I-STEAM Pathways Program

When Professor Wesley Chalifoux completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Alberta in the early 2000s, his eyes weren’t set on academia as a career path — at least not at first. But a chance interaction set him down the path to an academic career.

“I talked to the right person in the chemistry department about a different issue and she mentioned there's an intern program for undergraduate students, and I should apply. So I did,” he says.

“Without that internship, I wouldn't be a professor. My track would have probably been much different, so I think these research opportunities are eye-opening for a lot of students.”

Chalifoux went on to complete his PhD at the University of Alberta, before moving south of the border to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University, then going on to work as an assistant and associate professor at the University of Nevada.

When he returned to his alma mater in 2023 as a professor, Chalifoux was determined to help the next generation of students explore academic career paths. As a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta, he was particularly interested in supporting Indigenous students entering the sciences.

“I just thought that it would be important to help students that identify as Indigenous because they don't have these opportunities as readily available as others,” he says.

“I wanted to let them know that they have an opportunity to do something greater, to even just go to university and get a degree.”

Chalifoux wanted to create an internship experience that would help Indigenous students explore opportunities in chemistry, particularly in lab work. But organizing that internship — securing funding and finding interested students — proved to be challenging.

When one of the co-leads of the university’s I-STEAM Pathways program reached out to Chalifoux to discuss running his lab-focused internship as part of the program, he was quick to jump on board.

“They said essentially we have a program already, but it was more focused on environmental-related issues,” he says. “But the program has evolved over the years, so they asked, ‘Hey, would you be willing to be a co-lead with us and become part of the program?’ I said sure. Now I don't have to reinvent the wheel.”

Since 2020, the I-STEAM program has allowed First Nations, Métis and Inuit undergraduate students to gain research experience in a range of fields related to environmental policy and practice. The long-term goal of the program is to build Indigenous knowledge, perspectives and values in environmentally related fields. For Chalifoux, the program is also an opportunity to help undergraduate students understand their future options.

“They don't realize that there's opportunities to go to graduate school. They're not even thinking about graduate school, or masters or PhDs until someone tells them,” he says.

“It gives them an opportunity to rise to a higher level in these positions. Their voice will have more meaning, and they can get out there and start affecting change that we're trying to make across the board to make things more equitable and inclusive.”

In 2025, Chalifoux joined program co-leads, Makere Stewart-Harawira, Greg Goss, Chelsea Benally and Grace Cardinal-Gordon, and developed an I-STEAM internship focused specifically on chemistry. The intern would join Chalifoux’s lab for the summer, helping the team there to research advanced carbon-based materials, for potential applications in electronics, energy storage and nanotechnology. All that was left to do was find the right student.

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Sitting in Dewey's one day between classes, undergraduate student AJ Ivanco was intrigued when he came across an email advertising the I-STEAM program. As a double major in Chemistry and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and a member of the Beaver First Nation, the program seemed well aligned with his interests. He was particularly interested in opportunities to work in chemistry, so when he saw the opportunity to work in a lab for the summer, he decided to apply. When he was selected for the position, he was surprised, but excited.

“Chemistry has always been the main thing I've been wanting to study, that's what I originally came here to the U of A for,” he says. “It’s… I kind of want to say therapeutic because I just like doing lab work. That's my favorite part about any chemistry course.”

But being an undergraduate student, working in the lab with graduate-level students and sophisticated equipment isn’t always easy. When Ivanco first joined Chalifoux’s lab in May 2025, he explains he felt a bit of imposter syndrome.

“When I first got into the lab and got the tour, I was meeting with the grad students, getting a rundown of all the reactions that I'm gonna be doing, and it was very intimidating,” he says. “But then, as it went on, I was like, okay, I get exactly what they were talking about.”

Throughout the internship, Ivanco’s research focused on developing nanographene tubes — small, flexible cylinders composed of carbon atoms — for use in a range of technologies, like solar panels, OLED screens or batteries. The goal, Chalifoux explains, is to create pieces of graphene — a layer of thin graphite — so small that they can be dissolved in various solvents and deposited as a film onto other materials.

“You can imagine taking a spray bottle of this and spraying a plastic square, now you have a solar panel. Of course you’ve to hook up some clips to it, there’s a little more involved, but that's essentially it,” explains Chalifoux. “It's to be able print these on flexible substrates like plastic or other things, so eventually, you'll have a watch or something that's not this hard screen, or a TV that can bend around a corner and is ultra thin.”

Outside of the lab, the I-STEAM Pathways program also creates a community for participants, bringing them together throughout the internship to share experiences, learn best practices, and form the basis of relationships that will last throughout their careers.

“In the real world, it's also who you know, and so the more people you know, the more successful,” says Chalifoux.

For Ivanco, the experience has been profound. Like Chalifoux as an undergraduate, Ivanco didn’t initially have his sights set on academia. After I-STEAM, his perspective has shifted.

“I've been really enjoying what it's just like the entirety of research and coming into the lab,” Ivanco says. “Doing this as a full-time thing is a lot of fun and has given me a new perspective on what it would be like to further my education here.”