This book discusses the legacy of the conference series The International Conferences of Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES), which spans the second half of the Twentieth Century and the beginning of the twenty-first. The book first discusses how, at a time when there were few women engineers and scientists, a group of women organized a conference, in June 1964 in New York, which attracted 486 women. They presented their scientific achievements and discussed how to attract more women in STEM. This effort was carried out by volunteers, continuing the ICWES conferences over a period of 59 years. The authors discuss the organizers, the hosting societies, the scientific content, the changes in issues over time, and how the continuity has endured. The authors also discuss the importance of global involvement, shown through past conferences inlocations such as USA, UK, Italy, Poland, France, India, Ivory Coast, Hungary, Japan, Canada, and Korea. The authors also outline how the efforts were aided by the development of a not for profit Canadian corporation, the International Conference of Women in Sciences and engineering (INWES), which ensures the continuation of the conference series. Claire Deschênes and Monique Frize ensured that the conference database was digitalized and is now available at the Canadian Archive of Women in STEM, University of Ottawa Library, with the hope that researchers will continue to explore this rich database. As an important part of the Women in Science and Engineering book series, the work hopes to inspire women and men, girls and boys to study and work in STEM fields. This book is important historically because it documents a unique adventure created by women in STEM through vision and leadership. Their efforts established modes of networking and sharing their contributions in science, technology, and on gender issues.
Biografie (Monique Frize)
Dr. Frize joins Carleton University, as a Professor in the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, and the University of Ottawa, as a Professor in the School of Information Technology and Engineering, in July 1997. Dr. Frize graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Electrical Engineering), received an Athlone Fellowship and completed a Master's in Philosophy in Electrical Engineering (Engineering in Medicine) at Imperial College of Science and Technology in London (UK), a Master's of Business Administration at the Université de Moncton (New Brunswick), and a doctorate from Erasmus Universiteit in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Monique Frize worked as a clinical engineer for 18 years, initially at Hopital Notre-Dame in Montreal (1971-79), and then was appointed as Director of the Regional Clinical Engineering Service in Moncton, New Brunswick, providing services for seven hospitals in the South-Eastern region. Dr. Frize was also Research Associate in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at UniversitJ de Moncton and was the first Chair of the Division of Clinical Engineering for the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE). In December, l989, she was appointed the first holder of the Nortel-NSERC Women in Engineering Chair at the University of New Brunswick (Fredericton) and Professor in the Electrical Engineering department. In 1992, Monique Frize received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ottawa (DU); in June 1993, a Ryerson Fellowship; in 1994, an Honourary Doctorate in Science (DSc) at York University; in 1995, an Honourary Doctorate in Engineering at Lakehead (DEng). She was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 1992 and as Officer of the Order of Canada in October 1993. In 1995, Dr. Frize received the Second Historical Professional Achievement Award (jointly with Dr. Michael Shaffer) from the American College of Clinical Engineers, for her paper: "Clinical Engineering in today's hospital: Perspectives of the Administrator and the Clinical Engineer". In September 1996, Dr. Frize received the 6th Annual Meritas-Tabaret Award for career achievement from the Alumni Association of the University of Ottawa and the Advocacy Award presented by WITT (Women in Trades and Technology) in May 1997. Born in Montreal, Canada, Dr. Frize's mother tongue is French, and she is fluently bilingual. She is married to Peter Frize and they have a son, Patrick Nicholas.
