This My Story/My Advice post features Dharti Pancholi,
Principal Process Engineer at NNE Pharmaplan. The My Story/My Advice project, brought
to you by The Women in STEM Summit, which highlights
women in STEM that are persisting in STEM fields and making a difference. It
also gives their personal advice to the next generation of young women looking
for encouragement to persist in STEM.
Dharti’s Story:
I pursued Master's in Chemical Engineering with emphasis in
Biotechnology. With my father being a Chief Medical Officer/Doctor and my
mother being Masters in Math/Commerce, having good science and math foundation
has been the focus from my very supportive family. As a child, I could never
decide whether I wanted to go into medicine or engineering. Biotech emphasis in
Chemical Engineering is great because I still uses math concepts in process
engineering - design and calculations and work in biotech-pharma industries
that I am helping make drugs/medicines to help human beings in the world.
Working with several small/private as well as large/public companies and user
side (product making) or service side (consulting/engineering service provider)
companies, I discovered my passion lies in people management/mentoring,
technical leadership, as well as business development aspects. I remember the
time in 1996-1998 when there were not many women engineers on operational
plant, and now the opportunities are endless choosing STEM career path.
Dharti’s Advice:
As mentioned in several books, female and male minds work
differently and differences are not yet fully understood! Women are often more
cooperative or flexible to give up their needs for others, or unlike men, they
put more emphasis on understanding/questioning, mutuality, empathy etc., which
sometimes makes others take advantage of them. Nevertheless, fewer women held
executive positions in corporate world, but they are more effective at the
mid-level management positions, or often they end up starting their own company
to avoid political conflicts with differences in leadership styles, values, and
preference. I personally think that embracing the differences between men and
women and understanding diversity can make an even stronger team, filling in
for each other's gaps. My advice is that female leaders must be role models
themselves to encourage others, particularly women, and develop their interest
in STEM.
Register for the
upcoming Women in STEM Summit taking place October 22, 2015 in Boston, MA. The
event brings together companies struggling to fill their STEM job pipelines
with female college students pursuing STEM degrees. The summit is designed to
facilitate closing the gap between corporate needs for a STEM-enabled workforce
and student questions about job prospects that align their passion with the
needs of corporate America. For more information or to register, click here: http://bit.ly/1EY6Z4d
