Women in Science and Engineering
Femmes en sciences et en ingénierie
WISE/FSI
Ottawa-Carleton ChapterWISE choices for a better world...
Fall 1998



A Message from the President

There are some exciting news to share this year with our members and members-to-be! The new executive has restructured the Ottawa-Carleton Chapter to include two new student Branches created over the summer. An enthusiastic team is leading each Branch. The students will participate in many if our Chapter's events and they have also planned some of their own. All of these initiatives will provide the platform for a very educational and entertaining year for WISE members.

It is a privilege for me to be associated with the Ottawa-Carleton WISE Chapter. In July 1997, I permanently moved back to my native town, the city of Ottawa to become the chair holder of the NSERC/Nortel Joint Chair for Women in Science and Engineering in Ontario. In this capacity, I am currently concentrating my main efforts on both the recruitment and the retention of women in fields where there are well-paying and interesting jobs. I also feel that the mentoring that this organisation can provide women in all fields related to science and engineering, students and professionals, can be most valuable when such support is needed. We all have periods of great strength and success, and moments of vulnerability or stress, and the nurturing that can be provided to us in these times is invaluable.



I hope to see many of you join the Chapter in the very near future. The quality and content of our programs will be enhanced by an increased membership. Please send me or other members of the executive some suggestions of events and ideas that you would like to see in our future programs. We are there to serve YOU!

Un message de la présidente

Une nouvelle année commence pour notre Chapitre Ottawa-Carleton des femmes en sciences et en ingénierie et vous allez trouver un programme des plus intéressant! L'exécutif est fier de vous donner plusieurs bonne nouvelles, dont la création d'une section étudiante dans chacune des deux universités de la région. Nous aurons aussi l'occasion de rencontrer d'excellentes conférencières, tel que Margaret Burbidge, astro-physicienne. Nous avons également planifié une visite de Julie Payette pour l'automne 1999.

Nous espérons que certaines d'entre vous allez considérer un poste de leadership dans notre prochain exécutif lors des élections en mai 99.

Au plaisir de vous voir bientôt!


Ottawa-Carleton WISE Executive 1998-1999


President Monique Frize
Vice-PresidentSue Kolloru
Treasurer/Membership Ann Therriault
Secretary Jennifer Flanagan
Programs Colleen Ennett
Newsletter/Publicity Natalie St.Denis-Byrne
Education Outreach Paula Terpstra
CCWEST Rep. Sue Kolloru
Past President Anne Gribbon

WISE web site:
http://www.carleton.ca/wise

Mailing address for our Chapter:
Ottawa-Carleton WISE Chapter
BOX 35037
Westgate P.O.
1309 Carling Avenue
Ottawa ON K1Z 7L3


Student Branches:
U of O Coordinator Louise Vaillancourt
U of O Web site:
http://www.science.uottawa.ca
Carleton Coordinator Rebecca Llewellyn
Carleton Web site:
http://WISE.engsoc.carleton.ca



WISE choices for a better world...



Coming Events...


Wine and Cheese - Networking Event
For: Professionals and students
Date: October 27, 1998
Time: 6 to 8 p.m.
Where: University of Ottawa, Colonel By Hall, Room A707

For professionals and students, members and non-members, this event will enable women in related fields of science and engineering to share some stories and make new friends. Debbie Pinard, Director, Software Development at Mitel Corporation and Ann Therriault geologist at NRCan, Geological Survey of Canada, will join us and share a few anecdotes with us. If you are not a member, this is your chance to meet us, and see what our organisation is all about. Tickets for the next event "Women in Science - The Glass Ceiling Then and Now" will be available at this event.

Debbie Pinard is currently Director, Software Development at Mitel Corporation. She has worked in the telecommunications industry since 1979 after graduating from the University of Ottawa with a B.Sc. in mathematics and a B.Sc. in physics. In 1981 she joined Mitel to work on call processing for Mitel's SX2000 PBX. In the following years, she held various positions within the company, all related to the topic of call control. In 1993 she was promoted to Director of the Strategic technology group, which worked on next generation convergent communications systems, using intelligent agent technology. Debbie is now working on applying these techniques to Mitel's next generation products. She currently holds 19 patents, with 20 pending.

Ann Therriault is currently a geologist at NRCan Geological Survey of Canada and is completing a Ph.D. in geology at the University of Ottawa. She worked at NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston for a period of three years while doing her master's thesis at the University of Houston. The purpose of her research was to "artificially" reproduce lunar regolith (sand). Since 1995, she has published a number of papers discussing impact craters and shock metamorphism. Further to her professional activities, Ann is the mother of a one year old girl and enjoys team sports as well as playing the piano.



Come and meet these wonderful women and many more!



Women in Science - The Glass Ceiling Then and Now
Guest Speaker: Margaret Burbidge
Date: November 13, 1998
Time: 6 to 9 pm (Presentation and dinner)
Where: R.A. Centre (Bronson & Riverside)
Fee: $20 for members/$15 for student members/$25 for non-members
(For tickets please contact any of the executive members)

Margaret Burbidge is one of today's best known women astronomers. She received her PhD at the University of London Observatory in 1943 and has since made fundamental contributions to the field of astronomy. In 1972, she became the first woman named to the prestigious position of Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Herstmonceux, England. She also played a major role in the development of one of the first instruments for the Hubble Space Telescope and was a leader of the Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) project, from 1979 to 1998. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her scientific accomplishments amongst which she was elected as member of the National Academy of Science in 1972; she was the first women to receive the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Medal from the Astronomical Society of the pacific in 1982; and she received the National Medal of Science in 1984. Margaret Burbidge is presently Professor Emeritus at the University of California in San Diego.

Abstract "My account of early days in astronomy is often greeted with disbelief - were women really forbidden to use telescopes at major universities? I will give an account of the situation in the 1950's and strategies for battling with what was more like a barred gate (the gate to the mountaintops) than a ceiling."




We hope to see you soon!



WISE choices for a better world...