but the sense of community at Dalhousie has been incredible. I never felt isolated because there were always people willing to help and support me. That’s exactly what I was looking for in a university, and it’s exactly what I’ve found,” she says “Taking that first step can be intimidating, but at Dal, people are so open and welcoming, it’s been the perfect for me so far”