19 June 2016

The Chair for Women in Science and Engineering from Québec’s regional office of the NSERC has been officially launched at the Université de Sherbrooke, along with a brand new training kit for the elementary school level.

Led by Eve Langelier, professor in the Faculty of Engineering, this Chair’s purpose is to increase the number of women and of female students in science and engineering and to showcase female models in academic and professional settings.

Eve Langelier, holder of the Chair for Women in Science and Engineering, Patrik Doucet, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Julie Maltais, representative of the CA of the Foundation of the University of Sherbrooke, and Serge Villemure, management of research grants and bursaries from NSERC

Among the 60 000 members of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec in 2014-2015, only 13.7% of them were women. “Research shows that businesses with a high proportion of women in senior management positions have better results in terms of performance and quality,” explained the Chairholder.

The Chair, which comes with a near $1 M-budget for the period of 2015-2020, has several partners: the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Faculty of Engineering of the Université de Sherbrooke, the UdeS Foundation, the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQ-NT), GE Aviation Bromont, the Aéroports de Montréal, Telus Québec, and Varitron Granby.

The Chair also unveiled a major accomplishment at the end of its first year of existence: a training tool focused on learning about technology for grade 6 students. This kit, called Safari-photo au Labo-Sphère, includes the student workbooks, teacher guides, and a pamphlet for parents. The kit is available for free at http://bit.ly/1XktEiD.

Source : Université de Sherbrooke
Photo Credit : Michel Caron, UdeS