Friends of FOS
At TMU’s Faculty of Science, meaningful academic experiences and ground-breaking research are enabled through a collaborative effort involving numerous community champions.
Donor support enables the next generation of women in STEM
Peter Bowie, Independent Director, DMZ Venture Fund; Tom Yim, Director of Communications & Community Partnerships at Concord Adex, Dean David Cramb, Kaitlyn Sims, Neha Nasir, Gabriel Leung, Vice President of Development at Concord Adex, and Dr. Raffi Karshafian.
At TMU’s Faculty of Science, financial support for student researchers not only boosts their confidence but also affirms their research is worth pursuing. Research thrives when people know they have the backing of fantastic supporters who share their drive to make the next breakthrough or build a career.
Donors Peter Bowie and his wife Judith established the Advancing Women in STEM Scholarship fund to take action and provide that support. The fund offers graduate entrance scholarships valued at $10,000 to support female-identifying students entering MSc or PhD studies in the Faculty of Science. For Peter and Judith Bowie, the decision to invest in educational support came from a deep sense of fairness as well as a drive to find ways to help develop talent.
“I've been reading about STEM, and how unequal the field is,” says Bowie. “So that inspired my gift for two reasons: one, it's really important to have the best talent available, and if you're not giving the best talent an opportunity to participate, it's not good for anybody. And secondly, it's just the fair thing to do, the right thing to do.” He adds that his own children also inspired him, particularly two daughters, one of whom has a PhD in genetics and the other who is a graduate in chemical engineering and biochemistry.
Bowie says he decided to direct his gift to TMU for the diversity he sees at the university. Already active with TMU’s DMZ, a world-leading incubator for tech startups, Bowie says that watching the incubator’s growth made him want to get involved and be part of the exciting progress at TMU. “They’ve got a variety of things going on around technology and helping people grow and develop. TMU is a very diverse institution, which I admire, and I've gotten to know some of the leaders over the last several years and really admire and respect what they're trying to do.”
"I've been reading about STEM, and how unequal the field is [...] It's really important to have the best talent available, and if you're not giving the best talent an opportunity to participate, it's not good for anybody." - Peter Bowie
Support for Women in Physics
Concord Adex Corp, Canada’s largest community builder, is another organization taking action to ensure that women are supported in the traditionally male-dominated field of physics. The Concord Scholarship for Elite Women in Physics supports first-year, female-identifying master’s students who show excellence in physics research, a donation matched by TMU to create a two-year scholarship worth $30,000.
In 2024, the scholarship was awarded to two students, Neha Nasir and Kaitlyn Sims. Nasir’s research focuses on radiation biology and investigating cell death in cancer cells. She also co-founded the Women in Physics Committee at TMU in 2022. Sims, a former competitive figure skater, focuses her research on improving X-ray imaging to detect coronary artery disease.
Both Nasir and Sims said that the scholarship touched them deeply, not only for the financial support but for the recognition of their work. Nasir says the award is “an immense honour and a symbol of encouragement towards my pursuit of advancing in the field,” while Sims noted that it was “a powerful affirmation that supports and propels me toward fostering diversity and making meaningful contributions to physics research.”
Sims sums up the impact that such recognition can have on a researcher’s career and life, emphasizing why the support of women is so important. “This motivates me to keep on going, so that I will hopefully inspire other little girls to say, ‘I want to be a physicist.’”
2024 Concord Scholarship for Elite Women in Physics recipients, Kaitlyn Sims and Neha Nasir.