News Category: News
Video Celebrating Technical Women 
The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology has created a video montage piece celebrating the wonderful diversity of technical women. Watch the video here.
Celebrating Canadian Women’s Contributions to Innovation!
The Reverse Cooking Stove – Ruth Adams – 1854, Ontario
First Canadian patent issued to a woman
The stove was designed to have multiple functions. It provided a warming oven, a cook stove and top, and also served as a furnace to warm the kitchen. The British Government issued the patent for Ruth’s invention as Canadian Confederation was still 12 years away.
The Bissell Carpet Sweeper – Anna Sutherland – 1876, Nova Scotia
Canadian ingenuity created a North American household icon
Anna and her husband Melville designed and built a carpet sweeper machine. The idea came when Anna often became frustrated with sweeping tiny, stubborn particles clinging to the carpet. For more than 100 years, people across the continent have used this invention to clean their carpets.
Following Melville Bissell’s death, Anna stepped in and confidently took control of the company, becoming America’s first female corporate CEO.
Aeroplane Builder – Elizabeth (Elsie) MacGill – 1930s, Ontario
The queen of the Hurricanes!
As a chief engineer, Elsie was put in charge of the production of the Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft. She redesigned components of the plane, oversaw the design and the manufacture of the tools needed for production, developed a winterized version equipped with de-icers and skis, and supervised a staff of 4,500 people. This fighter plane was used by the British Royal Air Force during World War II and became instrumental in the Battle of Britain.
Elsie was the first woman in Canada to obtain an applied science degree in electrical engineering and the first woman in North America to graduate with a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering. She was also the first woman to design an aircraft: The Maple Leaf Trainer.
Awards and Recognitions: Elsie MacGill is recognized for her achievements in the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame of the Innovation Canada exhibition at the Canada Science and Technology Museum.
The Cobalt 60 Therapy Unit – Sylvia Fedoruk – 1950s, Saskatchewan
Giving people a chance at life
Sylvia Fedoruk helped to design and develop the first cobalt machine to use radiation to treat cancer patients effectively. She also developed a scanning device that used radioactive iodine to determine whether or not a patient’s thyroid gland was cancerous.
For more than 50 years, countless lives around the world have been saved because of a Canadian invention that changed the way cancer was treated. The first cancer patient treated with this invention lived another 50 years, well into her 90s.
Awards and Recognitions: Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan (1988-1994), Recipient of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, Named Officer of the Order of Canada, Recipient of honorary doctorate degrees from four Canadian universities
The Jolly Jumper – Susan Olivia Poole – 1954, British Columbia
Parents around the world have used this invention
The Jolly JumperTM is a baby exerciser consisting of a soft fitting saddle which supports the baby’s back and is suspended from a gentle action spring hung from the ceiling or the door frame. Olivia, raised in North Dakota, remembered observing the Ojibwa Aboriginal mothers keeping their papooses contentedly in motion when suspended from the limb of a tree.
Actar 911 – Dianne Croteau – 1985, Ontario
A new life saving tool!
The industrial designer Dianne Croteau, and her partner Richard Brault, created a lightweight and affordable mannequin designed to teach people cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Its innovative design makes it portable and suitable for wet conditions, such as lifeguard training.
A Design for Better Bed Sheets – Gisèle Jubinville – 1994, Alberta
A good night’s sleep and a financially secure future
Gisèle was convinced there had to be a better way to make fitted bed sheets so they didn’t come untucked in the night. She sewed hundreds of designs, ignoring discouraging comments. One night, she awoke having dreamt of the perfect design. The hard work was not yet over. The following three years of production made it clear to her that she couldn’t compete with the big companies. Instead of giving up, she sold her patent for $1 million U.S. to an American sheet manufacturer. Today, Gisèle has the satisfaction of having fought for what she believed in and encourages others to follow their intuition in finding their own answers.
Thermal Conductivity Instruments – Nancy Mathis – 1995, New Brunswick
To save money and improve product quality
This PhD. chemical engineer is a world-leading scientific authority in thermal conductivity. She is the inventor of the sensor technology behind the first non-destructive thermal conductivity measurement instrument. This information is very important for industries that need to measure the way their products transfer heat out of hot places. It helps companies to save money and improve product quality.
