CU-WISE Blogs

History was made this month when 2 female astronauts, Christina Koch and Jessica Meir,  embarked on NASA’s first all-women space walk.  What is the Artemis Program? Artemis is NASA’s new lunar exploration program which plans to send the first women and next man on the Moon in 2024.  The first missions to the Moon were achieved by NASA, and landing the first man on the Moon in 1969. That program was dubbed the Apollo program. Fun Fact! If you are familiar with Greek mythology, you will know that Apollo is known as the Sun god. Artemis was Apollo’s twin sister and known as the Moon goddess.  The all-women spacewalk was set to take place months prior, in March 2019. After experiencing the spacesuit in flight (not on Earth), Christina Koch and Anne McClain came to realize that plans would have to be scrapped as the large spacesuit size was not feasible to continue the spacewalk. A proper spacesuit fit is required for astronauts to preven...

For those of us struggling to get back into school mode, don’t worry! I’ve complied a back to school checklist that may offer some help. Try to keeps these tips in mind as we enter the first week of the 2019-2020 school year.  Before going to class Try to go to class 10-15 minutes early (if your schedule allows it). I prefer to lounge outside the classroom, catch up with friends and classmates. Also it is great because you get to grab the seat of your choice and as you already know, classes are pretty full the first few weeks. Trust me, you do not want to be that person sitting on the staircase. Read the course outline before attending class. It will give you an idea of what to expect.   Keep track of all important dates for the term. Assignment deadlines and midterm dates may already be posted.  Pack these stationary essentials: Pen/pencil Notebook Agenda (grab a free one from the CUSA office in UC 401) Calculator Textbooks (refer to course ...

Have you ever lost a particular item and reunited with it months later, so surprised to have found it. This happened to 16 year-old Marty Ingham Everett almost 65 years ago. Yes 65 years! It was 1954, Marty had lost her black purse containing her checkbook, lipstick, school dance photos and letters from three boys — including a junior prom invite. The purse was connected back to its owner through FaceBook. An astonishing story of an unintentional time capsule, Marty tells " It was amazing to reconnect and reminisce about a time that is so different from today ". Keeping that same theme, WISE hosted a Time Capsule earlier this month. The event involved writing a letter to your future self, sealing it in an envelope and keeping it tucked away for a year. Participants were free to write whatever you want in your letter: words of encouragement, of self-love, words of advice, goals... . Most thought it was a cool idea and an eye-opening experience allowing for some ...

The WISE National Conference took place at the end of January. We were excited to see so many past & present CU-WISE members there! Check out some photos from the conference and what some of our #smartgirls took away from the experience.  Thank You Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering & Design for helping send 8 CU-WISE representatives to the conference this year! "This was my first time going to the WISE National Conference and I am very glad I got to. The conference was full of inspirational talks by very interesting and high achieving women. I was personally impacted by the diversity of the speakers. As a woman of colour, listening to a panel of women in medicine who were all women of colour and were all able to get where they were in their various careers in their own right was very motivating for me. In addition to the various panels, we also had some amazing keynotes from individuals who had interesting careers and hobbies.

Our Chapter President has made headlines again and we couldn’t be more proud of the legacy she is leaving. Earlier this month our mighty leader was named a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Advanced Schloar ( QES website & Carleton QES ) and will be headed to Malawi, Africa in 2019 ... yeah that’s right AFRICA!!! Partnering with a local community organization, Find Your Feet, Alicia will use her unique skill set to help minimize the effects of climate change on immobilized populations. She is paired with Mzuzu University to conduct her research aiding limited or immobile populations to better obtain life necessities such as food, water, and shelter. Climate change has been deemed one of the top factors to affecting human health in the 21st century, and our Gal (pun intended) is headed 1/2 way around the world (literally) to help create a societal transformation concerning education, application, and distribution on how to improve mobility issues in a developing country. Alici...

#WOMENINSPACE features two astonishing women in their fields of aerospace engineering, Hayat El Fazani & Erin Austen . I had the opportunity to ask both of them a few questions about their involvement in the world of space. Enjoy! Hayat El Fazani is currently in her 4th year, PhDc Aerospace Engineering. Her research is focused on the airworthiness and certification challenges of the application of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology in the aerospace industry. Hayat enjoys listening to the world news, learning about new technology, cooking & baking (which Erin can vouch for)! Erin Austen is currently in her final year of MASc Aerospace Engineering. Her research is focused on developing a process for assessing the traversability of a planetary rover for a given path, based on the terrain data from driving and other data from visual terrain maps. Erin spends her spare time doing Muay Thai (Kickboxing). Q: What brought you to love space? Hayat: I...

To all my fellow students, I hope you’ve taken a well-rested break because we’re back! It’s a new year and a new term - let’s add a good semester to our list of resolutions. I’ve learned the hard way that goals need to be realistic and achievable for them to work . As someone who also spends 2 hours or more a day for transportation (shoutout to OC Transpo), I thought why not try and make the most of that free time. Did you know that the average person spends 4 hours a day on their mobile device? While on the route to school or stuck in a Tim Hortons line, I thought I could share these 3 apps to start 2019 on a good note: Budgeting 101 💲 💲 💲 Learning how to budget is the first step in adulting. There are 2 ways to budget: the easy way or the hard way. The hard way: Don't learn and get swamped. The easy way: 1. Apply for scholarships and grants (read How to Finance a Free Education here ) 2. Ove...