Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Dr. Eugene Fiume
Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences

The Faculty of Applied Sciences is hugely supportive of the efforts made by the organizations that support SFU's woman students, staff, and faculty in engineering, science, and technology in attracting more women to STEM. For our part, we recognise that this is a long-term issue in which equity, diversion, and inclusion is interleaved with all aspects of our work. Our faculty is deeply engaged in mutually supporting efforts, from developing new approaches to faculty hiring, to redesigning educational curricula, and to expanding our reach beyond the university to expand the future pool of qualified students. It is a long road to which we are fully committed, and we are seeing some of the fruits of our work in the significantly increased participation rate of women in our new School of Sustainability Energy Engineering. We hope to transfer that success to our others schools in the coming months and years.

Dr. Sarah D. Johnson
Associate Dean, Learning – Faculty of Science

The underrepresentation of women, people of colour, indigenous peoples and other groups in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is a long-standing issue that deserves our attention. Things have improved substantially since I was a physics graduate student, but some fields such as physics, engineering and computer science still have a long way to go. Over the years SFU WEST has provided support to academia, industry and community organizations in their efforts to address the underrepresentation of women via initiatives that address the equity, diversity and inclusiveness of STEM. 

I am very familiar with the activities of SFU WEST, having received support for outreach activities aimed at girls in STEM from several of their programs myself. I look forward to finding ways that the Faculty of Science can collaborate with SFU WEST to advance our common goal of making STEM a more equitable, diverse and inclusive space.

Dr. Mary-Catherine Kropinski
Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Faculty of Science

Over the past decade, significant progress has been made towards increasing the representation of women participating in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at all levels, from students to leaders in academia and industry. However, all too many of the systemic barriers that I faced as a graduate student in the 90’s remain today. Gender-based violence continues to cut promising science careers short, and women still face bias at pivotal points in their career: in selection for awards, negotiating salary, or applying for promotion. The COVID-19 pandemic is a painful reminder of just how fragile are the gains made for women and other equity-deserving groups. Whether it was through significant caretaking responsibilities or additional emotional labour, it is predicted that the progress women in science have made could be set back years. This makes the organizations that support SFU's female students, staff, and faculty in engineering, science, and technology all the more critical.

Women in STEM organizations at SFU continue to provide essential advocacy, research, education, and opportunities supporting women in STEM on the west coast and across Canada. The Faculty of Science at Simon Fraser enthusiastically supports these organizations and we look forward to future collaborations.