WISE Conference 2025

Overview

Women in Science and Engineering proudly presented our 13th Annual National Conference on January 25-26, 2025! We have a lineup of incredible speakers, workshops, panelists, competitions, and company sponsors here to fuel your professional and personal development, widen the reach of your network, and ignite your drive to pursue your passions!

Conference Starts In:

Thank you to everyone who made WISE National Conference 2024 a huge success! We hope you enjoyed the conference and we look forward to seeing you next year! In the meantime, check out some recap photos below and/or visit our folder of photos.

Discounts

Thank you to the following schools for supporting the upcoming WISE Conference!
Please check back regularly for updates on discounts, as we will be adding new ones on a rolling basis.
For questions about discounts, please contact conference.academics@wise.skule.ca.

All emails and student numbers associated with any discounted purchase will be sent to the respective school and faculty to confirm enrollment.
Thus, for any discounted tickets, please ensure your affiliated school email is being used for the purchase.

Humber College

Humber College has generously offered to provide free tickets for 20 interested students. In order to receive this benefit, please purchase the ticket with promo code "HUMBERCOLLEGE_25!".
20/20 spots left
McMaster University

The McMaster University Women in Engineering has generously offered to cover $60 of the ticket price for 20 interested students. In order to receive this benefit, please purchase the ticket with promo code "MCMASTERWIE_25!".
20/20 spots left
Toronto Metropolitan University
Department of Mathematics
Toronto Metropolitan University has generously offered to provide free tickets for 2 interested mathematics students. Interested students should reach out to the Department of Mathematics for more information about this discount.
Undergraduate - Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science
Toronto Metropolitan University has generously offered to provide 70% off tickets for all interested architecture and engineering undergraduate students. In order to receive this benefit, please purchase the ticket with promo code "TMU_UNDERGRAD_ENGARCH_25!".
Graduate - Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science
Toronto Metropolitan University has generously offered to provide 70% off tickets for 15 interested architecture and engineering graduate students. In order to receive this benefit, please purchase the ticket with promo code "TMU_GRAD_ENGARCH_25!".
15/15 spots left
University of Guelph

The Doody Family Chair for the Women in Engineering at Guelph will support up to 17 attendees from the Guelph WiSE organization to attend the WISE National Conference. UG plans to support tickets and accommodations. Please reach out to Jean Hein or the UG WiSE organization!
17/17 spots left
University of Toronto
Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
The University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering has generously offered to provide 80% off tickets for 170 interested engineering students.
170/170 spots left
Department of Cell and Systems Biology
The University of Toronto Department of Cell and Systems Biology has generously offered to provide 50% off tickets for 6 interested cell and systems biology students. In order to receive this benefit, please purchase the ticket with promo code "UOFTCSB_25!".
6/6 spots left
Department of Chemistry
The University of Toronto Department of Chemistry has generously offered to provide free tickets for 10 interested chemistry undergraduate students. In order to receive this benefit, please purchase the ticket with promo code "UOFTCHEMISTRY_25!".
10/10 spots left
Department of Computer Science
The University of Toronto Department of Computer Science has generously offered to cover $75 of the ticket price for 20 interested computer science students. For the initial purchase, students pay the full ticket price, and after confirmation of attendance, $75 will be reimbursed. The Department of Computer Science will host a lottery to select students for these 20 spots. The link to the lottery will be shared here soon.
Department of Earth Sciences
The University of Toronto Department of Earth Sciences has generously offered to provide free tickets for 6 interested earth sciences students. In order to receive this benefit, please purchase the ticket with promo code "UOFTEARTHSCI_25!".
6/6 spots left
Western University
Faculty of Science
The Western University Faculty of Science has generously offered to provide free tickets for 40 interested science students. In order to receive this benefit, please purchase the ticket with promo code "WESTERNSCIENCE_25!".
40/40 spots left
Faculty of Engineering
The Western University Faculty of Engineering has generously offered to provide free tickets for 20 interested engineering students.
20/20 spots left

Past Speakers

Keynote

Dr. Nancy Olivieri

Professor of Pediatrics @ University of Toronto

Sarah Baldeo

CEO, Global Keynote & TEDx Speaker, 5x Founder, Neuroscientist, Technologist

Biotech Panel

Erin Bedford

Head of Bioprinting Innovation @ Aspect Biosystems

Leila Kheradpir

Program Director @ StarFish Medical

Daniella Lato

Data Scientist @ Recursion Pharmaceuticals

Sowmya Shivanna

Senior Manager Product Development @ RedRock Regeneration Inc.

