Speaker Series - Women of Today

See here for the full recording of the speaker series!

In this one of a kind virtual event attendees heard from three generations of incredible women in engineering: Denise Pothier is a phenomenal leader in the field of engineering; Sierra Sparks is an Engineer in Training, Rhodes Scholar, and an outstanding voice for young women in engineering; Lila Gechtman has shown an interest in STEM since an early age and is an incredible example of the next generation of women engineers. This was a moderated session with the goal of having meaningful conversations around barriers women face in entering the profession historically dominated by men.

The session helped identify barriers that can be addressed and provided a forum for women to connect in a time when we are living so much of our lives disconnected from our communities.

Denise Pothier has a background in chemical engineering and more than twenty-five years of industry experience. She is currently the Vice President of Practice Services and was the first-ever Vice President of Indigenous Relations at Stantec. Since joining Stantec, she has helped develop, build, and now supports Stantec’s Diversity and Inclusion council. She is a firm believer that a diverse and representative employee base, led by a diverse and representative leadership team, enhances and strengthens the cultures of quality, innovation, and health and safety within an organization. She sits on the board of directors of Center for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE), and the NSCC Foundation; she is the past chair for the Indigenous Advisory Committee for Engineers Canada. She is a recipient of 2016 the Canadian Progress Club Halifax Women of Excellence Award for Management and the Professions; was named as one of the 2018 Canada’s Inspiring Fifty women in STEM; was named one of 2018 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners; in 2019, she was named one of Athabasca University’s 25 Hall of Fame Alumni; and most recently was named as one of Dalhousie University’s Aurum Award Winners for 2020.

Sierra is recent graduate of electrical engineering from Dalhousie University, and will be pursuing graduate studies in biomedical engineering at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar next fall. She has been actively involved with the engineering community within Nova Scotia and across Canada. She has held leadership positions at the local level with the Dalhousie Undergraduate Engineering Society and the Dalhousie Women in Engineering Society, and at the national level with the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students as the Vice President Academic. She is passionate about increasing the number of women and underrepresented youth in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), which she does through her involvement with the Women in Engineering community, and through an African Nova Scotian Math tutoring program. Sierra wishes to continue to be an advocate and role model for young people in and outside of engineering.

Lila Gechtman is a grade 10 student at Halifax West. She hopes to pursue a career in engineering because she loves math, science, and solving problems, and wants to work in a field where women are underrepresented. Along with her academics Lila plays the piano and loves to do sports such as rugby, track and field, and gymnastics.

Aparna Mohan (she/her) is an incoming final year Industrial Engineering student and international student at Dalhousie University. She complements her engineering education with rigorous leadership and advocacy roles within the engineering community and beyond. Most notably, she has served on the Dalhousie Senate as the Faculty of Engineering Representative and currently serves the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES) as its Vice President Advocacy.