Despite the STEM gender gap, most of the researchers at this B.C. AI lab are women
Other labs can draw lessons about diversity from Simon Fraser University's lab, says academic
Shannon Cuykendall gives a presentation about her research on generative artificial intelligence with one hand, while holding her six-month-old son in the other.
Cuykendall is a postdoctoral researcher at Simon Fraser University's iViz Lab, a majority-female AI lab in a field dominated by men.
In Canada, women make up less than one-quarter of the people employed in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers, according to the federal government. But 75 per cent of researchers at the iViz Lab in Surrey, B.C., are women.
"It's not looked down upon to bring your kids into the lab if you need to," Cuykendall said in an interview with CBC News.
One academic who researches gender, diversity and inclusion in STEM says labs across the country should take note of SFU's lab.
"When an environment is created where women can succeed, all kinds of women with all different life experiences and all different needs can succeed, that's really incredible," said Lisa Willis, an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta.
"That shows other labs that it can be done. It gives us ideas for how to implement things in our own labs."
Beating the odds
Women still make up only one-third of the global scientific community, with the percentage stagnating over the past decade, according to a 2024 report by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). In some countries, less than 10 per cent of researchers are women.
They hold just 22 per cent of STEM jobs in G20 countries, and only one in 10 ascend to leadership positions.
While progress has been made, sexism continues to be a problem in STEM fields, which are often perceived as masculine domains, according to Willis. She said that leaves many women and girls feeling like they don't belong in STEM.
The SFU lab currently has eight researchers — six women and two men who are working on their master's degrees and PhDs. There are also four female undergraduate students that are doing research as part of their studies. Previous researchers have gone on to take up leadership roles at tech companies and in academia.
"It's cool to have so much collaboration with people who have an understanding of what it is to be someone who is marginalized in this field, and it's cool to see other women who are also interested in technology," said PhD candidate and iViz researcher Julia Read.
The researchers say the lab is their community, a place full of mentorship, friendship and the flexibility needed to balance other aspects of their lives.
"I've taken a number of years off to take care of my daughter and I've come back to school and [the lab] is very supportive of my personal needs," said PhD candidate Meehae Song.
Currently, Song is using AI-enhanced, wearable sensors to collect physiological data that can help people practise meditation and mindfulness. Her 16-year-old daughter comes to the lab with her and helps her with the research by wearing the sensors.
"I think that's why our research is so interesting, because it's very organic. We bring a lot of our personal experiences into the research," Song said.
Using AI to get a raise
Master's student Charlotte Hou, who previously obtained a master's in negotiation and conflict resolution from Columbia University, is developing an AI model to help women in the corporate world negotiate raises.
Users can talk back and forth with a male boss until the AI character agrees to give them a raise, allowing women to gain confidence in a realistic but low-risk setting, said Hou.
"I wanted to empower women … to fight for what they deserve," she said, adding that women could also use the AI model to practise for job interviews or other ways to advance their careers.
"A lot of us think AI is such a threat but that is completely wrong because AI is an assistant and that's why we're using it to help women," she said.
'I just like to work with smart people'
The SFU lab is led by Steve DiPaola, who's the director of the university's cognitive science program. He says he's recruited many female researchers who had shown a lot of potential in his lectures but were shy.
"They're nodding at the right time and just going up to them and saying, 'Hey, you would be good at this,'" DiPaola said.
But he says he knows that as a man, he has to walk a fine line.
"How do you do it in a way that's not overpowering? I'm always thinking about those issues, although in general, I just like to work with smart people," DiPaola said.
Willis, the University of Alberta assistant professor, wants to see more programs that get girls interested in STEM from a young age and for people in leadership positions to continue talking about the gender inequalities that still exist in the fields.
Willis says she tries to create a welcoming environment in her glyco-immunology lab. She has a code of conduct on her website that says, in part, "offensive behaviour or comments related to gender, gender identity and expression … are not welcome."
"So anyone who's searching for me can look at my website, see that I care about people as humans and if that is something that they're interested in, then they reach out to me. And the number of women who reach out to me is astronomical," she said.
Currently, her lab is 100 per cent women.
"That's not because I'm screening out men," she said. "It's because women want to work somewhere where they will be seen and valued and be able to be successful."
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