| When: | Tuesday, April 15th, 2025 |
| Time: | 1:00 pm — 2:00 pm |
| Location: | Herzberg Laboratories, 4351 |
| Audience: | Anyone |
| Contact: | Rima Mattar, rima.mattar@carleton.ca |
Join Carleton Science and Dr. Tricia Carmichael—Professor at the University of Windsor and Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the Canadian Society for Chemistry—for Hidden Stories in STEM.
In academia, we project success and hide challenges – particularly mental health challenges. Highly idealized biographies portray scientists as extraordinarily dedicated, working superhuman hours and having big Eureka moments. Communicating the highlights without the context of real struggles and challenges presents a distorted version of reality, setting up an unhealthy definition of success that is impossible to live up to.
In this presentation, Dr. Carmichael will tell the story of her career, from her PhD in organometallic chemistry to leading an interdisciplinary research program on stretchable and wearable electronic devices. Partially confessional and partly scientific, this event will explore the reality of being a scientist and how lived experience and diverse perspectives are superpowers that we can use to create real systemic change.
This presentation is part of the ACE EDI Event Series which aims to increase Awareness, Collaboration and Engagement (ACE), and advance Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) efforts in the Faculty of Science.
About the speaker:
Tricia Breen Carmichael is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Windsor. She received her Ph.D. in 1996 from the University of Windsor, held postdoctoral positions at MIT and Harvard University, and then joined the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York as a Research Staff Member in organic electronics. She currently leads an interdisciplinary research program on stretchable and wearable electronic devices and printed electronics, with highlights that include new textile-based wearable electronics (e-textiles), wearable electroluminescent fabrics, soft and stretchable light-emitting devices, and the first transparent butyl rubber for next-generation stretchable electronics.
She is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Flexible and Printed Electronics (Institute of Physics) and the Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the Canadian Society for Chemistry. Dr. Carmichael has received many awards over her career, and is most proud of those for her EDI work, including the Mary Lou Dietz Equity Leadership Award for demonstrating leadership through contributions to creating an equity culture on campus, the University of Windsor Office of Human Rights, Equity and Accessibility OHREA Award, the University of Windsor Impact Award for co-organizing the first LGBTQ+ in STEM conference in Canada, and the Rotary Peace Chain Link Award.