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Indigenous Practices and Diversity in Chemistry and STEM

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Michelle M. Hogue. PhD

Associate Professor & Coordinator Indigenous Student Success Cohort / Faculty of Arts & Science

Research Affiliate, Prentice Institute for Global Population & Economy

University of Lethbridge 

Michelle Hogue (PhD) is an Associate Professor & Coordinator of the Indigenous Student Success Cohort (ISSC) program at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. She has helped ensure the success of many students at university, particularly in sciencerelated programs. Of Métis heritage, her locally, nationally, and internationally recognized teaching and research focuses on building bridges between Indigenous and Western ways of knowing and learning. In her work she uses culturally relevant and innovative methodological approaches such as narrative and the arts, hand on learning by doing first and land-based education that blends required curricular and institutional demands with methodological teaching practices that attend to Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Learning. Her research explores best practices in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to develop an inclusive, culturally responsive teaching practice and curricula through the philosophy of Bridging Cultures: Two-Eyed Seeing for Both Ways Knowing to enable Indigenous engagement, retention, and academic success broadly, as well as specifically, in the sciences and mathematics.

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Alex Veinot
Ph.D. Student
Queen's University

Alex Veinot is a PhD student and Vanier Scholar at Queen’s University under the supervision of Professor Cathleen Crudden. His research focuses on developing new organic-on-metal technologies, specifically N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) on copper. Originally from Nova Scotia, Alex is a member of the Mi’kmaq community Glooscap First Nation and has actively promoted Indigenous academics and representation in science throughout his PhD. Alex has shared his experiences as an Indigenous chemist through invited conference (102nd CCCE, 2019; 70th CCEC, 2020) and seminar (Saint Mary’s University, 2020) presentations, and as a member of the CSC committee Working for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (WIDE).

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Lydia Toorenburgh
Tri Faculty Indigenous resurgence Coordinator
MSc Student 

University of Victoria

Lydia Toorenburgh (she/her and they/them) is the Tri-Faculty (Science, Social Sciences, and Humanities) Indigenous Resurgence Coordinator (TFIRC) at the University of Victoria. Lydia is otepimisiwak (Cree-Metis) and mixed settler on her mother’s side and Dutch immigrant on her father’s side. She received her Honours Degree with Distinction in Anthropology with a Minor in Indigenous Studies from UVic in 2018 and is a current SSRCH-funded MA student in Anthropology at UVic. In her role as TFIRC, Lydia is responsible for coordinating indigenization and decolonization efforts in the Tri-Faculty. Working with students, staff, and faculty, and administration, Lydia provides support, advocacy, referrals, education, and cultural programming. In her undergraduate and graduate research, Lydia has focused on indigenizing and decolonizing research methodologies. Lydia brings this expertise along with the experience from her previous role as Indigenous Student Recruitment Officer to her work as the TFIRC.

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