Tag: STEM

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News

What has Space Concordia been up to?

The student-run organization is racing to make it into space

Space Concordia is a student-run organization aiming to foster a professional learning environment in which students can develop their skills via experiential learning.

The association is composed of four official divisions: Spacecraft, Rocketry, Robotics, and Space Health, each one with teams that work year-round to develop projects and research.

“We are a big organization, so each member can decide to join the teams that suit their interest[s] and [schooling],” said Vanesa Gonzales, who is in charge of outreach. “Most of the time a new member joins one team under one division. Then, as they understand the project, they can take on more than one role.”

The organization involves interdisciplinary work that is open to students of all academic backgrounds.

But Space Concordia hasn’t made it into space … yet.

“The Rocketry division is working on a rocket that reaches the limitation of the upper atmosphere and space at 420,000 feet. It is going to be tested in May 2021,” said Gonzales.

The rocket they are developing is part of the Base 11 Space Challenge, a contest to be the first student-run group to hit the Kármán Line. The Kármán Line is situated at an altitude of 100 km and defines the boundary between space and Earth.

“Hopefully by May 2021, we will be the first university to make it into space,” said Melize Ferrus, President of Space Concordia.

Until they make it to the final frontier, what’s next for Space Concordia?

“The Robotics division is working on implementing an autonomy software system in their rover,” said Ferrus.

The software would enable the rover to test samples of matter via spectroscopy, which is used to study the molecular composition of a sample. In this case, the sample would be soil, allowing for them to see if it is feasible to sustain life on other planets.

“We would like to continue developing technologies for remote medicine that can be applied on Earth or [in] space,” said Gonzales.

The Space Health division will continue to do so via Project 1.0, which involves researching the body’s response to force changes by studying the effects of gravity on the heart long-term. The project will be tested on a rocket made by the Rocketry division.

Project 2.0 is to develop a simulated cardiovascular system to study Orthostatic Hypertension, a medical condition characterized by a sudden increase in blood pressure when a person stands up.

But don’t let the words ‘space’ and ‘engineering’ turn you away from Space Concordia. According to Ferrus, not all members are in exclusively STEM fields. Past and current team members have been students enrolled in Communications, the Faculty of Fine Arts, and the John Molson School of Business.

“We want to be an organization that fosters creativity in any way, and creativity rears its head in many different facets,” said Ferrus. “It doesn’t matter what your skill level is. By the time you leave, it won’t be your skill level anymore. We’re happy to foster new talent.”

For more information about Space Concordia visit http://www.spaceconcordia.ca.

Visuals courtesy of Space Concordia.

Categories
News

Spotlight: Women in Engineering

“It’s important for every girl to know that there is support,” said president of Women in Engineering (WIE), Riya Dutta. “I think it’s important to be able to encourage and empower women.”

WIE is a Concordia-based student association that aims to give female engineering and computer science students academic, social and professional support. They promote inclusivity, as their association and activities are open to men, and aim to provide students with the tools to foster growth.

As Dutta explained, this inclusivity is intentional – exclusivity would not help the cause of closing the gender disparity gap seen in engineering programs.

“When everyone notices there is an issue, that’s when things will get resolved,” said Dutta.

According to WIE’s website, only 20 per cent of students enrolled in engineering programs across Canada are women, and only 12.8 per cent of those students become professional engineers.

“The gender disparity within engineering is huge,” said Dutta. “It’s important for women to know there’s a place for them in engineering, and it’s important to show young girls it’s possible.”

There are two levels to WIE’s activities. The association does in-house work, where opportunities are brought directly to the students by social and networking events. For example, on Feb. 6, WIE will be hosting a Power Networking event where attendees will have the opportunity to have several short one-on-one chats with female industry representatives. Dutta described the event as “speed dating, but with companies.”

