The Iron Ring: Recent Episodes
Women in Engineering Concordia
Welcome to The Iron Ring, where engineering meets the round table. Each week, hosts from Women in Engineering Concordia will engage in news-worthy engineering conversations featuring amazing guests from many professional backgrounds. Listen on and learn more about this amazing industry in a new and exciting way!
Ever wondered about the opportunities an engineering degree brings and how you can excel in the industry? Hosts Alexandraand Ilrick, graduate student at Polytechnique and producer of Poly Disciplines, are joined by special guest Lesley Antoun to answer those very questions.
As the founder of her own consulting and coaching firm and member of the board of directors for PJCCI, The Concordia Alumni Association and Wainbee, Lesley guides us through her experiences as an engineer, where she was valued, and how she navigates this ever-growing industry.
Studying engineering can be tough and often stressful for many. Luckily, there are passionate students who look to add value to the engineering student life through guidance, helpful resources, activities, events, and much more.
In this episode, eight members from different engineering associations at the Gina Cody School discuss the benefits of joining societies and how it can help develop your skills that become assets to your professional and personal life.
Have you ever heard of a cell-phone screen that can repair itself after cracking? In this episode, WIE host Alexandra is joined by polymer chemist and PhD candidate Twinkal Patel to discuss her research into self-healing technologies. She discusses how the technology works, where it can be applied, and the importance of its continuous research. Bringing this technology to market will create endless benefits to our health, environment, entertainment, and so much more!
As we continue our discussion on bridging the gender gap, WIE host Alexandra is joined by Cassandra Polyzou and Jeanette Southwood from Engineers Canada who delve into the efforts being implemented by Canada to encourage diversity in engineering. In discussing the resources made available by the country, how we are stimulating an increase in female representation, and addressing why the current situation is unacceptable, we hope that this gives rise to more change and empowerment in the industry.
In this episode, co-hosts Alexandra and Emanuelle discuss a few of the many engineering disasters throughout history, exploring what went wrong and emphasizing an engineer's responsibility to public safety no matter the circumstances. Although horrific, these tragedies serve as an important learning tool for current and future engineers as well as highlight how we can properly react in situations without losing trust from the general public.
In this episode, WIE hosts Alexandra and Ruma follow the journey of Dr. Gina Cody, engineering alumni and donor to Concordia University, as she retells her story of becoming an engineer and how and why she became a huge advocate for empowering more women to enter the industry.
Artificial intelligence has become an imperative tool for modern-day technology whether in the form of smart assistants, autonomous vehicles, or even consumer behavior predictions. However, we are faced with issues surrounding the ethics of this technology, most notably with the current AI bias and the technology of deepfakes. In this episode, WIE host Alexandra is joined by Seynabou Gueye Ndiaye, a computer scientist at Sama and the Montreal City Lead for Women in AI, to discuss this very topic and dig deeper into the world of deep learning.
The gender gap in engineering has proven to be a continuous challenge we face globally. To understand more of how Quebec is addressing this, WIE hosts Alexandra and Alessandra are joined by special guest Kathy Baig, President of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec. We discuss with her the current and potential solutions to this issue, why they're important, and how we can encourage more women and girls to explore STEM programs.