Awards and Recognitions: 2004: Canadian Junior Chamber’s “Outstanding Young Canadians” Award in the category of innovation, 2003: Recipient of the prestigious $100 000 Manning Principal Award recognizing leading Canadian innovators since 1982, 2002: The inaugural award by the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers of Canada for Support of Women in Engineering, 2002: Cited as one of the “Top 15 Women to Watch” by Chatelaine Magazine, 1999: R&D Award issued to the top 100 innovative products worldwide (sponsored by R&D Magazine) joining Polaroid and the ATM, Profit Magazine’s Canada’s 50 Hottest Startups, 1997: The Business Development Bank of Canada named her Young Entrepreneur of the year, IBM (computers), ExxonMobil (petroleum) and Dow Corning (composite materials) are just a few of the companies that use the TC PROBE as part of the manufacturing process
Insulated and Ergonomic Dishes – Sarah and Alexandra Levy – 1998, Quebec
Making a difference for people with special needs
An innovative mother and daughter team created a concept in dishware adapted for autonomous and semi-autonomous people with light dexterity problems. These dishes vastly improve quality of life by enabling people to eat with dignity and far greater autonomy than with conventional dishes.
This is the first line of thermal dishware in the international market, which is also microwave safe, as well as recyclable. The products are used in short and long-term health care institutions across North America.
Source: Canadian Intellectual Property Office http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca
Slides from Maria Klawe’s presentation Changing the World
Maria Klawe presented the talk Changing the World at UBC on May 29th. Find the PowerPoint presentation slides at Changing_the_World.pdf
Watch Volunteers Director Linda Lanyon on YouTube
Linda is featured on Volunteer Vancouver’s new YouTube channel.
Biographies of Canadian Women in Science
Canadian women have been active participants in a broad spectrum of scientific endeavour for several hundred years. The Library and Archives Canada has compiled biographies of 15 notable scientists. Medicine, architecture, engineering, aeronautical, biological and agricultural sciences are among the fields in which these women worked. Many of them faced enormous challenges in their personal and professional lives. Despite these challenges, they have made significant contributions to scientific research, achieved firsts in their fields and furthered the advancement of women in non-traditional areas of activity.
Read more about the following pioneering women here:
Maude Abbott Physician
Roberta Bondar Astronaut
Carrie Derick Botanist; (First Canadian Female University Professor)
Ursula Franklin Physicist
Monique Frize Electrical Engineer
Jean Goodwill Nurse
Esther Marjorie Hill Architect
Irma LeVasseur Physician
Elizabeth Muriel Gregory MacGill Engineer (first woman aircraft designer in the world)
Jeanne Mance Nurse
Margaret Newton Plant Pathologist
Julie Payette Astronaut
Marie-Henriette LeJeune Ross Midwife and Healer
Irene Ayako Uchida Geneticist
Alice Wilson Geologist
Back to School: Five Myths about Girls and Science
1. Myth: From the time they start school, most girls are less interested in science than boys are.
Reality: In elementary school about as many girls as boys have positive attitudes toward science. A recent study of fourth graders showed that 66 percent of girls and 68 percent of boys reported liking science. But something else starts happening in elementary school. By second grade, when students (both boys and girls) are asked to draw a scientist, most portray a white male in a lab coat. The drawings generally show an isolated person with a beaker or test tube. Any woman scientist they draw looks severe and not very happy. The persistence of the stereotypes start to turn girls off, and by eighth grade, boys are twice as interested in STEM careers as girls are. The female attrition continues throughout high school, college, and even the work force. Women with STEM higher education degrees are twice as likely to leave a scientific or engineering job as men with comparable STEM degrees.
2. Myth: Classroom interventions that work to increase girls’ interest in STEM run the risk of turning off the boys.
Reality: Actually, educators have found that interventions that work to increase girls’ interest in STEM also increase such interest among the boys in the classroom. When girls are shown images of women scientists and given a greater sense of possibility about the person they could become, the boys get the message too—”I can do this!”
There are more opportunities than ever for girls and boys to explore science together. One resource: the discoveries, games and hands-on experiments available at http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/.
