Overview
Promotional Video
Women in Science and Engineering is proud to present our 9th Annual National Conference!
Are you ready to connect STEM, empowerment and professional development with delegates and renowned academic and entrepreneurial speakers from all across the world? Join us at the 9th Annual WISE National Conference | Connections: Together from Afar this upcoming January 23rd to 24th! We have a lineup of incredible speakers, workshops, panelists, competitions, and company sponsors here to fuel your professional and personal development, widen the reach of your network, and ignite your drive to pursue your passions!
What to Expect
- Company-sponsored workshops on personal growth and technological advancements to help you grow your technical and professional prowess
- Competitions ranging from consulting cases to research pitches to case for you to test your skills
- Charismatic keynote speakers geared to inspire you through their exceptional stories, journeys, and achievements
- Comprehensive speaker panels on various STEM fields including psychology, entrepreneurship, research, biomedical engineering, EDI and more
- Career fairs of companies ready to network with you and share the various opportunities they offer
Speakers and Panelists
Keynote Speakers
Kathryn Lueders
Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA
Adia Gooden, Ph.D
Director of the Clinic and Community Programs at The Family Institute
Lana Potts
Indigenous Health and First Nation Expert, Medical Doctor
Ambre Lizurey
Director of Operations at EA's Motive Montreal studio
Consulting
Anna Ye
Business analyst at McKinsey
Christine Blair
Project Engineering Consultant, SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit Engineering
Michelle Theroux
Senior Manager, Healthcare Strategy & Innovation at Deloitte
Future of Transportation
Dahun Mamora
Technical Project Manager, Tesla
Anushree Sonic
Technical Lead at Waymo
Devin Williams
Lead Mechanical Engineer at Zipline
Healthcare
Dr. Cathy Zhang
CAPIE founder and UHN Physician
Noor El-Dassouki
Health Ethics Researcher at UHN
Dr. Gelareh Zadeh
Head of the Department of Neurosurgery at Toronto Western Hospital, UHN
Industry Disruptors
Dr. Natalie Galant
Co-Founder of PARADOX Immunotherapeutics
Fatima Khamitova
CEO & Founder of Veer AI
Pooja Sinha
Principal Engineer/Manager at Qualcomm Canada
Lejla Bajic
VP of System Engineering & Operations at Tenstorrent Inc
Technology
Natasha Walji
Director, Tech, Telecom, Entertainment & Public sector at Google
Laila Hulbert
Staff Engineer at Qualcomm Canada
Dragana Vulpic-Bork
Manager, Network Big Data COE at Bell
Sustainability
Professor Ning Yan
Professor of Forest Biomaterials Engineering at the University of Toronto
Stacy Kauk
Director, Sustainability Fund at Shopify
Jessica Polak
Vice President of Operations at Ontario Power Generation
Katrina Williams
Global Product Manager, Trojan Technologies
Academia
Clarice Phelps
Engineer and Research Associate at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL)
Netra Unni Rajesh
PhD candidate in BME at Stanford University
Dr. Linda Cremonesi
UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Lecturer in Particle Physics at Queen Mary University of London
Dr. Deborah Maclatchy
President and Vice-Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University and a Distinguished Biologist
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
Karine Morin
Director, leading EDI initiative at NSERC
Asmaa Ali
Community leader, freelance photographer, and Registered Nurse
Dina Al-Khooly
Director of Research and Evaluation at Visions of Science
Marisa Sterling
Assistant dean and director of diversity, inclusion and professionalism at UofT’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
Psychology
Dr. Janina Scarlet
Lead Trauma Specialist at Center for Stress & Anxiety Management
Dr. Tanaya Chatterjee
Clinical psychologist at CAMH
Dr. Frances Chen
Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia.
