On October 9th, Rosa Galvez, Canada’s first and only senator of Latin American heritage, visited McMaster to celebrate Latin American Heritage Month.

Galvez has a PhD in Environmental Engineering from McGill University and has been a professor at Université Laval à Québec since 1994, heading the Civil and Water Engineering department from 2010 to 2016. She specializes in water and soil decontamination, waste management and residues, and environmental impact and risk assessment.

She was the chair of the standing senate committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources in the last parliamentary session, and aims to continue advocating for better environmental policies in Canada.

On the morning of her visit, Galvez gave a talk that shared her experiences in the Senate and in engineering. Following her talk, a panel discussion moderated by Nayelli Perez (Engineering Career & Co-op Services) discussed the challenges and barriers that women face in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

Panelists included:

• Ana Campos (Biology)
• Juliet Daniel (Biology)
• Sonia Hassini (Civil Engineering)
• Kalai Saravanamuttu (Chemistry & Chemical Biology)

“We need to actively promote and encourage more women, and more specifically women of colour, to pursue research and career in sciences,” Galvez said. “Just like in any sector, diversity in the laboratory will bring a wider array of thought, progress and scientific advancement.”

In the afternoon Maureen MacDonald, the dean of the Faculty of Science, and the acting associate vice-president of research Jim Dunn met with Galvez to discuss the ways in which the Senate and McMaster could collaborate and work together to highlight McMaster research strengths.

While she was at McMaster, Galvez also visited McMaster’s research nuclear reactor and learned about the production of radioiodine (I-125), which treats various cancers, and found out about different materials science research projects.

Galvez gave another talk at the end of the day where she discussed Latin American Heritage Month and the contributions and impacts Latin Americans have made to Canadian society. This was followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Jose Moran-Mirabal  from the department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

Rodrigo Narro Perez, a PhD candidate in the School of Geography and Earth Sciences and a co-convener for the Race, Racism and Racialization (R3) working group for the President’s Advisory Committee on Building an Inclusive Committee (PACBIC) organized the day’s events.

“We are very happy and honoured to have Senator Galvez visit McMaster to share her experiences as a senator and celebrate Latin American Heritage Month with us,” he said.

The day’s events were sponsored by the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Engineering, the Equity and Inclusion Office and the Academic Women’s Success and Mentorship (AWSM).