Parent’s career change inspired Life Sciences student to become a driving force behind annual women in STEM conference

Give Lathusha Sritharan full marks for staying humble.

The Honours Life Sciences student is more than happy to talk about the International Women in Science Day Conference happening on campus March 21.

But Lathusha’s quick to downplay her role as co-president. She points out that she’s just one of 20 volunteers working on the all-day event. “Everyone’s motivated to take on extra tasks to put on the best possible conference. It’s a total team effort.”

It turns out Lathusha’s been co-president for the past three years. And she’s been helping with the conference since her first year.

The student-run conference aims to spark discussions about gender equality in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Lathusha says the event also gives students a chance to connect with guest speakers and potential mentors.

Lathusha’s volunteered hundreds of hours with the conference because she wants to help encourage more women to learn and then earn when it comes to careers in science, technology, engineering and math. “It’s important that women not just study STEM at university but also have equal opportunities to thrive in ourcareers.”

A report from Statistics Canada shows there’s still a gap that needs closing. Women hold 34 per cent of STEM degrees and work in 23 per cent of the country’s STEM jobs. In the European Union, 43 per cent of STEM employees are women.

This year, Lathusha’s working on the conference while juggling not only course work but her fourth-year thesis project. She’s part of a research group with the SCORE! Project in the Department of Global Health. They’re doing community outreach work in Hamilton, helping to raise awareness among newcomers about Type 2 diabetes. Lathusha is evaluating the impact of their pre-screening outreach and the effectiveness of their educational toolkits while also identifying the barriers faced by newcomers to getting tested and receiving treatment.

Lathusha’s also working with one other group of students. McMaster Sick Kids is a student club that holds fundraisers for The Hospital for Sick Children and the SickKids Foundation. They’re putting together an illustrated book to help kids tap into their inner resilience during hospital stays. Lathusha’s hoping to bring the book into hospitals and host story hours.

There’s one topic where Lathusha doesn’t stay humble – she’s proud to talk about her mom. Lathusha was in high school when her mom decided to go back to school and train to become a dental assistant. That career change inspired Lathusha to study STEM and it put her on the path that eventually led to McMaster.

Another mother-daughter connection comes up when Lathusha’s asked about a personal highlight from all of her years of volunteering with the International Women in Science Day conference. Last year, an attendee brought her young daughter. The mom thanked Lathusha and the entire organizing team for letting her daughter spend the day in the company of inspiring speakers and remarkable student role models.

“That meant a lot,” says Lathusha. “Her kind words were all the motivation I needed to work on this year’s conference.”