Carleton University’s Faculty of Science will host the 2021 Discovery Lecture: Spiders to Wrangle and Mountains to Climb presented by Prof. Maydianne CB Andrade.
Andrade will discuss how her research on sexual behaviours and plasticity has leveraged the extreme mating systems of cannibalistic black widow spiders to gain insights into links between ecology and evolution. Of particular interest is how traits related to behaviour, life history and physiology can shift to indicate challenges to fitness in varied habitats.
Interwoven in this discussion is a story about navigating, understanding, acknowledging and then embracing what it means to be a scientist who is also a Black woman. Her experiences highlight the importance of role models, knowledge translation and outreach, and how the communication skills and perceived authority of scientists can be deployed to engage with broader audiences.
When: Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 7 p.m. followed by a Q&A at 8 p.m.
Registration: https://science.carleton.ca/events/discovery-lecture/
Find us on social media and join the conversation using: #2021DiscoveryLecture
Carleton University’s Faculty of Science hosts public lectures during the academic year that address a scientific issue of the day as well as bring to campus well-known scientists from around the world. Established in 2002, the Discovery Lecture is designed to showcase and promote excellence in science journalism. Sponsored jointly by the Faculty of Science and the School of Journalism and Communication, the lecture is held annually in the winter semester and is free and open to the public.
About the Speaker
Andrade earned her PhD in Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University and is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) and in the Graduate Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UT St. George. As a Canada Research Chair in Integrative Behavioural Ecology, Fellow of the Animal Behaviour society and elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Andrade’s fundamental research has a primary focus on the evolution of mating behaviour and species diversity, using black widow spiders as models.
Since 2010, she has also been engaged in knowledge translation with respect to the effects of bias on diversity and inclusion in academia. In 2019 she was awarded the Ludwik and Estelle Jus Memorial Human Rights Prize by the University of Toronto’s Alumni Association in recognition of the impact of her work, including founding and acting as co-chair of TIDE (the Toronto Initiative for Diversity and Excellence). In 2020, she joined with other faculty to create the Canadian Black Scientists Network, for which she is currently serving as president.
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Thursday, March 11, 2021 in Media Advisories
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