Alicia Bjarnason PGeol, FGC, MA, CCIP ™

“An innovative and formative future will only come through equity, inclusivity and diversity of thought."

Alicia is passionate about enhancing innovation within the energy sector in Alberta and beyond. After 15 years as an exploration geoscientist, Alicia returned to school and received a master’s in Human Geography - with a focus on corporate culture, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Alicia won multiple awards during her time as a graduate student, including a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship and an Alberta Graduate Citizenship Award. Additionally, Alicia is a Canadian Certified Inclusion Professional through the Canadian Centre of Diversity and Inclusion. Alicia supports her STEM community as an EDI strategist and researcher. 

Alicia has been a volunteer with AWSN (the Alberta Women's Science Network) since 2013. She held the position of President/Co-President for six years, leading the organization to adopt EDI as a guiding principle. As Past President, she re-deigned the AWSN scholarship program through an intersectional lens. In 2015, Alicia secured a 3-year Status of Women Canada Grant and initiated the AWSN Work Re-engagement Program. The program investigated the struggles professional STEM women face when re-engaging back into the workforce after an extended leave. The program created a document to support this demographic on their journey back to employment. Through this process, the program identified that many STEM companies would benefit in equity, diversity, and inclusion support, as such, the program created an EDI Leading Practices document.

Alicia has been active in the greater STEM community, including sitting as an EDI Advisor on boards such as Women in APEGA (Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta),  MiHR (Mining Industry Human Resources Council), Technology Alberta, and CCWESTT (Canadian Coalition of Women in Engineering, Science, Trades and Technology), and as an Executive Director/Mentor for the Operation Minerva Program - a one day job shadowing program for Gr. 8 girls with STEM women mentors. In 2021 Alicia led the design and implementation of a new AWSN Equitable Scholarship using GBA+ and an intersectional less. This scholarship has now won both an APEGA Summit Award and an ASTech Award for its social innovation. 

 
In December 2019, Alicia received a Stars of Alberta award from the Government of Alberta for her years of volunteer commitment to advocacy in STEM.

 
Most important, Alicia is a proud mother of two inquisitive children. She enjoys teaching geology in their classrooms and securing science-based programming for their schools.