Two Outstanding Female Scientists Win Prestigious National Awardsto Join U of S
Posted April 05, 2000
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 5, 2000 | 2000-04-03-ENG |
Two Outstanding Female Scientists Win Prestigious National Awards to Join U of S
Two outstanding female scientists will be appointed July 1 to tenure-track positions at the U of S under the 2000 University Faculty Awards program sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). A tenure-track position is a job that after a four-year review of the candidate becomes permanent.
Both women are the first female faculty members in their respective departments.
Anne Marie Harte, currently a research associate at Cambridge University in England, will join the department of mechanical engineering as an assistant professor. Kaori Tanaka, currently studying at the University of Alberta as a postdoctoral fellow, will become an assistant professor of the department of physics and engineering physics.
In total, the NSERC awards amount to $131,700 over the next three years.
The UFA program also contributes an annual salary of $40,000 for up to five years. Universities involved in the UFA program have to guarantee the researcher a tenure-track position upon appointment.
National competition for these awards was severe, with an overall success rate of only 36 per cent. Candidates for the awards are nominated by universities.
"The U of S has a strong commitment to increasing the number of women in tenure-track positions, particularly in those departments with low representation at both the faculty and student levels," says Spiro Yannacopoulos, head of mechanical engineering.
"Our department currently has no female faculty members. There is also inadequate representation at the undergraduate level in engineering. By providing a role model and through mentoring, female faculty members can help to encourage more women to enter the engineering profession."
Akira Hirose, head of physics and engineering physics, said "The U of S has been promoting equity employment and we are focussing on that goal." He noted four physicists (including Tanaka) will soon be joining his department and two of them are women.
Harte will receive an annual $21,900 research grant for three years to study the mechanics of light-weight materials such as fibreglass and laminates used in industries such as the aerospace industry. She will develop new light-weight materials and study how strong, durable and tough they are.
Tanaka will receive an annual $22,000 research grant for three years to study superconductors which conduct electricity without losing energy to electrical resistance, as most conductors do. Some current uses of superconductors are found in transmission cables, motors, generators, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines.
These awards are the U of S's second and third from the UFA program. Last year, Julita Vassileva from the department of computer science received the university's first award.
Begun in 1998, the goal of NSERC's UFA program is to increase the representation of women in faculty positions in the natural sciences and engineering by encouraging Canadian universities to appoint very promising women researchers to tenure-track positions in science and engineering. This year NSERC has announced they will be extending their UFA program to Aboriginal men and women.
For more information, contact:
Kathryn Warden
Communications Officer
Office VP Research
(306) 966-2506
Arika Hirose
Head, Department of Physics and Engineering Physics
(306) 966-6414
Spiro Yannacopoulos
Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering
(306) 966-5449
Kaori Tanaka
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Alberta
(780) 492-3041
ktanaka@phys.ualberta.ca
Anne Marie Harte
Research Associate
Cambridge University
ah10013@hermes.cam.ac.uk