Kristin Musselman

Assistant Professor @ University of Toronto

Robotics Panel

Chloë Ryan

CEO & Founder @ Acrylic Robotics

Melissa Greeff

Professor @ Queen's University

Onaizah Onaizah

Assistant Professor @ McMaster University

Christine Van Kirk

Software Development Engineer @ Amazon Robotics

Cybersecurity Panel

Megan Doherty

Cybersecurity Technical Specialist @ Microsoft Canada

Rekha Narang

Director of Technology @ Microsoft

Marissa Shiwdayal

Cybersecurity Transformation Lead @ CAE

Carol Fung

Associate Professor and Gina Cody Research Chair @ Concordia University

Pathways in Medicine Panel

Caroline Kramer

Associate Professor and Clinician-Scientist @ University of Toronto

Shiphra Ginsburg

Professor @ Department of Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Tatyana Mollayeva

Scientist @ KITE Toronto Rehab University Health Network, Assistant Professor @ Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Susan Poutanen

Associate Professor @ University of Toronto Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology & Medicine

Space Panel

Nathalie Nguyen-Quoc Ouellette

Deputy Director @ Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (UdeM), Outreach Scientist @ James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Emily Shepherdson

Member of Technical Staff in Mission Operations @ MDA

Bhairavi Shankar

CEO @ Indus Space Inc.

Marla Haring

Systems Design Engineer @ MDA

Health Policy and Tech Equity Panel

Dr. Nicole Kaniki

Director & Founder @ Senomi Solutions Inc.

Dr. Wendy J. Ungar

Senior Scientist @ SickKids

Tran Truong

Director of Data & Technology @ Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Recent Grads Panel

Amelia Mann

Associate @ CIBC Capital Markets

Andi He

Software Developer @ Intuit Canada

Zoha Khan

System Engineer @ OPG

Vicky Liu

Engineer @ Qualcomm

Women in Leadership Panel

Athiya Rastogi

CEO @ SnapWrite

Anitha Jeremiah

Planning Strategy Manager @ Labatt Breweries of Canada

Amy Wasik

Head @ Google Cloud Support Canada

Akanksha Shelat

Co-Founder and CTO @ Mind-Easy

Elham Taheri

Engineering Group Manager, ACP3 Software Quality, SDV integration @ GM Canada

Academia Panel

Yue Hu

Assistant Professor @ University of Waterloo

Magdalena Krol

Professor @ York University

Yu-Ru Liu

Professor @ University of Waterloo

Fireside Chat (Saturday)

Cassie Rosen

Planner @ IESO

Nandita Vijaykumar

Assistant Professor @ University of Toronto

Dimpho Radebe

PhD Candidate @ University of Toronto

Oana Voinicu

Senior Global Quality Director @ Cosma Group of Magna International

Fireside Chat (Sunday)

Jekaterina Novikova

Director of ML Research @ Cambridge Cognition, Science Lead @ ARVA

Alana Bailey

Co-Founder @ Sussed, Junior Engineer @ Jacobs

Lydia Cao

Postdoctoral Fellow

Competitions

The WISE National Conference (WISE NC) competitions provide an opportunity for participants from various fields to apply knowledge learned in class and solve real-world problems. We are pleased to present 3 competitions for the WISE NC 2025: 5 Minute Thesis, Qualcomm Case Competition, and BattleSnake Competition.

All conference attendees are eligible to participate! You must purchase a ticket for WISE NC 2025 before registering for our competitions. Please be advised that competitions registrations are accepted on a rolling, first-come-first-served basis for limited spaces.

Registration links will be released soon. Stay tuned!

5 Minute Thesis (5MT)

Students will present their research to a panel of judges and have the opportunity to showcase their findings to a wider audience. They will be given 5 minutes and a one slide limit to present their research. In partnership with URNCST, all abstracts will get published in their journal (as long as they follow our guidelines).

Only one slide is permitted.
No additional electronic media or props are allowed.
Presentations are limited to 5 minutes maximum and competitors exceeding 5 minutes will face a penalty.
Presentations will be assessed on communication, comprehension, engagement and quality of work.

Prizes: $300 will be rewarded for first place, $200 for second place and $100 for third place!

Qualcomm Case Competition

Participants work in teams to analyze and propose solutions to real-world engineering problems presented in the form of a case study. A detailed brief will be released closer to the competition date. The final design will be presented in front of a judging panel. Students can either register with a team or ask to be put in a team.

Students from different departments, faculties or institutions are welcome to participate on the same team.
The final design will be assessed on problem comprehension, quality of design, and presentation skills.

Prizes: To be announced!

BattleSnake Competition

Bring your coding skills to life in this thrilling BattleSnake tournament! Students, either individually or in pairs, will code a snake and compete against others in a series of head-to-head matches. This competition is open to all skill levels and students can sign up for either the beginner or advanced tournaments based on their experience. It is a great opportunity to practice, learn, and have fun in a friendly environment. Each snake's performance will be judged based on its survival time, the last one standing will win.

Prizes: The top 2 teams from each category (beginner and advanced) will receive one year access to Wolfram|One Professional Edition for which the full retail value is $1,660.

Workshops

Workshops are a wonderful way for you to more actively take part in the Conference! Our demos, activities, and guided discussions are designed to allow you to get exposure to new concepts, develop useful skills, and engage with fellow attendees. With the focus being more on skill-building, we believe that everyone will be able to find something useful and inspiring from attending these workshops, no matter where their interests lie.

More details will be updated about each workshop as the organizer team works to finalize them, so stay tuned!