Francesca Tsimiklis, Leaving a Legacy

by Fareen Lavji

We miss her so much; we could not help but feature her again. She is one of our favourites, it’s Franny! Francesca recently, and successfully, defended her master’s thesis entitled, “Design and Validation of a Force-Sensing Piano Key to Assess Pianist Biomechanics.” Her research began with an interest in musician injury. Although playing the piano is a common activity, the physical demand of playing is often overlooked. One study found that up to 71% of professional musicians and 87% of music students experience a performance-related musculoskeletal disorder at some point in their career. Francesca’s research looked to gain an understanding of why injury rates are so high at the base level of a finger-key interaction. She developed a novel force-sensing piano key. Her integrated sensing equipment inside of a replica piano key developed a method of measuring the position and 3-axis force application on the key. Francesca is also the recipient of the 2019-20 Carleton University Board of Governor’s Award for Outstanding Community Achievement!

A member of WISE since her undergrad years, Francesca has been an essential contributor to the Chapter’s growth. As a woman in STEM, she was quite nervous entering university when hearing of and seeing first-hand, the low ratio of women in her engineering courses. WISE was a great way to meet and grow a community of women in STEM and encourage others to picture their future in STEM. Since then, Francesca has been a general member, an Outreach Executive, and the Vice President and Engineering Chair. She has worked closely with the Faculty of Engineering and Design to build a partnership to provide resources and events for Carleton students and introduce elementary and high school students to STEM fields. As a member of WISE, Francesca also had the opportunity to discuss outreach initiatives with a Canadian astronaut and president of the Canadian Space Agency! However, her most rewarding experience was conversing with a young girl at one of our outreach events. The young girl explained to Francesca her dream job, which involved designing game graphics, but she did not think there was any real schooling or career available. Her eyes lit up when Francesca explained a program at Carleton that sounded exactly like what she was describing; Francesca took it further by connecting her with a recent graduate of the BIT-IMD program to talk about her experience. It was a great reminder of the importance of representation and mentorship in STEM fields. Francesca also holds the December 6^th memorial very close to her heart and is honoured to have had an opportunity to help organize and develop a ceremony alongside the Faculty of Engineering and Design. A ceremony to hold remembrance and encourage combating violence against women.

WISE could not be what it is today without Franny. But where is she now? Francesca is looking to enter the industry in research and testing. While completing her research, she is working full-time at the Glebe Centre, where she was a volunteer pre-COVID. She is still up for community work and involvement as she can be found coordinating outdoor family visits for residents and family members who have been separated for months due to COVID-19. From time to time, Francesca is always up for assisting new WISE execs in their Chapter endeavours. We love you Franny, could not be prouder of you, and express our deepest gratitude for all you have done for CU-WISE! You are a true representative of what it means to be inspired, inspire others, and leave a legacy.