Future Women In Physics
York University

FWIP


FWiP advocates for a diverse academic environment in the physics field. We work towards a community that provides equal access to opportunities, as well as encourages students to break any barriers, overcome limitations and reach their full potential!

Our impact involves providing educational events, such as seminars, workshops and conferences, to broaden students' horizons and give them access to role models as well as skills and knowledge needed for success.

Upcoming

Stay tuned for updates on upcoming events here! In the meantime, follow us around the web for photos of past events, resources, and FWIP activities.


Click 'UPCOMING' for more

The FWIP organizing team!

Meet the people responsible for running FWIP at YorkU:

Tarnem Afify

Tarnem Afify

Tarnem is pursuing a Bachelor of Science with a Specialized Honours in Biophysics to learn about the essence of life. As one of the Canadian Association of Physicists Student Advisors and York University’s former President Ambassador, she works to change the world and impact the lives of others. She founded the Future Women in Physics at York to shine the light on the importance of diversity and tell everyone that they can reach beyond their limits.

Ariella Sapers

Ariella Sapers

Ariella is currently in her third-year of a Physics and Astronomy degree at York University after completing a Psychology degree in 2017. She is the Student Coordinator for the Allan I. Carswell Observatory located on the York University campus and previously a Planetary Science researcher. Ariella is honoured to be one of the Future Women in Physics team members as she has a drive to bring equality into the science fields while also showing that women in STEM can be successful leaders. Her hope is to bring her background in mental health studies and her leadership roles in her STEM degree to encourage the next generation of scientists to reach beyond what is expected of them.

June Parsons

June Parsons

June Parsons is a 3rd year astrophysics student at York University. They are an avid believer in equality of every form and bringing resources to the broader community to help with issues involving mental health, disability support, inclusion, and much more. Apart from being FWIP's website developer, June spends the majority of the time with their head in the stars, studying and pursuing a handful of research projects. June loves the idea of life long learning and continuously growing as a person amongst a group of supportive friends and colleagues.

Laura Sagunski

Laura Sagunski

Laura is currently a postdoctoral fellow at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. Before moving to Germany, she spent a fantastic time as a postdoctoral researcher at York University. In her research, she uses cosmological and astrophysical data to unravel the mysterious nature of dark matter, and gravitational waves in order to explore the evolution of our Universe.


As a grad student, she was the official spokesperson of the PhD initiative “DOIT” at the research center DESY in Germany, where she organized various research, outreach and social events for students.


During all stages of her career, she has experienced the invaluable benefits of a diverse, open and supportive work environment. She had the chance to acquire skills that helped her face challenges and follow her own path. Her aim is to share the positive experiences she had with current and future students to pass them on to the next generation of scientists.

Sean Tulin

Sean Tulin

Sean is Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at York University. As a theoretical physicist, he mainly studies dark matter. He has seen first hand in his own research group how diversity and inclusion are better for science, fostering a broader scope of creativity and ideas. He serves as faculty mentor for the FWiP leadership team and is a point of contact between FWiP and the Physics & Astronomy Department.

Initiatives and Activities



A timeline of some of the events we have organized or participated in:

  • February 27th, 2020

    Dr. Katie Mack: "Death of a Universe" lecture

    Participants had the chance to meet Dr. Mack and ask her any questions about science through a guided discussion. They were also paired one-on-one with physics major undergraduate mentors throughout the event. Dr. Katie Mack gave an insightful lecture on the ultimate fate of the cosmos.

  • Fall 2019

    Mental Health Awareness

    The FWiP team updated the Department's mental health resources to provide tools and raise awareness about the importance of a healthy mindset.

  • Oct 2019

    Physics paint night

    During the last mental health month, we organized a self-care Physics Paint Night for our undergraduate students to decompress and paint about everything physics.

  • Winter 2019

    2019 CCUWIP

    The Canadian Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CCUWiP) is a national conference gathering physics students and professionals from across the country. Last January, together with FWiP, York's Department of Physics and Astronomy supported the participation of eight undergraduate students in CCUWiP.

  • Aug 2018

    Observatory Workshop

    We ran the Observatory Workshop to admire the greatness of our universe! The workshop included a solar observing session at York U’s Allan I Carswell Observatory and interactive hands-on astronomy activities including building dry-ice comets and cereal-box spectrographs. The participants were also given the opportunity to participate in astrophysics lectures given by professionals in the field.

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