For years, the Sexton campus has been powered by the passion, creativity, and resilience of its students, societies, faculty, and leaders. Every day, incredible work happens across our buildings — events are organized, projects are built, competitions are won, communities are supported, and ideas take shape. Yet too often, these accomplishments go unrecognized. This year, we're changing that.

We are proud to announce a new direction for The Sextant: a publication dedicated to celebrating the people who make Sexton what it is. Each month, we'll highlight a student, society, project, or initiative that embodies the spirit of our campus. Our concept is pretty simple: lift voices and achievements, and tell stories that need to be seen, heard, and remembered.

With these features, we hope to foster a sense of community, inspire collaboration, and remind students that their work has a place and is important.

Welcome to a new chapter of The Sextant.

Because the Sexton campus deserves to have its stories told.

Ella Barr

la Bar is a Chemical Engineering student whose research interests are focused on the intersection of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and sustainability. Born in Guelph, Ontario, chemical engineering appealed to her as a field that will offer her opportunities to investigate all three issues while having a sound technical knowledge. 

She currently conducts research with Salty Hair, a company with long-standing ties to Dalhousie University through multiple capstone projects. Her initial involvement came as the result of a post-class conversation. After realizing her professor, Dr. Ghanem, worked within the cosmetic industry, Ella contacted her seeking advice. When Salty Hair later approached the lab, the link between the two resulted in her research opportunity, a textbox explanation she summarizes as the importance to “make connections where you can.” 

At Salty Hair, Ella is involved in both development and production, which leads directly to meaningful, verifiable results. She has been tasked with optimizing formulations, solving scale-up problems, assessing the ability of products, and optimizing manufacturing processes as Salty Hair grows. She directly observes how engineering design choices change when a product goes from the lab to manufacture. 

One of the most significant and important aspects of this particular endeavor has been observing the complete lifecycle of an object, an idea, all the way to something that she can actually use on a daily basis. Also, being exposed to Dr. Ghanem's lab has contributed to her growth as she is able to gain not just technical knowledge but also learn from a strong role model that is a female figure within that particular industry. She describes the experience as being both “educational and inspiring,” particularly in terms of understanding the process of taking ideas and turning them into actual products. 

Balancing work and academics as an engineering student can be quite challenging. Ella normally works for about nine hours a week. She attributes her balance between work and academics to an understanding work environment and effective time management. She has time to foresee weeks that will be hectic for her and takes a break when she needs to. Additionally, she remains motivated by the work she does. 

When asked what advice she’d give to her first-year self, Ella emphasizes perseverance and perspective. She encourages saying “yes” to opportunities and to trust the process of figuring everything out along the way. As she explains, “burnout is only temporary,” and if you “stay organized and give yourself breaks where necessary, everything will work out.” Ultimately, she believes success comes down to commitment — “you just need to want it enough.”

Outside of research, Ella has also been involved in Go Eng Girl event inviting girls in grades 8-12 to Dalhousie to learn more about engineering. For her, it was a meaningful way to pay it forward and help future students see themselves in the field. 

Ella's path is reflective of how curiosity, initiative, and strong relationships can transform interests into impactful, hands-on experiences-and how engineering can reach so far beyond the classroom.