SWEEET 2014:
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Sunday, 25 May 2014
Symposium: 9 am-12 pm (lunch 12-1 pm) Location: Room 151 Bronfman building, McGill University, 1001 Sherbrooke Street W., Montreal, QC |
Everyone attending the Genomes to/aux Biomes conference is welcome to participate in SWEEET. The goals of the 2014 symposium are to:
The symposium features three speakers, a large group discussion, and a catered lunch. Our first speaker, Dr. Steven Spencer (University of Waterloo), will talk about his research in identifying stereotype threat as a challenge to women’s performance in STEM fields. Next, two faculty members, Dr. Catherine Potvin (McGill University) and Dr. Yolanda Morbey (Western University), will speak about their experiences advocating for themselves in their careers as scientists. Following the presentations, we will open the floor for questions and group discussions. The symposium will close with a catered buffet lunch, allowing participants time for informal discussion with SWEEET panellists, guests, organizers, and each other.
- Discuss and learn about the reasons someone may not be an effective self-advocate in science, and
- Develop tools to improve key skills in self-advocacy.
The symposium features three speakers, a large group discussion, and a catered lunch. Our first speaker, Dr. Steven Spencer (University of Waterloo), will talk about his research in identifying stereotype threat as a challenge to women’s performance in STEM fields. Next, two faculty members, Dr. Catherine Potvin (McGill University) and Dr. Yolanda Morbey (Western University), will speak about their experiences advocating for themselves in their careers as scientists. Following the presentations, we will open the floor for questions and group discussions. The symposium will close with a catered buffet lunch, allowing participants time for informal discussion with SWEEET panellists, guests, organizers, and each other.
Invited Speakers
Dr. Steven Spencer, Professor, University of Waterloo
Talk: "How Stereotype Undermine Women's Success in Engineering and What We Can Do About It"
Dr. Spencer conducts research on motivation and the self, particularly on how these factors affect stereotyping and prejudice. He has begun to examine how implicit processes that are outside of people's awareness affect people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. He looks at how threats to the self-concept can lead to stereotyping and prejudice, and how this affects subsequent feelings about the self. In his other research, he examines how being a member of a stereotyped group affects people's self-concept and academic performance.
You can read more about Dr. Spencer's lab and his research interests in reducing stereotype threat and understanding prejudice.
Dr. Spencer conducts research on motivation and the self, particularly on how these factors affect stereotyping and prejudice. He has begun to examine how implicit processes that are outside of people's awareness affect people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. He looks at how threats to the self-concept can lead to stereotyping and prejudice, and how this affects subsequent feelings about the self. In his other research, he examines how being a member of a stereotyped group affects people's self-concept and academic performance.
You can read more about Dr. Spencer's lab and his research interests in reducing stereotype threat and understanding prejudice.
Dr. Catherine Potvin, Professor, McGill University and Trottier Fellow, Trottier Institute for Science & Public Policy
What I like to do on weekends is walking in the forest. And this is also what I do as a professor at McGill University. I am a plant biologist who specialized in tropical forest ecology and conservation. Tropical forests play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle and for species conservation. Besides they are amazingly beautiful and express the full imagination of nature! I am very preoccupied by climate change and, with my research group, we are passionately searching for solutions. These entail the study of land uses and the protection of forests in full respect for the people that live in or from them. For 20 years now I have been collaborating and learning from Panama’s indigenous people. Outside of academia they are my main partner. This is why the banner of our laboratory is “Science for empowerment”. How did I get there? I earned a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. at l’Université de Montréal, and then, in 1985 I completed a Ph.D. in botany from Duke University in North Carolina. My next step was to come back Montréal for postdoctoral studies in statistics. I joined the Biology Department at McGill University 25 years ago already. Besides all, this I am a proud mother and grand-mother!
Dr. Yolanda Morbey, Associate Professor, Western University
Ever since childhood, Yolanda has had a love of nature, science, playing games, and doing jigsaw puzzles. Over time and across several degrees, these passions helped direct her into the field of behavioural ecology - a discipline requiring the perfect combination of theory and empirical studies of wild populations. Yolanda's trajectory was fairly predictable up to a point - she completed a B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D, and post-doc in quick succession. Starting a family then complicated life, making the next transition more challenging. According to Yolanda, the job market at the time was quite open. She successfully landed a position as Research Scientist for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources where she worked for two years. Although a great job, her family was now split between London and Owen Sound. In large part due to NSERC's now-defunct University Faculty Award program, Yolanda eventually secured a tenure-track position at Western University. Currently, Yolanda has a very active research group, with students using salmonid fishes as a model system to further our understanding of how individuals cope with environmental variation and change.
Further information about self-advocacy
For more information about the importance of self-advocacy in science, see our resources pages on peer-reviewed literature and agency reports, or check out these links:
- Putting your best foot forward: Self advocacy for scientists (US National Institute of Health)
- Role of gender in workplace negotiations (e! Science News)
- Selling yourself with your (tenure) packet (Woman of science blog) and other posts on self-promotion and stereotype threat
- Why (and how) men should advocate gender equity (Women in astronomy blog), and the related Don’t be that dude: Handy tips for the male academic (Tenure she wrote blog)
- Promote yourself (Scientopia - Science Professor blog)
- The Self-Promotion Stakes (Athene Donald's blog)
2014 Organizing CommitteeAcademic and Society Sponsors
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