Biomedical Engineering
Dawn Bell
Global Development Head, Strategic Partnerships Team at Novartis
Dr. Kiana Aran
Co-Founder and Chief Scientific officer at Cardea Bio
Dr. Deanna Gates
Associate Professor of Movement Science, Biomedical Engineering and Robotics at the University of Michigan
Dr. Naomi Matsuura
Associate Professor in Materials Science and Engineering and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto
Banking
Caroline Tutakiewicz
Director, Strategy & Innovation with RBC Ventures
Katie Ferriter
Head, Technology Research & Innovation at BMO
Competitions
The WISE National Conference (WISE NC) competitions provide an opportunity for participants from various backgrounds to apply knowledge learned in class and solve real-world problems, working collaboratively as a team. We have expanded our competitions as we take advantage of our virtual platform to include as many contestants from various fields as possible. By having diverse topics that have both scientific and ethical implications, we hope our contestants can propose innovative solutions that are not only technologically sound but also encompass social considerations. This year, we're offering 3 different competitions:
Research Proposal and Pitch (RPP)
RPP contestants will compete in only ONE of the four following RPP streams. You will be expected to do some research with the prompt that will be released on January 22nd and present a working solution on January 24th during the conference. The 4 streams are:
- Infectious Disease
- Psychology
- AI and Healthcare
- Environmental Remediation
- a maximum 2-page written proposal submission
- a 5-6 min presentation + 3 min Q&A periodFor those that already have 2- to 3-person teams, ONE member of the team will be required to submit ONE Competitions Registration for the whole team.
3 Minute Thesis (3MT)
Individual competitors of undergraduate or graduate levels are given the opportunity to present their research in 3 minutes with one static slide on Friday January 22nd 5-7pm EST. If you wish, you may send us your abstract by January 15th to be posted on our website. Prizes: The winning presenter will receive $200, and the second place competitor will receive $100.
Consulting Case Competition
Contestants are challenged to consider, among other aspects, the ethics, corporate social responsibility, and business-government relations to a technology-based case that will be released on January 22nd. They will present a working solution in a 10-minute presentation on January 24th during the conference. Teams of 4 will be judged by experts from academia and industry, and the competitors are given the opportunity to ask any questions to the judges during Competitions Judges’ Saturday Office Hours. For those that already have 2- to 3-person teams, ONE member of the team will be required to submit ONE Competitions Registration for the whole team. If you do not have a team, do not worry - we will put you in one randomly! Prizes: Top group per each stream will receive $1000.
Hackathon
Cancelled - you may find Research Proposal and Pitch: AI stream to be of your interest instead
Competition Inquiries
Competitors will work in teams of 3 or 4, except for the 3MT. More information on these competitions and registration will follow soon. Please do not hesitate to contact the Competition Directors, Judy Xia at judy.xia@wiseuoft.org and Kris Choi at kris.choi@wiseuoft.org if you have any questions or concerns.
Workshops
Workshops are a wonderful way for you to more actively take part in the Conference! Our demos, activities, and guided discussions are designed to allow you to get exposure to new concepts, develop useful skills, and engage with fellow attendees. Our workshops this year fall under 7 streams: Consulting, Tech, Engineering, Academia, Professional Development, Personal Development, and EDI. With the focus being more on skill-building, we believe that everyone will be able to find something useful and inspiring from attending these workshops, no matter where their interests lie.
Farah Qaiser: Science Communication 101
Saturday, January 23, 2021 @ 1 PM - 2 PM EST
Farah Qaiser is a genomics researcher and science communicator. She uses DNA sequencing to better understand complex neurological disorders. Outside the lab, Farah writes stories about science and scientists, organizes science communication training opportunities, and co-founded the Toronto Science Policy Network. At the WISE Conference, Farah will lead a Science Communication 101 workshop, where she will teach the basics of science communication, challenge attendees to apply these skills through mini-activities, and walk through Canada’s growing science communication landscape, including opportunities related to outreach, writing, public speaking and policy. Farah will also be one of the judges for the Three Minute Thesis competition.
Shopify: Intro to Web Application Security
Saturday, January 23, 2021 @ 1 PM - 2 PM EST
Hey, I’m Leanne. I work at Shopify as an application security engineer where I mainly work on protecting web applications against security vulnerabilities. There are many different areas of web application security and this vast complexity can be overwhelming, especially as a beginner. This workshop will walk through some basic domain knowledge and security fundamentals helpful to anyone starting a journey in web application security. We will cover the most common web security vulnerabilities as well as what is needed to find and exploit these flaws. Who wouldn't want to feel like Mr. Robot?
YNCN: Practice Your Pitch with YNCN
Saturday, January 23, 2021 @ 2 PM - 3 PM EST
You’re Next Career Network (YNCN) is a U of T student club that provides career development opportunities to students. In this workshop, you’ll practice a skill that is essential for conferences, career fairs, and interviews: How to sell yourself in 1 minute. Join YNCN to learn from upper-year students about how to create an elevator pitch, then have an opportunity to practice your pitch in the Networking feature on Hopin.
