CBC: From space mice to artificial intelligence: UM scientist, entrepreneur is breaking new ground
Winnipeg entrepreneur and scientist Anastasia Baran has advanced degrees in electrical engineering and astrophysics, and is the chief operating officer of a technology company.
But she launched her career by helping to send rodents to space.
It was part of a summer internship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she worked on designing a space satellite to house mice.
“They were sending a bunch of mice into space and needed someone to make sure the mice were safe in terms of radiation levels,” said Baran. “So I went out to MIT and helped them design their satellite.”
Since then, Baran has completed a doctorate at the University of Manitoba, focusing on breast cancer research that uses safe and inexpensive microwave imaging. She’s currently the COO of nQube Data Science, a company that specializes in designing software that solves difficult optimization problems.
Oh, and she’s done all this although she’s only 32 years old.