PhD to Career Symposium: Day 1 - Academic Career Panels

Dr. Kennedy Stewart (BA Acadia, MA SFU, PhD LSE) is an associate professor at the SFU School of Public Policy. He is a former Member of Parliament (2011-2018) and Mayor of Vancouver (2018-2022). A political scientist, Dr. Stewart’s teaching and research interests include democratic governance, public policy theory and practice, leadership, and cities.

He has taught at six universities including the LSE, University College, and Birkbeck College at the University of London. His publications include articles in Party Politics, Public Administration Review, and Canadian Public Policy as well as Turning Parliament Inside Out: Practical ideas for Reforming Canada's Democracy edited with Conservative MP Michael Chong and Former Liberal MP Scott Simms. His latest book is entitled Decrim: How We Decriminalized Drugs in British Columbia.

Dr. Asmita Sodhi is an Assistant Teaching Professor at the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Victoria. Dr. Sodhi obtained their PhD in mathematics at Dalhousie University in 2020. After this, they taught at Dalhousie for two years before joining the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Victoria. Dr. Sodhi's main mathematical interests are math education and number theory. 

Dr. Caterina Ramogida (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and holds a joint appointment with the Life Sciences Division at TRIUMF – Canada’s particle accelerator centre. A first-generation university graduate, born and raised in British Columbia, Canada, Caterina completed her BSc in Chemistry in 2010 from SFU, received her PhD in 2015 from the University of British Columbia in Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry, then completed a postdoc in radiochemistry at TRIUMF before coming full circle and starting her independent career at SFU in 2018. Her research blends her interests in inorganic chemistry with applications in nuclear medicine – topics that she was first introduced to as an undergraduate nuclear science student.

Dr. Mehwish Anwer (she/her) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, studying the impact of traumatic brain injury on long-term brain health. Her work has been supported by several competitive awards, including fellowships from CIHR, Michael Smith Health Research BC, and the UBC Faculty of Medicine, as well as the Jock & Irene Graham Brain Research Endowment. Prior to UBC, Dr Anwer acquired her PhD at the University of Eastern Finland as a Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellow. Dr Anwer is currently transitioning into an independent Principal Investigator role and she is deeply committed to mentorship and helping trainees navigate the challenges of STEM pathways. She is excited to share her experiences and lessons learned along the way.

Dr. Woo Soo Kim (he/him) is a Professor in the School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering at Simon Fraser University (SFU). His research focuses on advanced mechatronic systems, including 3D-printed sensors, robotic platforms, and AI-enabled cyber-physical systems for biomedical and agricultural applications. As Director of the Global Institute for Agritech at SFU, he leads multidisciplinary research integrating robotics, AI, IoT sensing, and biological systems to develop precision agriculture technologies such as autonomous irrigation, smart indoor farming systems, and low-cost drone and robotic platforms for crop monitoring and weed management. In parallel, his work advances biomedical technologies including wearable and bio-integrated sensors and soft robotic systems enabled by advanced additive manufacturing. Dr. Kim collaborates extensively with Canadian and international academic and industry partners and has authored over 90 peer-reviewed journal publications in 3D-printed sensors, robotics, and intelligent mechatronic systems. Webpage: www.sfu.ca/~woosook

El Chenier (they/them) is Associate Dean of Scholarship in the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Professor of History at Simon Fraser University, where they are also an Associate Faculty member in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. A graduate of Queen’s University at Kingston (MA 1995, PhD 2001), Chenier’s teaching and research are deeply informed by feminist, anti‑racist, anti-colonial and queer perspectives, with a focus on the history of sexuality and gender in twentieth‑century Canada and the United States. Their scholarship includes oral histories of lesbian cultures, studies of sexual regulation and moral panic, ethical archival practices and digital humanities, and histories of sexuality among Canadians of Chinese heritage.

Dr. Hector Vazquez-Cordoba (he/him) is an Assistant Teaching Professor, Curriculum, Indigenous Education at the University of Victoria. Hector completed his PhD in Educational Studies at UVic. His doctoral research was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship, and it addressed the embedding of music with Indigenous roots into Mexico’s national elementary curriculum. In 2022, Hector was awarded one of the 10 inaugural year Aspiration 2030 Postdoctoral Fellowships at UVic, and in 2023, he was awarded a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship. His research interests include Indigenizing and decolonizing music education in both K-12 and postsecondary settings, community music initiatives in Indigenous communities, emphasizing the use and development of Indigenous methodologies from a perspective rooted in the global south, as well as educational policy and change.
 

Kate Slaney, Ph.D. (she/her) is a tenured Professor in the History, Quantitative, and Theoretical Psychology (HQT) stream in the Department of Psychology at Simon Fraser University, where she completed her Ph.D. in psychometric theory. Her research focuses on the history, philosophy, and methodology of psychological science, including theoretical and applied psychometrics and statistical reasoning practices. She's also the Associate Dean, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, overseeing graduate curriculum, academic integrity, and graduate professional development.

Dr. J. Matthew Huculak (he/him), is Director of the Kula: Library Futures Academy at the University of Victoria Libraries. He is a 2024 Library Journal “Mover and Shaker” award winner and 2019 team winner of the Professional & Scholarly Excellence (PROSE) award from the Association of American Publishers in the category of “Innovation in Publishing.” He was a postdoc for 8 years.