Alumni breaks gender-barrier at Ontario Tech University

Andrea Kirkwood grew up in Scarborough, Ontario and developed an interest in nature and the environment from an early age at the family cottage in Haliburton, Ontario. After graduating high school in 1989, she enrolled in the Environment and Resource Studies (ERS) program at the University of Waterloo. Soon after, Andrea was accepted into the co-op education program and expanded her degree to include another major in Biology.

Building on a strong knowledge base in environmental studies and biology, Andrea pursued a Master of Science degree in Aquatic Ecology at McMaster University. Andrea’s thesis research was conducted in lakes near Dorset, Ontario, and focused on mercury bioaccumulation in aquatic food webs. She then shifted gears to pursue a doctoral degree at the University of Toronto in Environmental Microbiology where she investigated the role of cyanobacteria in pulp and paper waste-treatment systems and conducted field research in Idaho, USA and Rotorua, New Zealand.

After several years of postdoctoral fellowships in Oklahoma, USA and Calgary, Alberta, Andrea joined the faculty at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (re-branded to Ontario Tech University), where she teaches courses in environmental biology and leads a dynamic research lab in aquatic ecology.

Andrea is the first (and currently only) woman promoted to full professor in the Faculty of Science at Ontario Tech University.

She is passionate about equity, diversity, and inclusion in the academy, and is actively involved in community-based environmental stewardship initiatives in her spare time.