3. Myth: Science and math teachers are no longer biased toward their male students.
Reality: In fact, biases are persistent, and teachers often interact more with boys than with girls in science and math. A teacher will often help a boy do an experiment by explaining how to do it, while when a girl asks for assistance the teacher will often simply do the experiment, leaving the girl to watch rather than do. Research shows that when teachers are deliberate about taking steps to involve the female students, everyone winds up benefiting. This may mean making sure everyone in the class is called on over the course of a particular lesson, or asking a question and waiting 10 seconds before calling on anyone. Good math and science teachers also recognize that when instruction is inquiry-based and hands-on, and students engage in problem solving as cooperative teams, both boys and girls are motivated to pursue STEM activities, education and careers.
Resisting stereotypes and furthering opportunities, Girls Creating Games was created as an after-school and summer program designed to support the interest of middle school girls in computers and information technology. Its goal is to increase the number of women and girls in the IT workforce. A sample of the girls’ creations is accessible at http://programservices.etr.org/gcgweb/.
4. Myth: When girls just aren’t interested in science, parents can’t do much to motivate them.
Reality: Parents’ support (as well as that of teachers) has been shown to be crucial to a girl’s interest in science, technology, engineering and math. Making girls aware of the range of science and engineering careers available and their relevance to society works to attract more women (as well as men) to STEM careers. Parents and teachers are also in a position to tell young people what they need to do (in terms of coursework and grades) to put themselves on a path to a STEM career.
Best known as the first American woman to travel in space, Sally Ride is also a physicist, educator, and author. She is the founder of Sally Ride Science, a science content company dedicated to supporting girls’ and boys’ interests in science, math and technology. She offers a guide for parents, “Science Can Take Her Places” at http://www.sallyridescience.com/.
5. Myth: At the college level, changing the STEM curriculum runs the risk of watering down important “sink or swim” coursework.
Reality: The mentality of needing to “weed out” weaker students in college majors – especially in the more quantitative disciplines – disproportionately weeds out women. This is not necessarily because women are failing. Rather, women often perceive “Bs” as inadequate grades and drop out, while men with “Cs” will persist with the class. Effective mentoring and “bridge programs” that prepare students for challenging coursework can counteract this. Changing the curriculum often leads to better recruitment and retention of both women and men in STEM classrooms and majors. For example, having students work in pairs on programming in entry-level computer science and engineering (CSE) courses leads to greater retention of both men and women in CSE majors. In addition, given that many students (including men) have difficulty with spatial visualization and learning, coursework in this area has helped retain both women and men in engineering schools.
*Compiled by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE) program which seeks to broaden the participation of girls and women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education fields by supporting research, the diffusion of research-based innovations, and extension services in education that will lead to a larger and more diverse domestic science and engineering workforce.
SCWIST Newsletter - October 2011
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Congratulations to Catherine Roome, 2011 APEG BC President’s Award Winner
R.A. McLachlan Memorial Award
Catherine Roome is a visionary for change with a dedication to service and public safety. Current President and CEO of the BC Safety Authority, Ms. Roome’s leadership was the driving force behind its switch from an inspection-based operating model to an evidence-based risk identification and safety management system. On top of her technical achievements, Ms. Roome’s community-based work is also impressive. She has promoted the advancement of women in engineering throughout her career, volunteering with the Division for the Advancement of Women in Engineering and Geoscience and SCWIST.
Global warming will reduce populations of plant-eaters: UBC research
Rising world temperatures will cause most populations of herbivores – including plant-eating fish – to decline, according to a University of British Columbia biologist.
That prediction resulted from updated mathematical models that integrate fundamental biological effects of temperature with the way herbivores and plants interact. These models were combined with data from experiments using “mini-ecosystems” of phytoplankton (aquatic microscopic plants) and zooplankton (aquatic microscopic animals) co-existing in four-litre tanks set to different temperatures over eight days.
As expected, higher temperatures increased the metabolisms – the conversion of resources to energy – of both plants and animals, but the effect on animal metabolisms was more intense. The zooplankton consumed more phytoplankton as a result.
But the plants could not keep pace with the animals’ increased appetites, and the lack of food ultimately led to a decline in the animals’ numbers.
“Herbivores are going to need more food than the plants are making just because of the higher temperatures,” says Mary O’Connor, an assistant professor of zoology who co-authored the article, published online today by The American Naturalist. “Eventually, the system is limited by how fast the plants can grow.”
