Meet Judy Cipot-Wechsler

Judy Cipot-Wechsler graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Science, with Co-operative Education Degree in Chemistry from the University of Calgary in 2002. Judy also earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Organometallic Chemistry from Dalhousie University in 2007. She is currently a Senior Project Lead and Technology Manager in Analytical Services at DuPont Canada. In her free time, Judy enjoys baking - making and designing custom event cakes has been part of her life since her days as a graduate student; she had a registered business for over 10 years in the Kingston area as Cake Creations by Judy. She enjoys all areas of home arts as well, such as quilting, sewing clothes and scrapbooking and she really enjoys music; from the age of 5 through her undergraduate degree, she studied and played jazz organ and digital piano. However, her number one favorite activity is her family - she is a proud mom of two up and coming STEMers!

When did your love of STEM begin?

I have always had a curiuosity to ask "why" and "how" of the world around me. It was fascinating to understand the biology of plants in grade 10 and how the human circulatory system worked. I loved that we always had an indoor vegetable garden growing up - my Dad is a Botanist and grew lettuce, tomatoes and other garden vegetables all winter long in our basement. Design of gardens, design of clothes, design of a science project in school - I was relentless and fully committed to discovering the "new" in every project I undertook. I loved to understand the science behind baking and cooking. Math just made sense to me - nothing was more exciting that solving a complex linear algebra problem! It wasn't until Grade 10 chemistry that I really feel in love with a particular STEM field - I felt kinship with understanding what makes water such an interesting molecule and learning how electrons move just made sense in my mind.

What is the best part about working in the field of STEM?

I get to be a inventor every single day as a DuPont scientist and make the world we share a better place! The work I do is part of everything around us - the firefighter's suit, the gloves on your hand, the protection for the crops we have to feed the world, the electronic materials inside your phone and TV. I am proud to have been on teams inventing new, fully bio-based materials for next gen plastics like corn, as well as on teams that are developing materials for 5G applications.

What advice would you give young women interested in a career in STEM?

I think STEM fields can have a bad reputation as a kid - math doesn't seem that exciting, counting electrons can be boring, and there's seemingly a ton of memorization in any of these fields. BUT, stick with it! Look past the numbers and the formulas! Then you can see that STEM helps us understand the world we live in and also how we can make a more sustainable world for our future generations. Empowered with knowledge, we can be creative and these fields are our ticket to staying on the edge of change.