1520 Stone Church Rd E
Hamilton
ON L8W 3P9
Registration is now closed for the 2023 Summit. We can’t wait to see all registrants there!
ONWiE Summit 2023
The 2023 Biennial Summit of the Ontario Network of Women in Engineering will be jointly hosted by McMaster University in the city of Hamilton November 14-15, 2023. McMaster University and ONWiE acknowledge that the conference will be organized and held on the traditional territories of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations, and within the lands protected by the “Dish with One Spoon” wampum agreement. We recognize, honour, and respect Indigenous peoples in the region, past, present, and future.
The theme of the conference is “Diversity through Inclusion.” The founding mission of ONWiE was to increase gender diversity in engineering, and we recognise that it is essential to build inclusive spaces that welcome all students. Not only is that the fair thing to do, but it will also improve recruitment efforts.
Inclusion should be embedded in community outreach, recruitment efforts, undergraduate and graduate education, co-op and internship experiences, treatment of faculty and staff, decision-making and careers. Intersectional perspectives are critical in ensuring effective approaches.
A note about Covid precautions. The Summit will follow all public health guidelines. At this time we will be a mask friendly safe with masks and hand sanitizer available to those who wish to access them.
Agenda
Get a sneak-peak at all the great presentations and panels we are working on here.
Location
Carmen’s Banquet Centre, 1520 Stone Church Rd E, Hamilton, ON L8W 3P9.
Carmen’s Banquet Centre is conveniently located off the Red Hill Valley Expressway and Lincoln Alexander Parkway.
Free parking is available onsite and an ancillary parking lot is located on Anchor Road across from the C Hotel by Carmen’s.
If you are flying into Pearson Airport (Toront0) we recommend taking the Go Bus to Hamilton Go Center. From there we recommend a taxi or ride share as there are no direct city buses from downtown to Carmen’s.
Key Note Speaker
We are thrilled to have Erin Cech inspire us as the Summit Gala dinners keynote speaker.
Erin A. Cech is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Associate Professor by courtesy in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Cech joined the University of Michigan in 2016. Before coming to UM, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University and was on faculty at Rice University. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego and undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Sociology from Montana State University.
Cech’s research examines cultural mechanisms of inequality reproduction–specifically, how inequality is reproduced through processes that are not overtly discriminatory or coercive, but rather those that are built into seemingly innocuous cultural beliefs and practices. She investigates this puzzle through three avenues of research. First, she uses quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine inequality in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professions–specifically, the recruitment and retention of women, LGBT, and under-represented racial/ethnic minority students and practitioners and the role of professional cultures in this inequality. Second, Cech examines how cultural definitions of “good work” and “good workers” can anchor inequality in the workforce. For example, she examines the role of the “passion principle” in the reproduction of occupational inequalities: how seemingly voluntary and self-expressive career decisions help reproduce processes like occupational sex segregation. Finally, she studies how cultural understandings of the extent and origin of inequality help to uphold unequal social structures. Cech’s research is funded by multiple grants from the National Science Foundation. Her research has been cited in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Time, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Forbes, Chronicle of Higher Education and the news sections of Science and Nature.
In 2021, Cech received the Henry Russel Award, “the University of Michigan’s highest honor for faculty at the early to mid-career stages of their career, conferred annually to faculty members who have demonstrated an extraordinary record of accomplishment in scholarly research and/or creativity, as well as an excellent record of contributions as a teacher.”
Summit Moderator
Emily Nichols, P.Eng, B.Sc.(Eng), MA.Sc.(Eng) and S.e.n.s.e. (of Humour)
Speaking from the stage, the factory floor, or the TEDx red dot, Emily Nichols nudges technical people to embrace their human skills, so they can become better problem solvers, team players, and leaders.
A professional engineer with decades of experience in manufacturing and innovation, Emily has worked with organizations like PepsiCo, PPG, Janssen, and Henkel, improving products and processes from breakfast cereal to automotive paint and electrical steel. Emily easily connects at all levels of organizations, inspiring deeper understanding and collaborative teamwork.
Emily has a B.Sc. in Systems Engineering (University of Guelph) and a M.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering (McMaster University). She summarized her master’s thesis in five Dr. Seuss rhymes.