About Us

Monique Frize is Distinguished Professor (retired) at Carleton University and Professor Emerita at the University of Ottawa. She was a clinical engineer (1971-1989) and a Professor since 1989. Monique published over 200 papers on artificial intelligence in medicine, infrared imaging, ethics, and women in engineering and science. She is Fellow and Life Member of IEEE (2012), Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (1992), Fellow of Engineers Canada (2010), Officer of the Order of Canada (1993), and recipient of the 2010 Gold Medal from Professional Engineers Ontario and the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers. She received five honourary doctorates. Monique held the national Northern Telecom/NSERC Chair for women in engineering at the University of New Brunswick (1989-1997), and the NSERC/Nortel Chair for women in science and engineering for Ontario (1997-2002). A founding member of INWES (International Network of women engineers and scientists), she was president (2002-2008). A founding member of the INWES Education and Research Institute (now Canadian Institute for Women in Engineering and Science), she is president since 2007. Her books: The Bold and the Brave: A history of women in science and engineering was published by University of Ottawa Press in 2009 and her Memoirs in 2019.

Claire Deschênes was holder of one of the NSERC Chair for women in science and engineering from 1997 to 2005. As such, she was member or Chair of numerous boards. She is co-founder of three non-profit organizations of women in S&E: Affestim, CIWES (former INWES-ERI) and INWES.

Throughout her career, Claire Deschênes published many journals papers and collective books. She is the current director of the international multidisciplinary journal Recherches féministes, and president of AFFESTIM and CIWES-ICFIS.

Claire Deschênes has received numerous awards and distinctions for her career. Among these, she has been named Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2021 and Member of the Order of Canada in 2019. She received two honorary doctorates, from the University of Sherbrooke in 2019 and from the University of Ottawa. She was awarded the Prix du Québec Lionel-Boulet in 2020 for her scientific career and for her contribution to the economic growth of Quebec (1st woman). In 2019, she lent her name to the Claire-Deschênes Postdoctoral Fellowship Competition of the Université de Sherbrooke. She received in 2015

Ruby Heap is currently Professor Emerita at the University of Ottawa’s Department of History.  During her career, Ruby committed herself to the development of Francophone and Anglophone scholarship and student training in the fields of educational history and of women’s and gender history. She co-founded (1989) and co-edited the journal Historical Studies in Education/Revue d’histoire de l’éducation, and was appointed in 1999 as Founding Director of the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Women’s Studies. She then served as associate dean at the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and, more recently, as associate vice-president, research. During this period, Ruby also began researching the still largely unknown history of women in Canadian engineering. Through her involvement with the INWES Education and Research Institute (INWES-ERI), she also advocated the interdisciplinary study of women in STEM, and called for the creation of a national Archive devoted to their history in Canada, a project that came to fruition in 2018.

 Ruby Heap is the recipient of the Professional Engineers of Ontario’s President Award (2010), of the Order of Academic Palms from the French Republic (2016) and of the Royal Society of Canada’s Ursula Franklin Prize in Gender Studies (2018).

Marina Bokovay is a professional archivist with over 10 years experience working in the fields of archives and records management.  Marina has degrees from Queen’s University, Kingston and the University of Toronto.

Marina is the current Head of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Ottawa Library, a role she has been in since April 2018. In her short time at uOttawa, she oversaw the launch of the Canadian Archive of Women in STEM initiative and the building of a new database that amalgamates information about the archives of women in STEM from across the country.   

Prior to uOttawa, Marina was the Archivist and Records Manager for Victoria University in the University of Toronto and spent 7 years with the Ontario Government before that.  

Marina has a strong interest in preserving the documentary heritage of women in Canada and ensuring that researchers are connected with the information they need.  Besides the Archive of Women in STEM initiative, Marina’s current focus is around digital records preservation and ensuring that records on legacy formats are not lost.

