• Science Outreach & Public Speaking

      Here are examples of my prior science outreach and public speaking engagements.

      Panel Speaker

      Metamorphosis Girls in STEM Conference. March 2019.

      In this panel session, I shared how I got involved in my area of STEM, and offered motivational advice to girls pursuing the STEM field. Specifically: having goals is important, but don't ignore opportunities that may pop up along the road - which may end up influencing your overall perspective and even change your initial goals.

      Speaker

      Toronto Girls STEM Club. Feb 2019.

      Melanie Boultbee launched a local STEM club at her high school. As a speaker, I shared my research (DNA sequencing) with a group of 12-13 year old school girls, and led a strawberry DNA extraction activity.

      Panel Moderator (& Event Co-Organizer)

      STEM Beyond High School. Dec 2018.

      As a volunteer with Step Into STEM, I worked alongside fellow graduate students to co-organize our inaugural STEM Beyond High School event. Over 100 students from various under-represented groups attended to listen to a keynote speech (from Dr. Eugenia Duodu), a panel of four diverse speakers and a workshop. I moderated the panel to ensure as many questions from students could be answered.

      PowerPoint Karaoke Speaker

      Spark After Dark. May 2018.

      In PowerPoint Karaoke, one speaker creates a set of slides, which a second speaker must attempt to talk about (without seeing the slides beforehand). In this case, I talked about the science of sequencing, and Krishana Sankar was the brave soul who attempted to do my slides without any prior knowledge!

      Soapbox Science Junior Speaker

      Festival of Trees. May 2018.

      I was a Soapbox Science Junior speaker at the Festival of Trees - which is Canada's largest literary event for young readers. As a speaker, I shared the fundamentals behind my research to groups of young students using nothing more than props and words.

      Speaker (#RCISTalks)

      Royal Canadian Institute for Science. March 2018.

      What does it mean to be a scientist?​ On Thursday 1st March 2018, I shared my science journey at a Royal Canadian Institute of Sciences' talk at the Mississauga Central Library.​

      STEM Talks Speaker

      Metamorphosis Girls in STEM Conference. March 2018.

      In my STEM talks session, I talked about DNA sequencing in a show-and-tell type of format - without slides or technology on hand!

      Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition Winner

      National Women in Science and Engineering Conference. Jan 2017.

      I participated in this annual national Women in Science and Engineering competition, and was awarded first place for my effective science communication.