september 2008 Issue
Women in Science
Keep Promoting Engineering as Career, Minerva Winner Says
BY BARBARA CHABAI
PEGG Contributor
We need to pass on a better understanding of who we are and what we do. Programs like Operation Minerva give girls a sense that we’re not all Dilbert.
– Dr. Josephine Hill, P.Eng.
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HAVE CAREER, WILL TRAVEL |
National statistics show a decline in students enrolling in engineering and the number of women in the field is gradually dropping. That means it is up to engineers to cast a positive light on their profession, says Josephine Hill, P.Eng., recipient of the 2008 Minerva Mentoring Award from the Alberta Women’s Science Network.
Dr. Hill, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary, says engineers can help spread the word by emphasizing the many ways engineering impacts society.
“We need to talk more about engineering because people don’t realize what it is that we do,” she says. “Unfortunately, there are no TV dramas that feature engineers in the way they do doctors or lawyers or police forensics. So it’s up to us to get engineering out there.”
The Zandmer/Canada Research Chair in Hydrogen and Catalysis, Dr. Hill is involved in researching catalysts with applications to fuel cells and heavy oil upgrading. The work includes looking into ways to cleanly convert heavy oil resources into hydrogen and other products.
Her discipline aside, Dr. Hill is keen on promoting the big picture so that people realize how their lives are touched by engineering. She likens the public’s perception to the commercials by the chemical company BASF, which touts its products as the ingredients that contribute to the finished products consumers use daily.
“You’ve heard their ads that say — we don’t make the cell phone, we make the cell phone better? Well, I think that’s a lot like engineering. It’s an enigma and people don’t understand all that goes on with it.”
Dr. Hill recently shared her message with a young but appreciative audience. “I went to my son’s Grade 4/5 class and did some science experiments with them — making a balloon blow up with Alka-Seltzer, creating slime and bouncy balls to give them an idea of how fun science can be,” she says. “But I also wanted to paint a general picture of what engineering is about. So I asked, ‘Where did your breakfast cereal come from? Ever wonder who made it? Who made your toothbrush? Who made the car you came to school in? Who made the roads you drive on to get to school?’ It all comes back to engineering.”
As a past chair of the U of C’s Gender and Diversity in Engineering Committee, Dr. Hill is also committed to ensuring there is a more diverse population in the field.
“Women are every bit as technically competent in engineering as men. I know this fact from working with my colleagues and teaching students. I also know that although women and men may be equally competent, they are not the same,” she says. “Women tend to be less good at marketing themselves and for this reason, we need programs aimed at promoting women in the fields of science and engineering.”
Dr. Hill has long been an ardent supporter and participant in Operation Minerva, which takes Grade 8 girls under the wings of female mentors established professionally in science, engineering or technology.
“For women engineers especially, we need to pass on a better understanding of who we are and what we do. Programs like Operation Minerva give girls a sense that we’re not all Dilbert.”
Dr. Hill is quick to add that students are not only eager to study what engineers do, but seem to find comfort in knowing that their mentors have well-rounded lives — with successes beyond as well as within their careers.
“One of my undergraduate students recently commented to me that it was nice to have a female professor who has a family,” she says. “When I thought about it, a lot of the female professors I had didn’t have a family. I think that as role models, it’s important to show that we’re about more than what we do at work. That it is possible to build an engineering career while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.”
Dr. Hill was recently able to combine work commitments with family fun. She was planning to attend an engineering conference in Australia, when she and her husband decided the trip would be a great opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime family vacation as well.
“It’s certainly one of the positive aspects of this job — how many people can say they get to go to Australia on a conference for work?” she says. “This is just a small example of the many ways we can get the word out about engineering, share our enthusiasm for what we do and make sure the impression we are giving people is a positive one.”
PATHS TO SUCCESS
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Marie Helene McGrath of Fort Saskatchewan holds the oversized hand central to her WISEST Summer Research Program placement at the University of Alberta. WISEST — or Women in Science, Engineering, Scholarship and Technology — places about 60 teens on research teams at the U of A, each summer. The organization, which dedicates itself to improving diversity in the sciences, is celebrating its 25th year in 2008, and the research placements have been going on for 24 summers. Marie worked in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering on 3-D modeling to help in medical diagnostics. |
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APEGGA member Jessica Vandenberghe, P.Eng., left, attends an awards night in June after being nominated in the inroads category for the Edmonton YWCA Women of Distinction. The category is for volunteer achievement demonstrating peer influence and leadership ability, and showing the promise of a continuing, maturing, and significant contribution in Edmonton and area. Ms. Vandenberghe was supported at the ceremony by her husband, Mark, and several WISEST colleagues, including, centre, Lianne Lefsrud, P.Eng., chair of WISEST's public and professional affairs committee, and, right, WISEST vice-chair Gail Powley, P.Eng. An Edmonton chemical engineer in the oilsands industry, Ms. Vandenberghe is an advocate for educating and informing youths about her employment and encouraging them to enter the field of science. She’s been involved in the WISEST CHOICES conference for Grade 6 girls, as well as SCIberMENTOR, a science and engineering e-mail mentorship program.“For her dedication to the promotion of engineering as a rewarding and viable career for women and to overcoming barriers placed in her way as an Aboriginal woman, Jessica is an outstanding role model for any woman interested in a non-traditional career,” says a news release on her nomination. |