O’Connor, who conducted the research as a postdoctoral associate at the National Center for Ecological Analysis & Synthesis in Santa Barbara, California, predicts that a rise of 3 degrees Celsius, which is forecast for many regions over the next century, could cause a 10-per-cent decline in herbivores.
In tropical oceans, this would likely mean a decline of plant-eating fish and crustaceans, with the possibility of corresponding declines of fish higher in the food chain – and an eventual decrease in seafood supplies in some parts of the world’s warmer oceans.
The effect in colder areas, like the northern Pacific, would be less severe because warming is expected to increase the supply of nutrients in those waters. The abundance of nutrients would enhance the growth of plants, allowing them to keep pace with animals’ increased appetites.
O’Connor, a member of the UBC Biodiversity Research Centre, says the findings could apply to land-based ecosystems as well but the implications are more difficult to predict because the thermal environment is more complex.
These findings are much more “big picture” than many previous experiments or models of global warming’s effects on plants and animals, which have focused on particular species – with widely varying results, O’Connor says.
“I’m backing way out, looking for something in common among all of species,” she says. “And what we’re suggesting is that we can expect herbivores, en masse, to decline, even though some species of herbivores might increase and others might decrease. By looking at it from this perspective, we will get a clearer picture of what is likely to happen.”
UBC-Vancouver Coastal Health researcher discovers new type of spinal cord stem cell
A group led by a University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health scientist has discovered a type of spinal cord cell that could function as a stem cell, with the ability to regenerate portions of the central nervous system in people with spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
The radial glial cells, which are marked by long projections that can forge through brain tissue, had never previously been found in an adult spinal cord. Radial glia, which are instrumental in building the brain and spinal cord during an organism’s embryonic phase, vastly outnumber other potential stem cells in the spinal cord and are much more accessible. The findings were published online this week in PLoS One.
Stem cells have the capability of dividing into more specialized types of cells, either during the growth of an organism or to help replenish other cells. Scientists consider stem cells a promising way to replace injured or diseased organs and tissues.
The search for spinal stem cells of the central nervous system has until now focused deep in the spinal cord. Jane Roskams, a professor in the UBC Dept. of Zoology, broadened the search by using genetic profiles of nervous system stem cells that were developed and made publicly accessible by the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle.
Roskams, collaborating with researchers at the Allen Institute, McGill University and Yale University, found cells with similar genes – radial glial cells – along the outside edge of spinal cords of mice.
“That is exactly where you would want these cells to be if you want to activate them with drugs while minimizing secondary damage,” says Roskams, a member ICORD (International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries) and the Brain Research Center, both partnerships of UBC and the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.
Roskams’ team also found that radial glial cells in the spinal cord share a unique set of genes with other neural stem cells. Several of these – when mutated – can lead to human diseases, including some that target the nervous system. That discovery opens new possibilities for potential gene therapy treatments that would replace mutated, dysfunctional spinal cord cells with healthier ones produced by the radial glial cells.
“These long strands of radial glial cells amount to a potentially promising repair network that is perfectly situated to help people recover from spinal cord injuries or spinal disorders,” Roskams says. “For some reason, they aren’t re-activated very effectively in adulthood. The key is to find a way of stimulating them so they reprise their role of generating new neural cells when needed.”
The research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Jack Brown and Family Alzheimer’s Research Foundation.
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is one of North America’s largest public research and teaching institutions, and one of only two Canadian institutions consistently ranked among the world’s 40 best universities. Surrounded by the beauty of the Canadian West, it is a place that inspires bold, new ways of thinking that have helped make it a national leader in areas as diverse as community service learning, sustainability and research commercialization. UBC offers more than 50,000 students a range of innovative programs and attracts $550 million per year in research funding from government, non-profit organizations and industry through 7,000 grants.
Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) is the research body of Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, which includes BC’s largest academic and teaching health sciences centres: VGH, UBC Hospital, and GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre. In academic partnership with the University of British Columbia, VCHRI brings innovation and discovery to patient care, advancing healthier lives in healthy communities across British Columbia, Canada, and beyond. http://www.vchri.ca.
