Women of Influence magazine honours Engineering Dean

Already celebrated as a trailblazer for women in engineering, U of T Engineering Dean Cristina Amon has been named one of Canada’s 25 most influential women by Women of Influence Magazine.

The recognition is designed to honour and celebrate women who have demonstrated, over the last year, strong and unyielding leadership in one of five distinct sectors. Dean Amon was recognized in the public sector category, where she joins Carol Stephenson, Dean of the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University, and Karen Stintz, Toronto City Councillor and Chair of the Toronto Transit Commission, among others.

“I am honoured to be recognized as a woman of influence and be associated with these 24 remarkable and visionary women,” said Dean Amon. “For me, through this opportunity, I hope to serve as an example to young women who might be considering a career in engineering.”

The ranking was based solely on quantitative criteria. Nominees were ranked by a uniform system dependent on measurable factors, including how many boards they currently sit on, recent promotions and awards.

“Creating access to role models is the most compelling reason why these achievers must be celebrated,” explained Carolyn Lawrence, President and CEO of Women of Influence. “The women we profile have made an important impact in their chosen fields, and they are all using their influence to change the world, for the better. It is important that they are recognized because they serve as role models for Canadian women and girls.”

At U of T, Dean Amon has worked actively to promote Engineering to young women. This has been accomplished through a variety of outreach initiatives, including Skule™ Sisters, Go Eng Girl, and Women Empowered in Engineering.

“Few professions foster the spirit of innovation as engineering does, translating so many ideas into devices and technologies that improve people’s lives in meaningful ways. Today, perhaps more than at any time before, we can see how engineering has the power to influence every part of our world and aspect of our lives: engineering is driving economic development, engineering is driving biomedical innovation and engineering is the key to solutions for environmental sustainability,” said Dean Amon.

“These are exciting times for the engineering profession and we need many more engineers. However, to become an engineering student, a strong foundation in high school math and science is needed. Young women often have to overcome societal pressures to give up on math and science. Women can excel in both areas and young girls often have a blazing curiosity about how things work and a boundless creativity – both key characteristics of successful engineers. But, as they become teenagers, cultural pressures can encourage them to pretend not to be interested in math and science,” said Dean Amon.

For Dean Amon, a career in engineering was born out of an interest in how devices work at an early age.

“When I was a girl, I loved trying to discover how things worked. I took gadgets and gizmos apart. I remember once when I was five my parents had what I recall as a giant radio. It was as big as a 15-inch television. Once when they were out, I took it apart. I was convinced there were little people in there acting out the dramas, singing the songs and reading the commercials,” she said.

Before joining U of T in 2006 as Dean and Alumni Chair Professor in Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Dean Amon was the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor of Mechanical & Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research has advanced the engineering foundation of heat transfer enhancement by flow destabilization, nano-scale thermal transport in semi-conductors, and hemodynamics mass transport in biological systems. She has made pioneering contributions to concurrent thermal designs, innovation in electronics cooling and transient thermal management of wearable computers.

Dean Amon has delivered keynote lectures worldwide and contributed 12 book chapters, one textbook and more than 280 refereed articles in the education and research literature. She has served the engineering profession with exceptional dedication; her many roles have included Founding Chair of the Global Engineering Dean's Council and Chair of AAAS Engineering. She was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, Canadian Academy of Engineering, Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering, and Royal Society of Canada, and is a Fellow of several technical societies including AAAS, ASEE, ASME and IEEE.

Among her many awards and honours, Dean Amon has been recognized by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) with the 2011 SWE Achievement Award, the highest award given by the Society, for her outstanding contributions to the field of engineering over more than 20 years. She was also the recipient of the 2010 Award for the Support of Women by Engineers Canada, the 2011 YWCA Toronto Woman of Distinction award and the 2009 ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award.

You can vote for who will be on the cover of the special issue of Women of Influence Magazine, which will profile the top 25, starting today and ending on September 24. Visit the Women of Influence website for more information and to vote.