The second tier is an outreach program dedicated to reaching women and girls of all ages through educational activities at primary and secondary schools and CEGEPs in Montreal. For example, on March 7, WIE will be hosting an event called “WIE Inspire WIE Empower,” which is a day of hands-on STEM workshops at a highschool for students between secondary one to five. The day is hosted by industry leaders such as Google, which will touch on several engineering fields. There will also be female guest speakers from the STEM field who have made impactful contributions, such as Gina Cody.

WIE also hosts coding workshops in elementary schools.

“We try to inspire them to learn science and to get into engineering,” said Dutta. “It’s such a great feeling when young kids learn.”

Through workshops and other activities, Dutta noticed some young women in CEGEP are worried about the gender disparity in Concordia’s engineering programs.

“We always tell them that getting more women in the field, and in these programs is how we are going to (close to disparity gap),” said Dutta.

Dina Khalesi, a software engineering student, sees the value of having a student association that offers support to female engineering students.

“WIE certainly affected me at the beginning of my journey,” said Khalesi. “They gave me the initial push to join Software Engineering through one of their conferences.”

“I think it is important to have these types of associations in a field mainly dominated by men,” continued Khalesi. “Knowing there’s a group of women going through the same struggles as you and knowing that they are there to support you inspires more confidence to stay and perform well in engineering.”

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

 

 

 

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Opinions

A proud moment for Concordia engineering

Graphic by @spooky_soda

Well, it finally happened folks. Concordia University made history.

Not for the most suit-wearing students in the John Molson School of Business; not for the longest line-up at People’s Potato. For something infinitely more important. Concordia is the first university in Canada to name an engineering school after a woman.

The Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science is named after Gina Parvaneh Cody, the former executive chair of CCI Group, an engineering firm in Toronto. Cody was also the first woman at Concordia to receive a PhD in building engineering. She graciously donated $15 million to Concordia recently, and according to CBC News, the university will be using part of the money to create a fund for equity, diversity and inclusion programming.

According to CBC News, Cody made the donation because university is a place for “women, people of colour, Indigenous populations and other minorities to pursue their dreams.” These positive words uplift our spirits here at The Concordian, and we are proud to be witnessing such a powerful moment.

Naming an engineering school after a woman is a huge step in the STEM field, as 12.8 per cent of practicing licensed engineers in Canada are women, according to Engineers Canada. The same source highlights that women only account for 20 per cent of total enrolment in undergraduate engineering programs at Canadian universities. According to the Toronto Star, Concordia exceeded that number last year, by having 23 per cent of women in the engineering and computer science programs. While these numbers are staggeringly low, we at The Concordian believe naming an engineering school after a woman is a key step in changing these figures.

In a society that has cultivated a certain image of women and men, things have remained static. But today, we must acknowledge different truths about genders and the societal constructs surrounding them. Women can and do excel in male-dominated industries, and we need to celebrate that narrative. Cody said, “I think it will break that fear that engineering and computer science is for boys. I’m hoping kids at school, when they hear [the school’s name], they will say, ‘Oh, it’s a woman’s name!’ and it will matter,” according to Toronto Star.

We at The Concordian also hope for that effect. The programs at our universities should be as diverse as possible, in order to properly reflect our realities. Women make up half of the population in Canada—isn’t it about time that all fields, especially STEM fields, reflect that?

We also believe it’s worth noting that Cody came to Canada in 1979 from Iran with just $2,000, according to CBC News. While some people believe where you’re going matters more than where you came from, we think roots are important. It’s necessary to stress that, as an immigrant, Cody has made an incredible life in Canada for herself and for the next generation of engineering students at Concordia. In a political climate that often rejects the acceptance of immigrants and worries about their contribution to society, Cody represents what can happen when Canada chooses to be an accepting nation.

We at The Concordian are proud to be at a university where the first woman who received a PhD in building engineering is the same woman whose name graces the first female-named engineering school in Canada. We hope the fight for gender equity and diversity in engineering doesn’t end here.