Trojan Technologies: Ensuring Greater Water Confidence
Saturday, January 23, 2021 @ 2 PM - 3 PM EST
Water touches every person on the planet, every single day. As the world’s population increases, so too does the demand for water – our most precious resource. We ensure greater water confidence and environmental stewardship for people, industries and municipalities, improving the lives of over one billion people globally.Laura Quint and Laurel Visscher, Engineers at Trojan Technologies, will talk about Trojan’s business and their role in enabling customers to meet their water quality objectives by providing eco-efficient solutions that reduce and recover costs, energy, resources and space. As we collaboratively solve problems with our customers, wedeliver low-risk, innovative technologies that offer sustainable results.
ECS Library: ReSearch - it starts with a question.....
Saturday, January 23, 2021 @ 3 PM - 4 PM EST
Do you struggle with narrowing down your research question, or even designing a research question to begin with? If so, join Angela Henshilwood and Mindy Thuna, Librarians from the Engineering & Computer Science Library at the University of Toronto, for a workshop to help you get started on more effectively building a research question and finding the best and most appropriate resources to answer that question (or questions because really, who has only one....). This workshop will focus on narrowing down a research scope, designing a research question, and searching for resources based on that question. It will be particularly helpful to those in the Research Proposal Competition.
Rogers: Resume & Virtual Interview Tips & Tricks!
Saturday, January 23, 2021 @ 3 PM - 4 PM EST
You can never receive enough advice when it comes to job applications, resumes & interview tips! Join Rogers Communications, Senior Talent Acquisition Consultant, Nazish Ansari to learn tips and tricks! This session will also include time at the end to get to all your burning questions!
EQ Bank: Business Problem-Solving with EQ Bank: From cases to the real world
Saturday, January 23, 2021 @ 4 PM - 5 PM EST
In this workshop, female leaders from EQ Bank (Thanuja Karunmoorthy and Cathy Ly) will share approaches to business problem-solving to equip you for case competitions, case interviews with management consulting firms – and for the real working world. They will share a recent example of how EQ Bank took a problem from to idea to execution, including a demo of the final product that was launched to customers. Thanuja Karunamoorthy holds a B.Eng from the University of Toronto and is currently IT Director of Digital Banking at EQ Bank. Cathy Ly holds an MBA from the University of Toronto is Senior Director of Customer Experience & Digital Banking Operations.
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Bell: Applications of AI/ML
Sunday, January 24, 2021 @ 1 PM - 2 PM EST
The Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning workshop will discuss what artificial intelligence and machine learning are, important terms regarding the topic, applications of AI/ML in the real world, and how AI/ML is used at Bell. The real world applications discussed will be in the fields of healthcare, sports, human resources, operations management, retail, and finance. This workshop will be presented by Krystal Cheng and Erin Peterson from Bell Canada. Bell is Canada's largest telecommunications company, providing mobile phone, television, high speed and wireless Internet, and residential home phone services.
Qualcomm: Self-Advocacy for Women in the Workplace
Sunday, January 24, 2021 @ 2 PM - 3 PM EST
The formula for career advancement is often seen to be comprised of technical abilities and immense hard work. While this is largely true, self-advocacy also plays a critical part in our career growth. This element can easily be overlooked, especially for young professionals. Interestingly, while women are good at advocacy on the behalf of others, many of us struggle with self-promotion. This workshop will go over some statistics on females in STEM industries. We will highlight the connection of social norms, gender, and its impact on professional advancement. We will discuss methods to advocate for ourselves, promote our skillsets and eventually achieve our career goals. The workshop is hosted by Christine Kwong and Rezwana Sharmin from Qualcomm Inc. Qualcomm is a leading technology company with a wide range of services from 5G wireless to IoT.
Google DSC: Google Cloud Hero
Sunday, January 24, 2021 @ 3 PM - 4 PM EST
Cloud Hero is a game created with a series of hands on labs to teach you new and exciting skills with Google Cloud! We will use Qwiklabs to help teach students practical skills through guided, interactive, and fun learning labs. Even better, Cloud Hero has an open ended challenge lab so you can test your new skills in a competitive game against your fellow students. Additionally, if you join and complete this event with us, you will have the opportunity to unlock Qwiklabs for an additional 30 days! This can help you explore additional technologies, and skills which may help you reach your goals.
