To mark International Women’s Day during National Engineering Month, we have many initiatives and leading women worthy of spotlighting.
Here are five reasons we’re #MacEngProud on IWD:
1. Thousands of youth engaged in our STEM programming
In 2024, our Community Outreach team connected with 25,000 girls and young women across Canada through STEM programming. This included online workshops for Girl Guides Canada, building catapults at a Go Eng Girl event, interactive physics activities at Go Phys Girl and teaching coding basics through Go Code Girl. McMaster Engineering is the host for the Ontario Network of Women in Engineering (ONWiE) and Kim Jones, an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, is its current chair. Through ONWiE, McMaster works with other member schools to amplify STEM opportunities for youth.
2. Nearing gender parity for our incoming student cohort
Engineering and iBioMed students entering their first year in Fall 2024 included 48% women, a significant increase from 24% in 2019. This shift is the result of sustained efforts, including robust outreach programming to showcase STEM education and career paths and enhancing representation of women professors in our faculty to inspire future generations of engineers.
3. Women engineers in leadership roles
Heather Sheardown became the first woman dean when she took on the role in 2022. A grad of McMaster Engineering herself, Dean Sheardown was only one of two women in her 1989 Chemical Engineering graduating class. Today, two of our three Associate Deans are women: Sarah Dickson-Anderson for Undergraduate Studies and Kathryn Grandfield for Graduate Studies. In July 2025, Susan Tighe, a Civil Engineering Professor, will become the first woman engineer to serve as President of McMaster University.
4. Alumni shining bright across the world
Our alumni include standout women like Nobel Prize-winning physicist Donna Strickland ‘81 who was honoured in 2018 for her discovery of high-intensity laser pulses. Dr. Shari van de Pol ‘01, a recent YWCA Women of Distinction nominee and Engineering and Management grad, is innovating in the farming industry with her optimization business called CATTLEytics. Hira Nadeem, a 2020 Electrical Engineering grad, is now a Space Systems Engineer at Planet Labs in Silicon Valley. She was Canada’s first Brooke Owens Fellow and co-founded the Zenith Fellowship program to inspire others with a passion for aerospace.
5. Student groups advancing women in STEM
Women in Engineering (WiE) and McMaster Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) actively support and advance women in STEM through mentorship, networking and professional development opportunities. WiE recently partnered with the Centre for Career Growth and Experience to co-host the Women in Engineering networking and industry night that drew more than 200 students and a panel of women in industry. WISE is hosting an IWD conference featuring Dean Sheardown as a keynote speaker.