Graphic by @spooky_soda

Categories
Student Life

The unbalanced world of technology

Photo by Alex Hutchins.

President of the Harvey Mudd College discusses women in tech programs and careers

Concordia’s Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering invited Maria Klawe, the president of Harvey Mudd College (HMC) to discuss the lack of women in the tech world, the progress that is already underway and what still needs to be done.

Harvey Mudd College president, Maria Klawe. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

HMC is a private school located in California, dedicated to the study of science, engineering and mathematics. At the lecture on Nov. 7, Klawe discussed the lack of gender diversity in the tech industry and how HMC is finding innovative ways to change that.

According to a 2013 Atlantic article, “We Need More Women in Tech: The Data Proves It,” women’s participation in the tech industry has decreased over the last decade. Similarly, Klawe’s own research found that, more than any other STEM discipline (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), computer science programs in North America have seen women’s enrolment decline from mid-30 per cent in the 80s to approximately 15 per cent today.

In an effort to recruit more students, Concordia offers small amounts of award money to incite top students to enroll into technology programs.

Klawe said there needs to be improvement in the enrollment process for female undergraduate students in computer science and engineering programs worldwide.  That being said, she also believes the problem goes beyond school, and into the workforce.  First, to successfully recruit female candidates, Klawe proposed that hiring committees be  trained to avoid gender biases.  “What we all need to accept about ourselves is that we grow up in a culture that makes us more likely to think that nurses are going to be female and engineering and computer scientists will be male,” said Klawe.

According to a 2010 research report from the National Center for Women and Information Technology, authors Catherine Ashcraft and Sarah Plithe found that 56 per cent of women working in the tech industry leave their organizations at the mid-level point of the careers, in other words, after 10 to 20 years. Klawe said this is because of women’s own perceptions that they lack the same advancement opportunities as their male colleagues. Therefore, she said, there should be more effort made to keep these women in the tech industry.

“If we make learning and work environments interesting and supportive, build confidence and community among women and demystify success, women will come, thrive and stay [in tech careers],” said Klawe.

The demand for people graduating with computer science and engineering degrees is higher than Klawe has seen in her lifetime. The jobs within the computer science discipline are flexible and pay well, but Klawe said the most important reason more women are needed in tech careers is because they provide different backgrounds and perspectives. She thinks this would lead to more creativity and better solutions to problems.

In addition to her work with HMC, Klawe is also the co-founder of the Computer Research Association (CRA), which was founded in 1991. CRA’s goal is to find ways to get more women in computer research institutions. The association also developed the Distributed Mentor Project (DMP), which allows female undergraduate students to conduct a research project in their field of interest with the guidance of a female mentor from a university faculty different from their own.

“We need more women in academia because, from research, we know that it is important for young women to see role models, and, often the faculty that they are going to interact with are those role models,” Klawe explained. Indeed, a 2015 Higher Education Statistics Agency report found that, globally, only 22 per cent of university professors are women.

HMC has increased its percentage of female computer science majors from 10 per cent to 40 per cent since Klawe’s arrival at the college in 2006.

Maria Klawe. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

The college’s department of computer science revamped its program in 2005, grouping students in computer science introductory classes depending on their prior experience and knowledge in the discipline. This initiative was created in an effort to make female and male students feel like they belong, and can work together on the same level, within the tech industry.

HMC also arranges for first-year undeclared major students to be taken to the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference, where 90 per cent of attendees are women. The conference is the world’s largest annual gathering of women from the technology industry. Klawe said this conference is a good way to expose students to successful women from the industry. “[Students] will be inspired,” said Klawe, “and no matter what they major in later on, they will know that there are tons of technical women who have great experiences in their careers.”

While advocates like Klawe strive for more balance between women and men in the tech world, she emphasized that this is not a solo mission for women. “It is not the women that need to fix the imbalance,” she said. Ultimately, Klawe said entire communities need to decide if the representation of women in the tech world should be a priority.

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