Posted on Feb. 3: Engineering inspires women engineers

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BY Andrew Vowles

February 3, 2003

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Sheardown.jpg” caption=”Heather Sheardown”]The Faculty of Engineering will hold its first annual McMaster Women's Engineering Experience designed to encourage females in high school to consider engineering as a career.

“We want to target Grade 9 and 10 students before they start dropping science courses they need for engineering at university,” says chemical engineering professor Heather Sheardown, co-organizer of the all-day event.

The inaugural McMaster Women's Engineering Experience will take place Saturday, Feb. 8, at the John Hodgins Engineering Building, from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

A highlight of the event will be the opportunity for students to take part in an environmental engineering design project guided by civil engineering professor Sarah Dickson. Members of the winning project team will each receive a $1,000 scholarship from the dean of engineering Mo Elbestawi, toward engineering studies at McMaster.
During a morning speakers' series, four women will talk about their engineering careers, including three McMaster graduates:

  • Angela Sieloff (Chem. Eng. '86), GPE activity leader, Dow Chemical Canada Inc.

  • Erin McClintock (Civil Eng. '94), project manager, Construction Department, McDonald's Restaurants of Canada

  • Eleanor Stainsby (master's in Mech. Eng. '98), University of Toronto

  • Lisa Maki, president, Maki Golf Course Design

Afternoon sessions will include a presentation on engineering studies at McMaster by associate dean Peter Smith, followed by a panel discussion involving in-course students moderated by Sheardown. Visiting students will get a chance to ask questions about anything from how engineers balance careers and family to the role of engineers in society.

“When I was in high school I loved science,” says Sheardown, who completed her chemical engineering degree at McMaster and a PhD at the University of Toronto.

In 1998 she returned to McMaster, where she studies the use of polymers for making biomaterials, including artificial corneas. She says many engineers work behind the scenes in making materials and designing processes that might yield useful treatments or drugs for doctors.

She remembers a female chemistry teacher in high school who suggested she pursue engineering instead of her first choice of medical school. “I've always been intrigued with how things work.”

Visiting high school students and their parents may also tour engineering labs and view displays by in-course students, as well as the signature McMaster Fireball Show, a one-hour science and engineering display. The event is sponsored by Dow Chemical Canada Inc. and the Faculty of Engineering.

Registrations will be accepted online until Jan. 24. Visit www.eng.mcmaster.ca, click on links to Engineering Alumni, then Women in Engineering. For more information contact Carm Vespi at 905-525-9140, ext. 24906, or e-mail: vespi@mcmaster.ca.