Like most young people deciding on their education and career path, Kimberly Woodhouse was somewhat undecided on the direction she thought she should take. Leaning heavily towards medical school, she ended up switching gears once she was introduced to the world of chemical engineering. With her strong appreciation of life sciences, she was able to combine both realms, as she developed her research program on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
A true formula for success!
Kim earned her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Chemical Engineering at McGill University and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at McMaster University. She was drawn to McMaster’s biomaterials group, studying under John Brash, her thesis supervisor.
Also, while doing her Ph.D at McMaster she became interested in problem-based learning that was pioneered at McMaster medical school, and McMaster's Chemical Engineering department under the direction of Chemical Engineering professor Don Woods. She strongly appreciates the ground breaking work he undertook to teach academics how to use problem based learning to teach students
In Kim’s own words, "Problem-based learning is a different type of teaching. It allows you to expose students to more open-ended problems with multiple answers, problems that require the use of judgement to solve and which then strengthens the ability of the students to solve complex problems more rapidly than with subject-based learning."
In addition to her academic background, Dr. Woodhouse has almost ten years of experience in private sector manufacturing. She credits her industrial training as a good foundation for her administrative and teaching skills. While working in industry as a chemical engineer and later as a production manager, running a plant, she became involved in management training. Her strong skills as mentor began to blossom. She gained extensive international experience in management and educational consulting.
She holds several patents, and was a co-founder of a biotechnology company.
Colleagues comment, that Kim challenge students and they in turn challenge her. As an engineering student at McMaster, Heather Sheardown was greatly influenced by Kim. She saw her energy and enthusiasm as a great source of inspiration, encouraging independent thinking and student engagement.
Currently, Kim has less time to teach because of her duties as Dean, but one of the courses she does make time to teach, is the team development and communication section of a first year design course – a course with real projects and real clients. She says, "Design is integral to engineering. Applying creativity and knowledge in science, mathematics, economics and social sciences to solve the world's problems -- it's what engineers do."
Administratively, Kim has demonstrated great leadership qualities. When appointed to the Office of Dean at Queens in 2007, outgoing Dean Tom Harris, also a McMaster graduate, said, “Kimberly Woodhouse will do a fantastic job. She has an interesting background that is well suited for being dean. She has a very good research record and industrial experience and has served on many boards and agencies,” he said. “She will energize faculty staff and students in programs of research and teaching. She has a great capacity to motivate others.” And that is indeed what she did, and was reappointed for her second 5-year term on July 1, 2012.
Further to her position as Dean, Kim is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University and holds adjunct appointments in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry and the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto.
Prior to joining the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Dr. Woodhouse held several positions at the University of Toronto, including a Professorship in Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry and the Associate Director of the Advanced Regenerative Tissue Engineering Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, a multi-institutional centre to bring basic scientists, engineers and clinicians together to develop novel constructs for soft tissue engineering.
Kim has been recognized for her achievements by peers and colleagues throughout her career. Kim has received a the Medal for Excellence in Engineering Education from Engineers Canada, the Premier’s Excellence Award and the Professional Engineers Ontario Engineering Medal, “in recognition of valuable contributions made while furthering the technical advancement of the engineering profession in Ontario and its application to the public welfare”. She is the recipient of Engineers Canada's Medal for Distinction in Engineering Education and the Premier's Research Excellence Award. She was named a Fellow of the Society of Biomaterials and a Fellow to the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Kim has accomplished a great deal as Dean at Queens. Notable among these are the development of the Faculty's academic plan and strategic plan, the new Innovation and Global Leadership program, a joint initiative with the Queen's School of Business, which admitted its first students this spring, and the Aboriginal Access to Engineering program. Kim currently serves on the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation Board and the Ontario Research Fund Advisory Board.
She is a member of the CAE Board of Directors, has been appointed as a member of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). She is also the Director of Product Development for Elastin Specialties Inc. In addition to NSERC, Dr. Woodhouse sits on several boards and committees of Queen's University and on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Biomedical Engineering: Polymer Edition. She also serves as Vice-Chair on the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Review Panel.
It is with great pride that I present the L.W. Shemilt Distinguished Alumni Award to Dr. Kimberly Woodhouse - an outstanding educator, research and administrator.