News from CURO

• Where can I find a list of external grant deadlines? Click here for the list.
• Who should I contact in CURO? Click here for a list of who does what.
• What about Prizes and Awards? Click here for a list of the Carleton University Prizes and Awards Committee
• Have questions about your research computing needs, including MATLAB, SPSS, Cognos, cloud computing, and high-performance computing? Click here for the RCS website, including contact info.
• Interested in mentoring programs? Click here for a list of how we support mentors and mentees.
• Reminder: the second competition for funding to Carleton University Research Centers (CURCs) is ongoing. Deadline: Friday March 13, 2015. Click here for details
• The third Development Grants Competition will be launched in the spring of 2015. Stay tuned for more information. For last year's call for proposals (June 01, 2014), click here.

Mark your calendars: TEDxCarletonU

… is back this year, with the event set for April 6th!

But before we get to the event, the curators are now accepting applications for speakers. Students, faculty and staff are all encouraged to apply to speak at this year’s event, themed “Future World”.

Check out tedxcarleton.ca or email applications@tedxcarleton.ca for more information.

Speaker Applications are due by Friday, March 6th!

Mitacs Open Research Funding to Not-for-Profit Organizations

Eligible NFP partners can now participate in collaborative research with universities!

Eligible not-for-profit (NFP) organizations and Crown corporations can now receive funding to support research collaborations with universities. Qualifying organizations will be able to access high-quality research expertise in order to solve their organizational challenges. This recent announcement expands the reach of Mitacs' programs significantly. There are approximately 170,000 non-profit organizations in Canada, accounting for 8.1 percent of Canada's GDP. These organizations — like Mitacs' programs — work across all disciplines and sectors. Eligible organizations may include economic development organizations, industry associations, social welfare organizations, and charitable organizations. Partners will be assessed for a demonstrable economic or productivity orientation of the proposed research project, such as creating jobs, reducing costs, or reducing poverty.

To learn more please contact your Carleton University Mitacs Business Development Specialist, Rebecca Neu by email (rneu@carleton.ca or rebecca.neu@carleton.ca) or by phone (613-298-7451)

I can't help but notice how much the issue of gender equality is coming back to the surface of public awareness.

Ok, I admit that Patricia Arquette's championing of equal rights in her acceptance speech at the Oscars was not without influence in refocusing my attention on its re-emerging predominance within the academic context.

For example, recently, much was made of research suggesting that women are less likely to go into STEM disciplines because they don't fit the gendered stereotype of what constitutes intellectual "brilliance". And while we might be dismissive of such stereotypes, don't forget the outcry that occurred when all of the first round of the Canada Excellence Research Chairs were male.

And indeed, there continues to be concerns about women being selected into prestigious research chair positions, as the Canada Research Chairs secretariat required all universities to report on how and whether we were meeting targets for hiring women and members of other designated groups.

Last month, Frontiers in Psychology published an article suggesting that women were no longer disadvantaged when it comes to pursuing higher degrees in STEM — only for a subsequent article to come out showing that the proportion of women going into STEM actually hasn't changed, but rather, fewer men are now pursuing such degrees.

University of Toronto recently celebrated its largest cohort of female students in Engineering (30%)— this was followed by a rather scathing publication in the online blog 10 and 3 showing that in Canada, women still only represent less (mostly much less) than 25% of faculty in Computer Science, Math and in Electrical & Computer Engineering.

An interdisciplinary and elite group of female postdoctoral fellows recently received support from the Canadian Institutes for Advanced Research to provide insights regarding the experiences of female postdocs that puts them at a disadvantage in pursuing their academic careers.

There are any number of excellent blogs to support women in dealing with the gender inequities encountered in academia.

More personally, we recently hosted a visit from a female federal minister, who commented to a group of engineering students "guys, you seriously need to get more chicks in here" (and to their credit, the students agreed).

Those of you who know me are aware that my research for over 25 years has concerned issues of gender equity and discrimination. In doing this work, almost without exception, every grant, publication, and talk, and even when teaching the Psychology of Women, the opening requires some justification for why I might think that gender discrimination is still an issue.

In fact, it has always been relatively easy to cite the statistics that demonstrate disadvantage in terms of health and mental health disparities, salaries, political representation, differences in evaluation for jobs, promotions, and teaching, differential expectations for behaviour (definitely do NOT get angry), chilly climate, glass ceilings and glass cliffs, the pipeline problem (and I don't mean Keystone), and so on.

There are without question many societal groups that experience considerable blatant disadvantage (although even in this regard, discrimination is often more severe for the female members of the group). And so, especially as I enjoy the benefits of being in the privileged position of a university academic (and senior administrator), it felt somewhat disingenuous to complain of discrimination or gender inequities. This, despite knowing the research showing that even group members who experience blatant and severe discrimination are unlikely to call it out. It is with considerable interest that I watch the re-emergence of this dialogue on the academic radar.

Ensuring that all of our researchers are able to pursue their passions and perform to the best of their ability is foundational to our success as a university. At Carleton, I know I have some absolutely phenomenal female colleagues, along with many excellent and supportive male colleagues.

If we really want to eradicate gender discrimination, and ensure that we're all able to be successful scholars, we all have a role to play as collaborators, mentors, role models, and sources of inspiration and encouragement. I look forward to the day when Carleton is celebrated as the most diverse and gender-equal university in Canada.

Feb 6 – Carleton Entrepreneurs to Benefit from $2 Million Investment

Feb 6 – Minister Reza Moridi Visits Carleton University

Feb 9 – Carleton’s wind expert sought out by Olympians

Feb 10 – Carleton’s Lead to Win Entrepreneurs to Pitch Their Businesses

Feb 10 – NSERC Awards Strategic Project Grants to Carleton’s Jacques Albert and Banu Örmeci

Feb 13 – Entrepreneurs Pitch to Opportunity Review Boards at Carleton University

Feb 17 – Carleton to Showcase Latest Public Affairs Research during Events Series

Feb 18 – Steven Cooke and Richard Amos Receive Prestigious NSERC Awards

Feb 19 – Alumni Gather for Carleton Day at Queen’s Park Event

Feb 20 – Carleton University Assists in Revival of North-South Institute

Feb 23 – Clare Beckton to be Honoured by Women in Communications and Technology

Feb 24 – Transport Minister “Flies” Carleton’s Helicopter Simulator during Aerospace Tour

Feb 24 – Carleton’s Lead to Win Boot Camp Teaches Startups the Secrets of Success