Claire Deschênes, P.Eng, Ph.D. Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department Chairholder for the NSERC/Alcan Chair for Women in Science and Engineering in Quebec Claire Deschênes is one of the five scientists chosen by the NSERC (Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada) to direct the canadian chairs set up to promote the participation of women in science and engineering. She inaugurated the Quebec Chair in October 1997. In accordance with the provisions made in the project, she directs this chair on a part-time basis, with the rest of her work devoted to teaching and research activities. She is a member of the Women in Engineering Committee of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec and has recently been nominated as member of the Conseil du statut de la femme, an organism which promote and fight for women's rights. Ms. Deschênes received a B.Eng. in mechanical engineering from Laval University in 1978. Throughout all her studies, she had been the only woman in this program. In the same year, she was hired by Hydro-Québec as an engineer, a position she held for two years. She then left for a two year trip around the world. Afterwards, she returned to her alma mater to study for a Master's degree, which she obtained in 1986. She continued her graduate studies at the École Nationale Polytechnique in Grenoble, France, and obtained her Ph.D. in 1990. Her doctoral dissertation was on the numerical modeling of turbulent flows in hydraulic turbines using the finite-element method. In 1989, she was engaged as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Laval University, becoming the first woman engineering professor in this institution. Attached to the Mechanical Engineering Department, she teaches fluid mechanics and turbomachinery. She became an Associate Professor in 1994 and was promoted Full Professor in 1998. As a researcher, she directs the Hydraulic Machinery Laboratory which performs numerical and experimental researches in Hydraulic Machinery and Hydraulic turbines that produce hydroelectricity. Among other achievements, the Hydraulic Machinery Laboratory's team has built, instrumented and validated a test bench of international scope for micro-turbines and models of hydraulic turbines. Her pioneering role in engineering led her quite naturally to take part in a number of activities related to women's issues. As incumbent of the NSERC/Alcan Chair, which is funded in equal parts by the NSERC and the private industry, she directs activities that take place in three branches : promotion at school level, interventions on the work place and research on women in science and engineering issues.