The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science celebrated the 2021 International Women in Engineering Day with a live, in-person midday event at the Backyard Patio & Grill on Queen Street in Kingston. Due to COVID restrictions, this was the first public gathering since Dr. Heidi Ploeg was appointed Chair for Women in Engineering.
Sixty-eight people attended the outdoor luncheon celebration. According to Dr. Ploeg, “We had perfect weather for an outdoor event and a nice mix of undergraduate students, graduate students, PDFs, staff, and Faculty members. We were also happy that Associate Dean Kontopoulou and Dean Deluzio were able to join us! It was a casual social event with tasty food and good conversations.”
Those in attendance dined from a special menu created by Backyard proprietor Paul Fortier which included penne pesto with grilled chicken, Thai curry shrimp with basmati rice, Mexican chop tortilla salad with avocado-lime crema, and fresh strawberry shortcake with whipped cream.
Thank you to everyone who helped prepare the event, notably Faculty of Engineering Research Development Strategist Vera Kettnaker, Researcher Associate for the C4WiE Caroline Baril, event photographer (and MME MASc candidate) Lawrence Torkan, and Joan Willison, Assistant, Centre for Health Innovation.
The event provided the perfect opportunity to celebrate these successes of women in engineering at Queen’s:
Designed the new permanent Dec. 6 massacre memorial installation in Beamish-Munro Hall featuring 14 rose petals.
Engineering Physics’ 2021 Women in Engineering Research Grant recipient.
Awarded funding from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF). and NSERC Discovery “High performance visually imperceptible on-skin sensors and electronics based on nanomaterials”
Started as a master’s student in 2019 with an 11-month-old infant. It was already very hard for her to keep the balance, on top of that - came the pandemic. It was so overwhelming that Antara was concerned that she might have to drop out. But with the support of her supervisor, friends, and colleagues, she has been promoted to direct PhD this year!
“It’s been extremely hard but now I know, it’s never impossible! If a woman can be a mom, she can be anything and achieve everything, if she gets the support and believes in her capacity.”
Published 3 journal papers in 2021. And as a PhD student, was offered to teach one of the BTec courses, which she accepted, and it was a great experience. Atefeh won an award from her department in 2021.
Created and ran the first Queen’s Women in Engineering and Applied Science Conference (Q-WASE) with co-chair Gabrielle Samek.
Got promoted and brought on for a 16-month internship at How to Change the World where she has had the opportunity to mentor 100+ students from all over the globe with their programs.
“We challenge the mindsets of engineering/business students to focus on creating a deeper connection to the communities and global problems they attempt to tackle throughout their careers.”
Wrote a mathematical model that has proven useful in other areas of research not only for herself, but for others in her research group.
Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering; Appointment as Directrice Scientifique at INRS; Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO)/Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) - Engineering Medal for Research and Development 2021; 2020 PEO Award Recipient. NSERC Discover “Photosynthetically-enhanced eco-engineered treatment systems”.
Connections has recently received a $70k grant for 2 years to work towards integrating artificial intelligence, coding, and data science into our all-girls engineering outreach programs; Connections also has dedicated staff working towards creating a collaborative ecosystem to engage young girls from grade 1 - 12, to learn more about engineering.
Incredibly happy to see 5 of her graduate students complete their theses this past year (1 MSc and 4 PhD).
“Grateful for the opportunities to in some way, however small, contribute to the education of our undergraduate students through Covid-19; and proud of both undergraduate and graduate students' perseverance and resilience.”
Promoted with tenure to Associate Professor; Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching Award; Erskine Fellowship, University of Canterbury, 2021 (sabbatical); One of her students (Glenda Watson Hyatt) published an OpEd: https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2021/06/03/Why-Does-BC-Accessibility-Legislation-Exclude-Me/
Life Science, Neuroscience SSP Grad '21.
Featured in a Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science women in engineering day video: An early exploration of women in science and engineering at Queen's.
Selected as an Outstanding Reviewer for the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (IOP publications) for 2020, in recognition of the high quality and timeliness of her reviews during the year.
Awarded NSERC Discovery “Understanding the role of magnetic fields in star and planet formation using stratospheric balloon-borne polarimeters”.
Awarded NSERC Discovery “Fusion of heterogeneous geosensing observations for enhanced site characterization”
“Canadian Milling Practice”, the book Charlotte edited with Erin Bobicki from U of A and J.F. Boulanger from UQAT was published by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum; She had both a successful NSERC RTI Grant: Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy for mineral surface characterization and NSERC Discovery Grant: Concentrating minerals critical to energy storage applications from Canadian hard rock deposits.
Mathematics and Engineering’s 2021 Women in Engineering Research Grant recipient.
Graduated from her PhD and started as a postdoc.
Elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (June 2020); Appointed as incoming President of the Board for the Canadian Foundation for Geotechnique, effective January 2022; 2019 Glossop Medal winner and lecturer – 4th woman to receive this major honour from the UK Geological Society – lecture given in the Farraday Theatre in the Royal Institution of Engineers; Member of inaugural Women in Mining Trailblazer Award Committee, chairing the committee for 4 years until 2019; Profiled as a “Pioneering women in Canadian Geotechnique” by the Canadian Geotechnical Society in 2018.