Troy Eller English is the archivist for the Society of Women Engineers, based at the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University in Detroit. Since becoming the SWE archivist in 2008, she has worked to raise the profile and relevance of the archives in celebrating the achievements of the Society and its members, supporting the Society’s current mission, and informing its future decision-making. She is also producer for Tales from the Reuther Library, of a podcast featuring stories about labor history, Detroit, and Wayne State University, as told by the Reuther’s archivists and researchers. Outside the Reuther, Eller English is co-editor for the Michigan Archival Association newsletter; serves on the steering committee for To Boldly Preserve, an organization working to preserve the history of American space flight; and consults on archives for the Detroit Curling Club and the U.S. Women’s Curling Association.

Sandra Corbeil is the Director Strategic Partnerships and Networks for Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation. Sandra has more than 25 years working as an education, communication, and outreach leader and is a member of a number of national organisations that promote partnership and collaboration in STEM ecosystem.  She is responsible for the creation of Ingenium’s award-winning Summer Institute for Elementary Teachers and most recently led Ingenium’s Women in STEM initiative which includes a travelling exhibition, free online posters and resources as well as a series of Instagram Videos showcasing women in STEM.  She has a strong interest in advocating for equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.

Rumina Velshi is President and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. She was appointed for a five-year term in August 2018. She began her service on the Commission in 2011 as a Commission member. She has also served as a Board member on the Ontario Energy Board.

Previously, Rumina worked in the nuclear industry, holding progressive positions of responsibility at Ontario Hydro and Ontario Power Generation. 

Rumina is very active in the promotion of STEM careers, especially for young women. She served as Vice Chair on the Board of Directors of Scientists in School and has been a dedicated ambassador for Women in Nuclear for many years. She was a founding member of Canada’s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) organization.

As CNSC President, she brings attention to the need and benefits of gender diversity in the nuclear industry through her many speaking engagements across Canada and the world. She is currently leading several initiatives to advance women in STEM careers in nuclear energy, one of which is called DAWN: Driving the Advancement of Women in Nuclear.  

Rumina holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Civil Engineering, a Master of Nuclear Engineering, and a Master of Business Administration, all from the University of Toronto.

Jennifer’s track-record for successful partnership development and stewardship has attracted multinational private sector partners and public sector partners from every corner of the country. These include Google, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, RBC, Finning, GE, Government of Canada, Government of Nunavut, and many more.

Jennifer has thrice been named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, is the recipient of a Y Women of Distinction Award (Education and Training), was named a Top Forty Under 40 and the RBC Women Entrepreneur of the Year in the social change category.

Jennifer holds a BSc from the University of New Brunswick, an MBA from McGill and was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science and Engineering from Concordia University.

Over the course of the past 35 years, Mr. Dufour has served as a senior adviser in science policy with several Canadian federal science ministers, agencies and organizations. He has served as a senior program specialist with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and interim Executive Director at the former Office of the National Science Advisor to the Canadian Government; advising on international S&T policies. Mr. Dufour was a member of the Science and Policy Exchange board, and was a member of the Gold Medal winning Canadian International Polar Year National Committee. Mr. Dufour is a member of the Executive Committee of Canadian Women in Science and Engineering, and is a senior editor for the FACETS science journal. He has also served as an investment committee member for Grand Challenges Canada on global health for several years. He is a mentor to the Youth Council advising the Chief Science Advisor to the Government of Canada.

Mr. Dufour lectures regularly on science policy at national and international forums and has authored numerous articles on international S&T relations and Canadian innovation, science diplomacy and knowledge policy. He is the series co-editor of the Cartermill Guides to World Science and is the author of the Canada chapter for the UNESCO 2010, 2015 and 2021 Science Reports. More recently he has co-edited books on the history of the Science Council of Canada, as well as the speeches of Nobel Laureate Gerhard Herzberg on the value of science in society and culture.

Mr. Dufour was the first recipient of the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) award for Exceptional Contribution to Science Policy in 2019.