For the second year in a row, Heidi Ploeg and the Centre for Women in Engineering at Queen’s hosted a luncheon at the Backyard Patio in Kingston to acknowledge the achievements of women in engineering within the faculty on June 23, International Women in Engineering Day.
Caroline Kim, winner of the 2022 Queen’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity, and Indigeneity Impact Award, and Melissa Young both recognize an evolution of women’s influence in the engineering faculty.
“I don’t know the details of the nomination,” she concedes, “but I imagine it was for the work that we’ve been doing to increase the representation of women on design teams at the undergraduate level. I was co-captain of the Formula team for a few years.”
“Before Heidi became involved,” adds Young, “there wasn’t a problem with first-year women not being interested. They would go, approach the team, try to get involved, and then not have a great experience, and leave, so it wasn’t attracting women that was the problem. It was keeping them around, due to the culture of the team. Having Heidi as the faculty advisor helped foster a community, and also people like Caroline being the co-captain, I’m sure has had a huge impact.”
At a table filled with Sc’23 women students, Elizabeth Reid reflected on her experience and perception since her first year in 2019. “In the short time that we’ve been here,” she says, “I don’t know if it’s changed that much, but it’s definitely a better environment than you hear about elsewhere, and from five or ten years ago here. There is a lot more diverse set of clubs that are more inclusive in engineering, like EngiQueers, and they’ve elevated everyone as a whole and not just women, not just one group in particular.”
The event provided the perfect opportunity to celebrate these successes of women in engineering at Queen’s:
Queen's Engineering Teaching Assistant Award Winner of the 2020-21 school year.
New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration and Research in a Pandemic Context Grant for their program on the genetic and epigenetic origins of cancer.
Leading Queens's campus wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in collaboration with Public Health, and Utilities Kingston. This project has shown that wastewater surveillance can be applied for the management of COVID-19 pandemic and tracking the outbreaks in communities "I would like to say thank to all my colleagues who are working enthusiastically on this project."
Recipient of Ian M. Drum. Recipient of the MetSoc 2022 Student Doctoral Scholarship Award. Pickles Family Scholarship recipient.
New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration and Research in a Pandemic Context Grant for their program on the development of new tools to improve communication for children with neuromotor disabilities.
Mechanical and Materials Engineering’s 2022 Women in Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research Award recipient.
Received a scholarship from their home country for their master's education.
Queen's Engineering Teaching Assistant Award Winner of the 2020-21 school year.
Finished a 16-month internship focused on Engineering Education. Promoted to Curriculum and Challenge Lead at work and helped course, APSC 381. Holds positions as the People and Culture Chair for Scientista, Fundraising Chair for Queen’s Bands, and Board Secretary for EngSoc. Pursuing a certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Accepted into a MASc at Queen's in Mechanical and Materials Engineering.
Queen's Prize for Excellence in Research Award for her contribution in glycobiology.
Enjoying a sabbatical after having it postponed for 2 years because of COVID!
Vanier Scholarship recipient. Will present their work with Sydney van Engelen and Caryn Vowles at IEEE EMBS in July 2022 in Glasgow.
Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program Scholarship by Global Affairs Canada recipient. Joined the C4WiE Team!
Received Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor in Mechanical and Materials Engineering. Awarded an Erskine Fellowship to visit the University of Canterbury, New Zealand for four months. Graduated three PhD students and a MASc student last summer. 2021 co-recipient of a $1 Million award from the Accessibility Standards Canada and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight program.
Awarded an NSERC CGS for her MASc. Will present their work with Mackenzie Collins and Caryn Vowles at IEEE EMBS in July 2022 in Glasgow.
Graduated from Mechanical Engineering in 2017, she represented Team Canada in the sitting volleyball event at the Tokyo Paralympic Games 2021.
Canadian Space Agency Grant awarded to design, build and fly a stratospheric Balloon-borne Very Large Baseline Interferometer through the FAST (Flights and Fieldwork for the Advancement of Science and Technology) program.
Chemical Engineering’s 2022 Women in Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research Award recipient.
FEAS Leadership in Teaching Award. Chair of the Minerals Science and Engineering Section of the Metallurgical & Materials Society of Canada.
"This past month I received an NSERC grant for my hard work and dedication shown throughout the school year. Additionally, one of my close friends was asked by the faculty of engineering to participate in research this year due to her academic success in the difficult Applied Math stream. Unfortunately, she declined but simply the fact that people went out of their way to reach out to her about her academics was incredibly impressive".
Civil Engineering’s 2022 Women in Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research Award recipient.
Published her research paper "IoT-enabled Smart Energy Metering Solution with Soft-UPS for Developing Countries" in 2021. 11th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Data Acquisition and Advanced Computing Systems Technology and Applications (IDAACS). Started her MASc in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Queen's. Accepted into Mitacs Accelerate Internship Program.
Will present her work at RESNA in July 2022.
Participant in the 2022 cohort for the Take the Leap! program.
Published 2nd edition of her textbook "Astrophysics: Decoding the Cosmos". Purchased, with her husband, an observatory (in testing stage).
Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity and Indigeneity Impact Award 2022. Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation Scholarship from FEAS. Nellie & Ralph Jeffery Award in Mathematics from FEAS.
Technology Development Pilot Program (TDPP) funding recipient for her project about graphene nanoplatelets.
Engineering Physics' 2022 Women in Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research Award recipient.
Incoming co-president of Geological Engineering's student council. Geological Engineering’s 2022 Women in Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research Award recipient.
Completed her PhD research on refractory gold ore with thiosulfate leaching and flotation processes with several paper publications. Received the Dean's Teaching Assistant Award and a Fellowship from the Mining Department. "I am planning my defense in July. Now, I am in the final year of my PhD, and it is a very meaningful year. I've completed my research and published papers as well."
2022 Peer Leadership Award from Vice Provost and Dean of Student Affairs, Queen's University.
Mathematics and Engineering’s 2022 Women in Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research Award recipient.
Queen's Engineering Teaching Assistant Award Winner of the 2020-21 school year.
Queen's Global Summer lecture speaker. Awarded two 2021 NSERC EIDM grants to conduct research in mathematics for public health.
Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE).
Nominated to the Margaret-Ann Armour Award for Early Career Chemistry Education. Industry Partner grant from Grafoid Inc. recipient. NSERC Discovery extension. Preparing her 2nd grad course on Pullution and Risk Assessment, which is brand new and will be delivered in January 2023.
Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) recipient for her project about Interactive Architecture and Smart Environments.
Elected 2022-23 PEO Councilor-at-Large.
New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration and Research in a Pandemic Context Grant for their program on the genetic and epigenetic origins of cancer.
Canadian Space Agency grant to build a proto-type particle detector for high altitude balloon experiments. NSERC Grant for working on veryhigh- energy gamma-ray experiments.
Co-Lead of the Queen’s COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance Initiative and Co-Director of the Drinking Water Quality Group (DWQG), an affiliated research program of the Contaminants of Emerging Concern- Research Excellence Network (CEC-REN).
Engineers Canada EDI Leader.
Fellow of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers). Chair for Women in Engineering. Canadian Space Agency Grant for "Dietary Phosphate as a Sex-Specific Mediator of Bone Loss in Spaceflight".
Awarded Wicked Ideas: Moving beyond bone mineral density.
The "Helping Handbags Kingston" charity drive she started is in its second year running. They provide feminine products for women in vulnerable homes.
Retired in 2021, still has an active lab.
Electrical and Computer Engineering’s 2022 Women in Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research Award recipient.
Queen's Engineering Teaching Assistant Award Winner of the 2020-21 school year.
Queen's Engineering Teaching Assistant Award Winner of the 2020-21 school year.
NSERC Alliance + Mitacs Award of $40,000. SOSCIP Community Fellowship Award.
Defended her MASc and started on her PhD under Dr. Karen Rudie's supervision. Queen's Engineering Teaching Assistant Award for the 2020-21 school year.
Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE). Léopold Nadeau Memorial Award recipient.
Queen's Prize for Excellence in Research Award for her contribution in physical activity.
Started her Queen’s Undergraduate Internship Program (QUIP) position in May.
New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration and Research in a Pandemic Context Grant for their study about the potential of digital technology to protect people from the bodily effects of social isolation.
Watched her career horizon expand amid her 12-month internship at Hydro One, Ontario’s largest electric transmission and distribution provider. Took on the role of mentor to Black first-year engineering students.
Will present their work with Sydney van Engelen and Mackenzie Collins at IEEE EMBS in July 2022 in Glasgow.
Held the highest cumulative GPA in Mining Engineering for the 2020-21 year. Robert F. Segsworth scholarship recipient. Pickles studentship in Sustainable Processing recipient. Mining Engineering’s 2022 Women in Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research Award recipient.
Queen's University Staff Appreciation Award for work done related to safety and tracking as well continuation of in person teaching during COVID. Got a fancy glass trophy! Special Recognition from Queen's Principal and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane for her accomplishments and contributions to the Mechanical & Materials Department.
Presented as Valedictorian for the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University. Accepted a Biomechanical Engineering position in Los Angeles to begin this Fall. Research was accepted for the European Society of the Shoulder and the Elbow Conference in Ireland.
Joined the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science last year as the first Program Team Lead for the faculty’s outreach initiative Black Youth in STEM. She started an outreach program, sending STEM kits that are given to Black youth enrolled in the virtual, out-of-school program to increase the number of Black engineering students at Queen’s.
Professor Emerita starting this fall.
Accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at Queen's, starting in January 2023. Awarded her first grant as a lead PI. NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowships (PDF) award recipient.
Successful application for renewal from the Office of Provost.
Named to the prestigious Borealis AI Fellowship.
Sc’16, was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in the 2021 list for trailblazing work originally developed in the Mining Systems Laboratory at Queen’s.
WBC2016 Legacy Travel Award to attend the 2022 Canadian Biomaterial Conference for her research in improving treatment of Type I diabetes.