International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), is a world leading health research centre focused on spinal cord injury. From the lab-based cellular level of understanding injury to rehabilitation and recovery, our researchers are dedicated to the development and translation of more effective strategies to promote prevention, functional recovery, and improved quality of life after spinal cord injury. Located at Vancouver General Hospital in the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre, ICORD is supported by UBC Faculty of Medicine and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. Visit http://www.icord.org.
The Brain Research Centre comprises more than 200 investigators with multidisciplinary expertise in neuroscience research ranging from the test tube, to the bedside, to industrial spin-offs. The centre is a partnership of UBC and VCH Research Institute. For more information, visit http://www.brain.ubc.ca.
Deadly ovarian cancer starts in the Fallopian tubes
Discovery by Montreal researchers may lead to better screening, more effective treatment
By Charlie Fidelman, Vancouver Sun, August 29, 2011, p. B5
A groundbreaking study by Montreal researchers suggests ovarian cancer begins in the Fallopian tubes of healthy women – and can be successfully treated before it reaches the ovaries.
The finding, in a study that has not yet been published, may steer the way toward better screening and treatment of a disease that’s often fatal.
Oncologist Lucy Gilbert, head of the McGill University Health Centre’s gynecological division, said it’s not really a cancer of the ovaries, although it’s been called that for years because the majority of cases are detected in the ovaries; but by then it’s often far too late.
Study results stem from the DOVE project (Detecting Ovarian Cancer Earlier), which is run by Gilbert.
The theory started in pathologists’ circles from analyses of known ovarian cancer cases. But Gilbert’s team is the first to trace ovarian cancer back to the Fallopian tubes in a group of undiagnosed women showing mild, vague symptoms.
Fallopian tubes shed pre-cancerous cells over the surface of the ovaries. They then transform into cancer, Gilbert explained.
Malignant cells spread in the ovary and that’s why it is blamed, Gilbert said. “What we found is that killer ovarian cancer starts in the tubes. We were surprised to find it there,” Gilbert said. “What we understand about ovarian cancer has dramatically changed.”
Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological cancer. It’s the fourth leading cause of death for Canadian women. Efforts at early detection and treatment to reduce mortality have remained largely unsuccessful.
Frustrated that so many women continue to die from ovarian cancer, Gilbert has been targeting relatively healthy women through her project since 2008.
“I’m so excited – it’s my life’s work,” Gilbert said, adding that 70 per cent of the high-grade serous cancer identified in her clinic originated in Fallopian tubes. “If we are lucky to pick it up early, we can trace it back to the tubes,” Gilbert said.
Drug users with anxiety disorders at greater risk of becoming addicts: study
Findings bolster argument that self-medication can lead to substance abuse, according to University of Manitoba researchers
Vancouver Sun, August 6, 2011, p. B3
People who drink or use drugs to calm anxious nerves are at increased risk of developing full-blown substance abuse problems later on, according to a study.
The work by Manitoba researchers writing in the Archives of General Psychiatry, which followed close to 35,000 people, is one of the first to try to answer a longstanding question: Do anxietyridden people self-medicate because they are substance abusers, or do they become abusers because they selfmedicate?
“Self-medication in anxiety disorders confers substantial risk of incident substance abuse disorders,” wrote lead researcher Jennifer Robinson at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and colleagues.
The group tapped into a national U.S. survey of drinking problems and mental illness that followed subjects over three years and included interviews.
They found that of those who had anxiety disorder at the outset of the study and said they self-medicated with alcohol, 13 per cent developed alcoholism – compared to only about five per cent of respondents who didn’t self-medicate.
After taking income, age and other factors into consideration, self-medicating people had 2.5 to five times the odds of becoming dependent on alcohol or drugs compared to people who followed their prescription.
In theory, a person who selfmedicates could be a budding drug abuser without the interviewer having spotted it, so the findings aren’t conclusive.
But Robinson and her colleagues said their study bolsters the hypothesis that selfmedication leads to substance abuse. They also found that people who self-medicate with alcohol were three times as likely to develop social phobia – although it was possible that those people had some degree of phobia from the start, and their substance use fuelled it.
“Another possibility is that the social unacceptability of substance use may create a desire to avoid social contact in those who actively use other drugs,” they wrote.
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