Dr. Kim Jones

Expertise

Intersections of gender and other dimensions of identity in navigating engineering spaces, inclusive teamwork, engineering outreach, mentorship, host responses to biomaterials.

Areas of Specialization

Bioengineering

Research Clusters

Health & Bio-innovation

Associate Professor

Chemical Engineering

Overview

Research Interests

After starting her research career in biomedical engineering (which is still fascinating), Dr. Jones shifted to investigating and overcoming inequities in engineering.

Inclusive Teamwork

Engineering, despite appearances, is not meritocratic. Many aspects of identity (e.g. gender, race, sexual orientation, socio-economic status) affect interactions within teams. How do students experience stress in team situations? How do they navigate social networks? How do they form teams and what is the effect of diversity within teams? What roles do students take and how does that influence learning? What interventions can we design to ensure inclusive experiences?

Intersectional Identities and Engineering Experiences

Lived experience affects our confidence, future decisions and choices. Dr. Jones wants to understand how intersecting identities including gender, race, culture, immigrant status, sexual orientation and ability affect experiences inside and outside engineering classrooms.

Mentorship as a Tool for Inclusion

Mentors are often cited as essential in career growth. What does effective mentorship look like? How can we provide mentors to equity-deserving groups? What are the benefits to mentors?

Biomedical Engineering

Dr. Jones has looked at host responses to biomaterials including inflammation, fibrosis and adaptive immunity (adjuvant-type responses), tissue engineering, cultivated meat, bioreactors and stress responses in plants.

Biography

Dr. Kim Jones is the Chair of the Ontario Network of Women in Engineering (ONWiE), which drives and coordinates province-wide efforts to recruit a diverse population into the study of engineering. She is an associate professor of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University, where she has done research into the body’s response to implanted biomaterials and now investigates issues of inclusion in engineering. She has served as the Engineering Leadership Fellow (focusing on inclusion), the Chair of the Women in Engineering Committee, Associate Chair (Undergraduate) of Chemical Engineering, the Hamilton-Halton Engineer of the Year, and is an Engineers Canada 30×30 Champion. She has been a feminist since birth and enthusiastically drives outreach, equity and inclusion efforts.

Education