Over the summer of 2020, American chemist Dr. Devin Swiner was paying close attention as Twitter campaigns promoting scientists of colour started taking off. “I thought I’d love to curate a #BlackinChem campaign. I looked around and said, ‘Who is down to help with that?’” The result? A hugely successful week of networking.
Read More >>Through the “My STEM Stories” webinar, CWIC created a platform for persons from marginalized groups to share their story about working in STEM. CWIC provided science communication training in order to teach participants how to create a video telling their personal STEM story, and will share the content on a YouTube channel with a target audience of people who are interested in pursuing STEM. It will be a place for students (high school, undergraduate, etc.) to connect with Canadian graduate students through their video story, so that they would understand what a role in STEM is like, and see diverse people filling these positions.
Read More >>In 2020 David Schlachter, a chemical engineering graduate student at Polytechnique Montréal, attended the Canadian Science Policy Conference on behalf of the CIC. At the conference David attended a panel discussion on the social contract between science and the public, and he has shared the highlights of this panel discussion.
Read More >>The Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference (CCEC) 2020’s special equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) programming brought EDI to the forefront of the conversations happening in the Canadian chemical engineering community. This special program was presented at CCEC in collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). With a plenary panel, symposia presentations, and an interactive...
Read More >>2SLGBTQ+ and ally CIC members James Gauld, John Hayward, Tricia Carmichael, and Marcus Drover at the University of Windsor are involved in organizing the LGBTQ+ STEM Conference, which will be happening virtually from Oct. 5-9th, 2020. This year’s conference is building off the successes of last year’s inaugural event, and will bring together STEM professionals...
Read More >>On Twitter, from August 10-15th, is #BlackinChem week! It’s a time to celebrate and highlight chemists of the past, present, and future. Each day is going to be centered around a different subdivision and we’ll be having other events throughout the week – from an undergrad-centered Elevator Speech Competition to networking opportunities and ending the...
Read More >>The Canadian Society for Chemistry’s Working group for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (WIDE) has become a permanent committee and the group’s director, Kim Baines, FCIC, has been named as its chair. This move, which was part of the CSC’s most recent board meeting, was highlighted as part of a formal commitment to equity, diversity, and...
Read More >>Although Pride month around the world varies depending on location, in honor of the Stonewall Riots June has become a de facto touchpoint to celebrate the 2SLGBTQ+ (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, + many more) community and to raise awareness of issues that face the community. This year, Pride month has taken place during...
Read More >>The indefatigable scientist Richard Feynman once defended the subjectivity of beauty by pointing out that if our eyes were receptive to a different part of the electromagnetic spectrum, the only description of a rainbow would be found in dry research papers, devoid of all the romance we associate with this phenomenon. On the other hand,...
Read More >>The CIC is celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science (February 11th)! We know that many of you in the Canadian chemical sciences community will be hosting or attending an IUPAC Global Women’s Breakfast on February 12th. There are more than 20 events happening in Canada from coast to coast and we encourage...
Read More >>On October 4th and 5th, 2019, the University of Windsor hosted the LGBTQ+ in STEM conference, a first of its kind event in Canada, with participants from across Canada and a few from the US. The Chemical Institute of Canada was a proud supporter of this event, which brought together LGBTQ+ people and allies to...
Read More >>There is a perception that chemistry is an objective science, one that should be unaffected by the personal. We know that is not the case. We know that women...
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