A huge thank you to all the lovely ladies who attended our mixer. Check out the powerpoint below to learn more about the talented professionals who attended this year. (Just click to go to the next slide.)

Science Faculty Representatives:
Jason Hong (20% of the vote)
Aleena Mansoor (25% of the vote)
Jack Siu (23% of the vote)

Engineering Faculty Representatives:
John McDonald (acclaimed)
Kasmiri Pawa (acclaimed) ....

Is discrimination against women in the sciences a thing of the past? Do women do less well than men because of choices they themselves make, rather than bias and structural barriers in the workplace?

Yes, says a new paper that's getting a lot of media attention.

Researchers Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams say women's underrepresentation is mostly a matter of career preferences and fertility and lifestyle choices.....

It's an incendiary topic in academia -- the pervasive belief that women are underrepresented in science, math and engineering fields because they face sex discrimination in the interviewing, hiring, and grant and manuscript review processes. In a study published Feb. 7 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cornell social scientists say it's just not true.

It's not discrimination in these areas, but rather, differences in resources attributable to career and family-related choices that set women back in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, say Stephen J. Ceci, the H.L. Carr Professor of Developmental Psychology, and Wendy M. Williams, professor of human development and director of the Cornell Institute for Women in Science, both in Cornell's College of Human Ecology. ....

Are you a student in health or biomedical sciences? Do you have a knack for writing? Do you find yourself telling strangers in elevators about science? Then you might be an ideal AIHS Media Fellow!

Our Media Fellowship Program began in 1991 and provides opportunities for Alberta university students with biomedical science backgrounds, strong writing skills, and a passion for telling the world about science to spend 12 weeks during the summer working as reporters, researchers, and production assistants with CBC Radio in Alberta.

Working in radio introduced me to challenges that will likely help me become a better physician: how to ask the right questions, and how to communicate technical information in a personally engaging way. Piotr Klakowicz, 2006 Media Fellow. Today, Dr. Klakowicz is a Public Health & Preventive Medicine Resident in the School of Population & Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia.

Deadline for application is: Friday, March 18, 2011 ....

Iain George

In seeking the Science Faculty Representative position, I hope to encourage and help all science students have a spectacular university experience. There are three key areas I hope to build and foster this as science representative on campus. These include:

• Breaking down the walls between faculty and students. The best learning occurs when students are able to interact with professors and ask questions. I hope to encourage more dialog between students and professors by encouraging more open houses for different departments and research opportunities within, encouraging science departments to keep their websites up to date, and
  
• Encouraging better communication between the students union and students throughout the university. We need a students union that is active and committed to keeping students in the loop. Mass emails are only one way that best serves to do this. With Facebook and Twitter having an active ongoing conversation make this possible!
  
• Continuing to push for more study spaces throughout the campus. Our new library is an amazing start at adding more space for students to work, however, it is only a start. There needs to be a continuous push for developing more open places for science students to sit down and work.

Nishita Gupta

I intend to be a Science Faculty Representative because I plan to make student experience at U of C more rewarding and engaging that will eventually benefit students in future career opportunities. Listed below are my goals to accomplish during my position period. As a Science Faculty Representative, I will practice what I preach and thus would enforce myself to:

• Bring out more events where undergraduates can interact with graduates and professors. This would not only give undergraduates research opportunities but would also help them get valuable career guidance. Moreover, it will also help students to build their network.
  
• Recognize science achievers and their hard work by rewarding them on yearly basis. This would not only encourage more and more students to raise their academic standings, but will also raise the bar of academic excellence at U of C.
  
• Translate the theoretical knowledge of students into practical knowledge and give them more exposure on their field of major.
• Be the voice of students and thus forward their suggestions or ideas into action.
• Open up opportunities where undergraduates can contribute to their experience and to the pride of Science Faculty and hence promote Science at U of C to a different level.

Besides, I will compel myself to make student experience at U of C more interesting and giving, that will etch knowledgeable yet fun memories in all undergraduates of Science Faculty. In other words, I will work to make every science student to be proud of their choice.

Jason Hong

Hello everyone! My name is Jason Hong and I am a 3rd year Biological Science / Nanoscience student and interested in representing you, the Faculty of Science in next year’s Students’ Union. If I am elected to be your representative, I will strive to provide you with a better more fulfilling experience as a member of the sciences. To do this I have a number of election platforms! As your representative I will:

• Be active in various University initiatives and projects, such as Project Next and the Undergraduate Research Symposium; and to represent the views of the general Science Community at these events. Oh and if you don’t know what these events are, making sure you get the information!
• Take the initiative in addressing student concerns on issues of unfair grading schemes, labs and exams, and/or even mistreatment of students. I will act as a messenger facilitating communication between undergraduates and professors.
• Facilitate better relations between undergraduates and their respective TAs to allow for greater access to peer-to-peer education.
• Encourage more open access to research opportunities, making the information more accessible to all faculty members.
• Work closely with current SU representatives to ensure a smooth transition between this year’s projects and next year’s projects.

