Keynote Speaker
Dr. Imogen R. Coe Professor and Dean, Faculty of Science, Ryerson University |
Dr. Imogen R. Coe is the founding Dean of the Faculty of Science at Ryerson University. She is also a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology and an affiliate scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Keenan Research Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital. Dr. Coe is a cell biologist whose research focuses on a group of proteins, known as transporters, that sit in cell membranes and control the entrance and exit of certain naturally occurring chemicals and also synthetic drugs used in the treatment of cancer, viral infections and parasitic infections. Dr. Coe is a vocal advocate for the engagement, retention, recruitment and promotion of girls and women in science and is known as a Canadian thought leader in this area. She has written and spoken on the issue of equity, diversity and inclusivity in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), locally and nationally, on numerous occasions and in diverse venues, including as a speaker at TEDx and as a blogger for the Huffington Post. In fall 2016 she was recognized by WXN as one of Canada's Top 100 Women, in the Trail Blazer category for her advocacy work promoting equity in STEM.
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Panelist Speakers
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Isabella O’Brien is a 15 year-old high school student at Westmount Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario. She has a keen interest in environmental issues and Canadian public policy and has participated in school, regional, virtual, national and international science fairs since the age of 9. In 2015, Isabella was chosen as one of the 20 global finalists for the Google Science Fair held at Google headquarters in San Francisco for her project on remediation of ocean acidification. She is the youngest person to represent Canada at this event. At both the 2016 and 2014 Canada Wide Science Fair, Isabella won a Gold Medal and the Environmental Challenge award for best in category. Also in 2015, Isabella was selected by Youth Science Canada to be the Broadcom MASTERS International delegate for Canada at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Pittsburgh. Isabella serves as the Ocean Youth Ambassador for the NGO Lemonsea, educating youth about the issue of ocean acidification through social media and via video link presentations at international climate change conferences (COP21 in Paris and COP22 in Marrakesh). Isabella formerly served as a Legislative Page at the Ontario Legislature in 2014 and is participating in the 2017 Ontario Legislature Model Parliament program.
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Isabella O'Brien Secondary Student and 2015 Global Google Science Fair Finalist |
Krista Shibata Leader, Women in Technology Initiative, IBM Canada |
Early in 2016, Krista Shibata was named the leader of the IBM Canada strategic initiative focused on closing the gap for Girls in STEM/Women in Technology. As part of the IBM Canada Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs team, Krista will be driving IBM's presence as a leader in driving positive change for girls in STEM and women in technology. Over 2016, IBM is proud to have hosted over 1,000 women and girls in various IBM STEM 4 Girls initiatives. Follow #IBMSTEM4Girls on Twitter. Prior to accepting her current role, Krista has held global leadership roles for IBM and Cognos in the areas of communications and marketing, mergers and acquisitions, as well as sales. Prior to joining high tech, Krista spent time in small business as well as amateur sports. Krista is currently a member of the IBM Ottawa Leadership Team, the Chair of the IBM Ottawa Women in IBM Networking Group (WING) as well as an IBM Canada Employee Engagement Leader. She is a 2015 alumni of the prestigious IBM Corporate Service Corps program through which she spent a month in Vietnam acting as a consultant. She is a current board member of the Women in Communications & Technology organization and previously sat as VP of the Children’s Bridge Adoption Agency Board of Directors. She lives in Ottawa with her husband, their two sons and her in-laws. She is an enthusiastic hockey mom who thrives on volunteering. She is an alumni of Queens University with a Bachelor of Science (Biology) degree with minors in Chemistry and Math. Follow Krista on Twitter @KristaShibata
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Dilesha Stelmach is a group benefits underwriter for a not-for-profit Health and Dental provider and claims adjudicator. She is currently working towards a level 1 Accounting Certification. She is a woman in Math and uses it daily in her career in finance, analytics and predictive mathematics. This includes, but is not limited to, Excel macro creation, Excel SS analytics, price setting, claims experience analytics, finance and reconciliation, to name a few. Dilesha serves on the board of directors at hEr VOLUTION, a Toronto-based not-for-profit that encourages girls and young women to pursue STEM based careers and promotes stakeholder’s involvement in the support of STEM education in Canada. Dilesha strives to be a voice of empowerment to marginalized groups, which include young women. Her work has always centred around race and gender equality and visibility.
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Dilesha Stelmach Group Underwriter at GSC |
Dr. Wendy Taylor Professor of Physics, York University |
Dr. Wendy Taylor is an experimental particle physicist and a professor at York University in Toronto. She works to discover the particles that matter and antimatter are made of, and how these particles interact with each other. As a particle physicist, she seeks to answer fundamental questions about our universe by conducting large experiments at the Large Hadron Collider where she gets to work with scientists from all over the world.
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Jennifer Turliuk’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Huffington Post, Fast Company, CBS national TV, and more. Her career highlights include doing marketing and PR for the Matterform 3D Scanner crowdfunding campaign (which raised over $471K – the most-funded Indiegogo campaign outside the US), helping build a 3D printer for a music video, launching an SMS-based disaster relief project during Hurricane Sandy, being selected as a Startup Chile entrepreneur (as part of a program run by the Government of Chile to foster entrepreneurship locally), creating her own self-education program which involved being 1 of the top 6 finalists in a competition to shadow Dave McClure of 500 Startups, leading the Canadian launch of Tide Pods (P&G’s biggest launch in 27 years), running Canada’s largest business plan competition (the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition), writing one of Forbes Greatest Hits articles, speaking on a panel discussion with Peter Thiel (founder of Paypal), doing a TEDx talk in Spanish, being invited to join MaiTai (a group of pro kiteboarders and entrepreneurs), and DJing for Red Bull. She attended the Graduate Studies Program at NASA’s Singularity University and business school at Queen’s University. In her spare time, she does independent marketing and strategy consulting and enjoys salsa dancing, extreme sports (such as kiteboarding), improv, 3D printing, and building electronic creations.
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Jennifer Turliuk CEO, MakerKids |
Theresa Chow PhD Candidate, University of Toronto |
Theresa Chow is a fifth year PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto. Prior to her PhD studies, she obtained her BSc from the University of Toronto with a double major in Physiology and Cell & Systems Biology. After completing her BSc, she enrolled in the MSc program in the Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto. Her MSc research used mouse models to understand bone marrow graft rejection, and this can help develop new and more successful bone marrow transplant regimens. Currently, she is doing her PhD at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital. For her PhD, she is interested in understanding how to make stem cells from patients and then teaching the stem cells to become kidney cells.
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Raeana Samuel is currently an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Science at the University of Waterloo. Raeana has worked extensively with Eng and Sci Outreach.
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Raeana Samuel Undergraduate Student, University of Waterloo |