Awarded NSERC Discovery “From galaxy to intergalactic medium -- the magnetic connection in the age of the square kilometre array”
Co-founded the geological department EDII committee with Elisabeth Steel; Awarded the 2019 Rick Hutson Memorial Award for Mentorship from Women in Mining; Awarded the 2017 Peacock Medal from the Mineralogical Association of Canada; She was the 2018 Adrian Smith Lecturer at the University of Waterloo.
Mechanical and Materials Engineering’s 2021 Women in Engineering Research Grant recipient.
Had her first conference publication (virtually); In the last 12 months Shaza completed her Master of Applied Science degree and started a PhD.
Published a paper in Electrochimica Acta.
Elected Vice-Chair of the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB).
Awarded NSERC Discovery “Environmentally friendly and scalable processes for the production of graphene and applications in advanced functional materials and technologies”; Researchers from her group were showcased in two out of the three Queen's connected companies that were successful in the Innovation Solutions Canada projects.
Vanier scholarship recipient.
Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering; Has a paper in a special virtual issue of the Canadian Journal of Engineering that was put together in honour of International Women in Engineering Day. Awarded NSERC Discovery “Combining fundamental models with data”
Winner of graduation award- Queens Women in Computing bursary.
Geological Engineering’s 2021 Women in Engineering Research Grant recipient.
Part of Queen's Women in Mining research project.
Awarded NSERC grant.
Electrical and Computer Engineering’s 2021 Women in Engineering Research Grant recipient.
Collaborated with OPG and is working on a clean energy project for which she published several papers.
Featured in a QUIP Internship Spotlight: Queen's Engineer finds a surefire career path at Procter and Gamble internship.
Professional Engineers Ontario(PEO) Councillor-at-Large.
Awarded NSERC Discovery “Mineral resources in basins: Base metal ore systems and footprint”
Recognized in ‘Top Prospects: Leading innovators from the Class of 2021’ by The Logic as one of 10 of Canada's leading innovators from the Class of 2021.
Awarded NSERC Discovery “Elucidating drinking water quality deterioration in premise plumbing”
Engineering Chemistry’s 2021 Women in Engineering Research Grant recipient.
Recognized in ‘Top Prospects: Leading innovators from the Class of 2021’ by The Logic as one of 10 of Canada's leading innovators from the Class of 2021.
Queen's Chair for Women in Engineering; Showcased at Science Rendezvous 2021; Established MME EDII committee.
Queen’s Innovation in Teaching Award 2021.
When Nishana couldn't go home due to covid, she used her ticket money to fund the "Helping Handbags Kingston" charity drive, providing practical and essential care items for women of domestic abuse homes and less fortunate women in the Kingston community; Chosen for a "Graduate Inclusivity Fellowship" promoting equity, inclusivity, and diversity on campus. As a STEM instructor, remote learning allowed her to connect with people from all walks of life throughout the world.
“Although I was working from home and imposter syndrome got the best of me, I was able to have 3 conference presentations as well as contributed 2 chapters to a book on wastewater treatment which was published by the IWA.”
Awarded a Queen's Elizabeth II scholarship last year; Was a teacher fellow for a 4th year Civil Engineering course (civil 443- geoenvironmental design) last winter.
2021 Robert J. Mitchell Prize recipient; Accepted/published for her first paper as lead author on June 1st in Chemosphere.
Awarded NSERC Discovery “Keeping secrets: Realizing the potential of decentralized discrete-event systems”
Queen’s Athletics Leadership Award: Support Service Award recipient.
Created and ran the first Queen’s Women in Engineering and Applied Science Conference (Q-WASE) with co-chair Delaney Benoit.
Awarded funding from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF). “Intelligent Mining Systems and Mine Automation Lab”, NSERC Discovery “Innovative dynamic short-term, medium-term and long-term mine planning strategies incorporating new automation and data analytics technologies”.
Civil Engineering’s 2021 Women in Engineering Research Grant recipient.
Awarded NSERC Discovery “A lower-limb exoskeleton system for investigating the neuromechanical control of human locomotion and designing assistive robotic aids”
Named Director of the Centre for Health Innovation (formerly known as Human Mobility Research Centre).
Chancellor's Scholarship recipient 2020-2021, recently renewed for the 2021-2022 school year.
Co-founded the geological department EDII committee with Heather Jamieson.
Order of the White Rose Scholarship recipient 2020.
Completed her first year as a Mining Engineering student after transferring from Chemistry; Awarded the Stantec Mining Engineering Scholarship 2020 for her commitment to working in the mining industry; Receive an NSERC grant to conduct research with the Hydrometallurgy & Environment group at Queen’s this summer.
“I recently joined the QWASE team this summer to continue my strong passion for supporting women in engineering.”
Chernoff Family Award recipient; Dean's Scholar; Horatio Alger Scholar; Mining Engineering’s 2021 Women in Engineering Research Grant recipient.
Published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B; Defended her PhD thesis in 2020.
Mitchell Professorship in Bio-inspired Robotics; Showcased at Science Rendezvous Kingston 2021.