QueerSphere: Identity and Innovation
Sunday, January 24, 2021 @ 4 PM - 5 PM EST
QueerSphere is the 2SLGBTQ+ Club for engineering and other STEM students at the University of Toronto. We represent the University of Toronto at EngiQueers Canada, provide inclusivity training, and run social events for our community. Join QueerSphere for a discussion about what role identity plays in the STEM profession. Why are gender and sexual orientation relevant in the workplace? How does diversity impact innovation? We’ll be answering these questions and more on topics such as intersectionality, gender, and inclusivity. No idea what the letters in 2SLGBTQ+ mean? Don’t sweat it! We’ll help you out with that too!
UTDL: Ansys Simulation Workshop
Sunday, January 24, 2021 @ 4 PM - 5 PM EST
Want to take your design projects to the next level? Join Shaheer, one of UTDL’s technology officers, as he introduces the ANSYS software and goes through the basics of design modelling! In this workshop, you will understand the importance of incorporating modelling and simulations in your design projects. You will also learn how to use ANSYS Spaceclaim and its various tools to create and improve your designs. Feel free to follow along using ANSYS by downloading it free at here. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Subsidies
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University of Toronto St George Engineering
The University of Toronto Faculty of Engineering has generously offered 80% subsidized tickets for 200 UofT Engineering students
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McGill University (Engineering students)
Students will need to apply for support through Student Initiative Fund Form Link: here
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University of Toronto Mississauga - Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences
The Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences at the University of Toronto Mississauga will be covering the registration fee for interested CPS students to virtually attend this year's WISE conference. To apply for the subsidy, interested students can email cps.utm@utoronto.ca with:
- Full Name
- Student #
- Program of Study
- Short statement of why they want to attend and what they hope to learn
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University of Regina - Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Interested students are requested to apply for funding through the Student Group Request for Funding Application Form here
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McMaster University (Engineering)
McMaster Women in Engineering has generously offered to cover 60% of their 40 student’s tickets. For inquiries please contact the McMaster Women in Engineering Society
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University of Toronto Scarborough
Every year UTSC students can apply to funds that can subsidize/cover conference participation. Students interested can apply through here:here
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University of Toronto St George Arts and Science
The University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Sciences has generously offered to provide subsidies for 100 University of Toronto Arts and Science students.
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University of Ottawa (WISE)
The University of Ottawa Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Chapter is generously offering selected students subsidies for attending the conference. Interested students please email wise@uottawa.ca if they have any inquiries or students can contact them on their websitehere
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Mount Royal University
Mount Royal University has generously offered to provide subsidies for 25 Mount Royal University students interested in attending the conference. If you are interested, students may contact jwithey@mtroyal.ca
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Ryerson University Graduate Faculty of Engineering and Architecture
Ryerson University has generously subsidized 30 tickets to graduate students in engineering and architecture. Students will recieve a full refund once registered, given that they have provided a valid student email.
2021 WISE National Conference Schedule
Opening Ceremonies
Healthcare Panel
Sustainability Panel
Career Fair
Lunch Break
Speed Mentoring
Workshop: Science Communication 101
Workshop: Shopify Intro to Web Application Security
Consulting Panel
Workshop: YNCN Practice Your Pitch
Workshop: Trojan Tech - Ensuring Greater Water Confidence
Equity Diversity Inclusion Panel
Workshop: ReSearch - It starts with a question...
Workshop: Rogers - Resume & Interview Tips and Tricks
Transportation Panel
Workshop: EQ Bank - Business Case
Psychology Panel
Closing Ceremonies
Fireside Chat
Opening Ceremonies
Consulting Case Competition Presentations
Technology Panel
Lunch Break
Speed Mentoring
Research Proposal & Pitch Competition Presentation
Career Fair
Workshop: Bell - Applications of AI and Machine Learning
Academic Panel
Workshop: Qualcomm: Self Advocacy for Women in the Workplace
Industry Disruptors Panel
Workshop: Google Cloud Hero
Biomedical Engineering Panel
Workshop: UTDL ANSYS Simulation
Workshop: QueerSphere: Identity and Innovation
Banking Panel
Closing Ceremonies
2020 WISE National Conference Recap
Thank you to everyone who helped make the 2020 WISE National Conference a huge success!
Conference Recap Video
