Humans of UAlberta: Meghan Lim

Meghan Lim graduated in June from the University of Alberta’s faculty of agriculture, with a Master’s of Science in agricultural and resource economics.

Lim has spent the last seven years studying at the U of A. For the first four years she did her Bachelor of Science in environmental and conservation sciences. During that time, she found out about the master’s program while doing research on biofuels with Marty Luckert. Lim then decided to stay at the U of A for multiple reasons.

“I liked that they had really strong academic programs for both my undergrad and for my master’s,” Lim said. “I was [also] part of the track and field team while I was at the U of A and that gave me a really great sense of community.”

Lim started her master’s in fall 2020. Although she worked on her degree during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she still managed to make connections at the university. 

“I was still able to have a community with graduate students and other people in the department. All of the researchers shared and collaborated [together].”

Lim said that she was well supported by her supervisors within the department of resource economics and environmental sociology while working on her degree.

“I know that in other schools and departments, sometimes students aren’t lucky to get that one-on-one time. But I felt like I did, which was really nice.”

Lim added that many of the programs within the department are “very practical and very hands-on.”

“I think all of this practical knowledge goes towards helping build a better future, as cheesy as that sounds.”

“It was really nice to feel like there were people who had faith in my research,” Lim says

Lim noted some accomplishments she is proud of from her time at the U of A. One example was publishing a literature review about opportunities and challenges in the biojet industry. The review aims to give a “more comprehensive scope than past reviews.”

“I had my first publication published this year from the work that I did with biofuels, so that was also really exciting and rewarding to see some of my research published.”

Lim also won academic scholarships and awards that helped her throughout her degrees. She said winning them was “a huge honour.”

“It was really nice to feel like there were people who had faith in my research and what I was doing.”

Lim is also proud of what she accomplished as a student athlete.

“I won four national medals as a pole vaulter with the U of A, and ended up winning Academic All-Canadians one year, and team’s most valuable player one of the years.”

To win the Academic All-Canadians award, a full-time student athlete has to maintain a minimum average of 80 per cent during the academic year.

For the 2017-18 varsity year, Lim won the Kathlene Yetman Memorial Trophy, an award for U of A female student athletes. The Kathlene Yetman Memorial Trophy goes to the top Female Academic All-Canadian of the year. 

Currently, Lim is working for Natural Resources Canada. The federal program aims to develop Canada’s natural resources sustainably. Lim hopes to use her degree to help with environmental conservation. 

“I definitely want to use my degree to continue doing economic analysis and impact evaluations. And, to figure out what programs and policies are going to help us conserve the environment and reduce our carbon footprint.”