Conference promotes scientific, professional, and personal growth for women in Physics

Back row: Freyja Wang, Sophie Gans, Nadiya Shore, Marie-Cécile Piro, Brittany Boos, Sally Palmers, Samiha Ali. Front row: Cassandra McKenna, Luca Galler, Grace MacDonald, Anna Prus-Czarnecka, Sanjina Rahman Aurin. Not pictured: Lindsay LeBlanc.

This week, a delegation of University of Alberta Physics students will be in Montréal for the annual Canadian Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CCUWiP).

Alberta delegation organizer Lindsay LeBlanc, an associate professor in the Department of Physics, says, "CCUWiP offers a unique opportunity for students to connect with others who might also feel like they are outsiders to the physics community, and gives space for them to openly discuss their struggles and their joys in working in and studying physics."

The conference offers opportunities for scientific, professional, and personal growth.

Undergraduate student Anna Prus-Czarnecka, who attended the conference in Regina last year, advises new delegates to keep an open mind, especially when giving a presentation.

"The other students presenting are in the same boat as you, so all the feedback is extremely positive and there is a lot of support," says Prus-Czarnecka, whose talk about creating ultracold atom clouds was the 2023 conference’s outstanding oral presentation. "I received a few questions that I hadn’t considered prior, and they actually expanded my own understanding of my project. Don’t be scared to ask questions either, everyone is there to learn from each other, so it can prompt some interesting conversations. And have fun meeting new people and making connections!"

University of Alberta associate professor Marie-Cécile Piro, who attended the conference for the first time last year, gave a keynote speech on her research in dark matter and represented the academic path on a panel about careers for Physics graduates.

"It gave me the opportunity to share my experience and my passion for physics,” Piro said. “I was hoping to give inspiration to young undergrads."

The conference also creates an atmosphere for finding community with delegates, no matter their academic position or geographic origin.

LeBlanc says, "One of my most memorable experiences at a conference was an after-dinner talk at a CCUWiP, where the very inspirational story of the speaker brought half the room to tears, and led to a number of participants sharing their own stories; it was special because it was totally acceptable there, in that safe space, to express this kind of emotion within a community of fellow scientists."

This year’s CCUWiP conference, hosted by McGill University, runs from January 16 to 24, 2024.