Lassonde announces recipients of 2023 EDI Seed Funding

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Seed Funding from the Lassonde School of Engineering supports the development of original initiatives that promote EDI culture at Lassonde and beyond, encouraging students, faculty and staff to embrace creativity and find ways to make the School a more diverse and inclusive space.

Previous funding recipients developed successful projects ranging from EDI training programs to educational workshops while focusing on empowering marginalized communities, providing inclusive educational opportunities and promoting positive change.

This year’s competition resulted in two successful projects that have been selected to receive funding.

“We are thrilled to announce the winners of the EDI Seed Funding grant competition, whose innovative projects showcase a strong commitment to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion in engineering and STEM-related fields,” says Reza Rizvi, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering and chair of the EDI Sub-committee at Lassonde. “By supporting these projects, we are taking a significant step towards creating a more diverse and inclusive community at Lassonde and beyond. These projects represent original and actionable approaches, and we look forward to the positive impact they will have.”

Learn more about this year’s funded projects below:

Getting on with Tech

Led by: Dr. Jean-Jacques Rosseau, Research Associate at Lassonde and Michael Jenkin, professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Lassonde

In collaboration with Lisa Cole, Director of Programming of Lassonde’s k2i academy and Itah Sadu, Managing Director of Blackhurst Cultural Centre, Dr. Rosseau will establish a community learning program that promotes public understanding of computer science.

As a pilot, Getting on with Tech aims to provide equitable opportunities to a technical education, targeting adult learners from communities that are underrepresented in STE(A)M disciplines including women, recent immigrants, Black and Indigenous communities. The goal of this project is to close the knowledge gap about computers and build confidence to solve problems of interest using digital technology. Program participants will also be encouraged to become self-directed and pursue formal and informal learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. The curriculum includes concepts and methods to develop literacy in web publishing, artificial intelligence and data science and visualization. This program will use the York University campus for its activities, promoting a welcoming and inclusive environment for local community members.

Integrating EDI components into MECH curriculum

Led by: Cuiying Jian, assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering

Integrating EDI Components into Mechanical Engineering curriculum is an original initiative that aims to address the low coverage of EDI principles in engineering education. The EDI Seed Funding will support the identification and creation of engineering related EDI materials, including multimedia resources, guest lectures, workshops and more. Co-developers, Siu Ning Leung, associate professor and undergraduate program director for Mechanical Engineering, Alidad Amirfazli, Mechanical Engineering professor and department chair, and the Lassonde Educational Innovation Studio (LEIS) will help ensure materials align with engineering program standards, while collaboratively working with individual course instructors to integrate materials into course syllabuses and assess program design. Integrating these materials in the engineering curriculum will immerse students in an environment combining EDI principles with engineering practices, to shape future leaders in the engineering workforce.

Learn more about Lassonde’s EDI Seed Funding initiative and apply for the next round of funding by visiting the information page on the Lassonde website. You can also check out the winners of the first round of EDI Seed Funding from 2022.

The next deadline to apply is May 1, 2023.