Aleena Mansoor

Hello Faculty of Science! My name is Aleena Mansoor, and I am a third year Biological Science student re-running for the position of Faculty of Science Representative! I have a continuing vision for our Faculty as well as the Student’s Union that I wish to pursue in the coming term. My goals are primarily aimed towards transparency, unity among the faculty of science and enrichment of the student experience. If elected, I intend to:

• DEVELOP TRANSPARENCY: As the liaison between the Student’s Union and students in the Faculty of Science I will work on increasing awareness among Science students about the Student’s Union, its role, and how it can serve students; Advocate for increased communication with the teaching staff of the Faculty of Science and the students, to ensure that expectations for course-work are fair, reasonable and clearly communicated.
• PROMOTE UNITY: Help facilitate Faculty wide events that will build a sense of community among science students; Advocate for increased intrafaculty as well as interfaculty events throughout the year;
• ENRICH THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE: Advocate for renewed lab time in those Science courses that have suffered budget cuts; Advocate for the allocation of more study space primarily designed for students in the Faculty of Science; and Advocate for increased funding for Science clubs, develop inter-club communication for Science clubs, and seek a space allocated primarily for Science clubs to hold events.

I hope to be your next Faculty of Science Representative!

Jack Siu

Hey y'all! I'm Jack Siu and I’m a third year Biological Sciences and Nanosciences student running once again to be your Faculty of Science Representative. Through re-election, I seek to bring about a fuller and more rewarding university experience for all science students. My key platforms are:

• Continue to build the Science Students’ Society (S3) and facilitate its operation in the upcoming semester and encourage further unity across the Faculty of Science.
• Continue to take part in various SU campaigns/projects such as It Gets Better and the Undergraduate Research Symposium, making sure that the views of the Science community is heard.
• Push for greater recognition of Science students and their achievements, both within the faculty and the entire University.
• Push for greater peer-to-peer learning programs in all departments within the Sciences.

Anthony Yu

• UNITY: I aim to create a strong sense of community within the Faculty of Science by promoting and fostering interaction between the many diverse areas of study. Being the President of the Science Students’ Society, a faculty association being established that will represent the entire Faculty of Science, I will be able to work alongside your Faculty Representatives and the science student body to achieve these goals through collaboration, understanding, and communication.
• ADVOCACY: I plan to support and uphold our interests as science students at all levels of student body and government. Along with my Presidential position in Science Students’ Society, being elected as your Faculty Representative will allow me to effectively gather feedback from science students and voice these views on the Students’ Legislative Council, opening the door for active communication.
• EXPERIENCE: My extensive extracurricular profile includes active participation on executive, program development, public relations, and evaluation committees. This experience provides me with skills and knowledge that I will apply to effectively carry out my duties as your Faculty of Science representative.

Even if it hasn't completely shattered, the glass ceiling has certainly been perforated with announcements of women being named to senior officer appointments on virtually a weekly basis. Some sectors are performing better than others in this regard. Academe, in particular, has a strong record in engaging women in its senior ranks. Today many of our most prominent educational institutions are led by women. Unfortunately, the track record in information and communications technology is not as strong. When a woman achieves the corner office, it is still a newsworthy event.

Mandy Shapansky was appointed Chairman, President and CEO of Xerox Canada in July 2010. That same month Elizabeth Cannon was named President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calgary. Both women pursued unconventional paths to their positions of leadership – Elizabeth through a distinguished career in engineering and geomatics; Mandy through her expertise in the realm of corporate finance. How they built their career paths will be the subject of the next event in the ITAC/CWC Speakers Series. Moderating this conversation will be yet another distinguished Canadian CEO, Margot Micallef, Chair and CEO of the Vista Broadcast Group.

While the appointment of women to senior positions may not be the rarity it once was, three outspoken women leaders from three different industries in one room in one conversation will definitely be a rare event and a conversation you will want to participate in.

After nearly three decades of staggering progress for gender equality in the workplace, the classroom and in households, nothing significant has happened since the mid-1990s, says Stanford Sociology Professor Paula England. England's lecture, "Can We Moved Beyond the Stalled Gender Revolution?" emphatically kicked off the Clayman Institute's Winter 2011 series dedicated to exploring critical issues surrounding gender in Stanford's Levinthal Hall Thursday. This series' theme is "Moving Beyond the Stalled Revolution." Although women are pouring into every level of collegiate education at higher rates, England maintains that not much has changed in the grand scheme of gender equality. She presented numerous graphs comparing proportions by sex in departments (ranging from electrical engineering to education) representing of .......

More women are obtaining Ph.D.'s in science than ever before, but those women — largely because of pressures from having a family — are far more likely than their male counterparts to "leak" out of the research science pipeline before obtaining tenure at a college or university. That's the conclusion of a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, who warned that the loss of these scientists — together with the increased research capabilities of Asian and European countries — may threaten America's pre-eminence in science. The study, "Keeping Women in the Science Pipeline," found that women who are married with young children are 35 percent less likely to enter a tenure-track position after receiving a Ph.D. in science than are married men with young children and Ph.D.'s in science. Not only that, the married women with young children are 28 percent less likely .......

Now Accepting 2011 Award Nominations!

Deadline is March 18, 2011.

The Alberta Women's Science Network has created an award to recognize a significant contribution to mentoring women of all ages that will be awarded to one outstanding mentor each calendar year....

The House of Representatives has passed what I like to think of as Larry's Law. The official title of this legislation is "Fulfilling the potential of women in academic science and engineering," but nothing did more to empower its advocates than the controversy over a speech by Lawrence H. Summers when he was president of Harvard. This proposed law, if passed by the Senate, would require the White House science adviser to oversee regular "workshops to enhance gender equity." At the workshops, to be attended by researchers who receive federal money and by the heads of science and engineering departments at universities, participants would be given ....