New Initiatives to Increase the Role of Women in Science and Engineering

“Throughout her career, Professor Condon has personified the goals of the program – to increase the participation of women in science and engineering and to provide a role model for women considering careers in these fields,” said Minister Emerson. “The faculty and students of UBC are fortunate to be able to draw on her strengths as a professor, a scientist and a trailblazer.”

“Professor Condon is definitely an inspiring model for women aspiring to excellence in science and engineering,” said Dr. Tom Brzustowski, President of NSERC. “In addition to being an excellent researcher, she is an exceptionally talented teacher who loves working with students and finding innovative ways to help them learn the fundamentals of computer science.”

Mr. Grimaldi stated, “As a leader in automotive engineering, manufacturing and R&D in Canada, General Motors of Canada is proud to be a partner in this Chair, one of many initiatives to develop Canadian engineers. Today’s announcement is the sixth NSERC chair that we have co-funded and we look forward to Dr. Anne Condon’s research and training in support of attracting more females into engineering and science.”

“I am delighted to get this chance to help involve more Canadian women in science and engineering, especially in the computational sciences,” said Professor Condon. “There is so much potential for technology to make a positive difference in society – in helping to cure diseases or providing better educational tools for children – and we need women, as well as men, committed to working towards these goals.”

In addition to creating and disseminating educational materials at the high school level, Professor Condon will teach a first year course entitled Connecting with Computer Science. It introduces computer science principles through applications in art, music, psychology and biology. She will also provide funding to the Canadian Distributed Mentor Project to enable outstanding undergraduate computer science students to travel to a Canadian research institution for a summer of research and mentoring. Professor Condon has informally labeled her initiatives to break down barriers the Jade Project, because jade is British Columbia’s official gemstone, renowned for its toughness and beauty.

Professor Condon, who specializes in research in bioinformatics, biomolecular computation and complexity theory, has led other successful outreach programs for female students similar to the Canadian project. She headed a mentoring initiative in the United States where approximately 70 female undergraduate students spent a summer doing research under the supervision of a female mentor. Many of these students later entered graduate school in a related area. Professor Condon also created UBC’s Focus on Women in Computer Science committee, which organizes activities to support female computer science students and recruits more women, both faculty and students, to the department.

Last year, NSERC invited proposals to fill chairs for women in science and engineering in the Atlantic, Ontario, Prairie and British Columbia regions. The University of Guelph’s Dr. Valerie Davidson has already begun her work as Chair for Women in Science and Engineering for the Ontario region and Dr. Cecilia Moloney of the Memorial University of Newfoundland has done the same in the Atlantic Region. Dr. Claire Deschênes of Université Laval continues to occupy the chair in Québec. The Prairie Chair remains to be filled.

General Motors of Canada has worked in partnership with key educational institutions ranging from elementary schools to universities across the country on several unique engineering design programs, including PACE (computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering software, hardware and training), LEGO League, FIRST Robotics, Challenge X, 67 R&D projects with various universities and six NSERC chairs in Canada.

Science and Engineering Research Canada (also known by its legal name “Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada” as well as the acronym NSERC) is a key federal agency investing in people, discovery and innovation. It supports both basic university research through research grants, and project research through partnerships among postsecondary institutions, government and the private sector, as well as the advanced training of highly qualified people.

For further information, contact:

Suzanne Godbout
Media Monitoring Officer and Communications Assistant
NSERC Newsbureau
Tel.: (613) 943-0310
E-mail: suzanne.godbout@nserc.ca

Gayle Mavor
Communications Coordinator
Department of Computer Science
University of British Columbia
Tel.: (604) 822-1440
E-mail: gmavor@cs.ubc.ca

Pamela McLaughlin
Manager of Public Relations
General Motors of Canada Limited
1908 Colonel Sam Drive
Oshawa, Ontario
L1H 8P7
Tel.: (905) 644-2728
E-mail: pam.mclaughlin@gm.com

Stéphanie Leblanc
Office of the Honourable David L. Emerson
Minister of Industry
Tel.: (613) 995-9001