Just Announced! Women in STEM Summit Speakers

At the Women in STEM Summit, taking place October 22 at Bentley University, you will have the opportunity to make one-to-one connections with potential employees, feed the pipelines for your mentoring and internship programs, maximize ROI of STEM investments, increase STEM retention rates, as well as promote your internal initiatives in support of women in the workplace.

Women in STEM Summit

October 22, 2015

Boston, MA

We are excited to introduce the major players, influencers and inspirers in the Northeast that have joined our speaking faculty to engage in discussion, debate the issues and help you make a difference.

Hear from and collaborate with the 2015 Women in STEM Summit speakers:

• Amy Van Kirk, Director, University Relations, Talent Acquisition, PAREXEL International
• Anne-Marie Dorning, Founding Director, Olin College of Engineering
• Betsy Myers, Director, Human Resources, Center for Women and Business, Bentley University
• Cecily Kovatch, Sr. Director Ash Reuse Applications & Innovation, Covanta
• Claire Duggan, Director for Programs and Operations, The Center for STEM Education, Northeastern University
• Courtney Tanenbaum, Senior Researcher, American Institutes for Research
• Tiana Veldwisch, Technical Marketing Manager, Daktari Diagnostics
• Denise A. Sabolcik, Vice President, Application Development, FedEx Services

• Janice Mazzallo, Executive Vice President and CHRO, PeoplesBank
• John Brooks, President and CEO, Joslin Diabetes Center
• Julie Silard Kantor, Chief Partnership Officer, STEMconnector MillionWomenMentors
• Lisa Freed, P.E., LEED AP, STEM Program Manager, iRobot
• Sally Phelps, Olin Career Center Director, Olin College of Engineering
• Susan Vroman, Organizational Effectiveness Advisor, SmartPak
• Yvonne M. Spicer, Ed.D, DTE, Vice President of Advocacy & Educational Partnerships, National Center for Technological Literacy®, Museum of Science, Boston

Click here to view the complete agenda: http://bit.ly/1VdZ0nv

Register today to secure your seat! Each registration sponsors the attendance of students.  Invest in the future women of the industry, while increasing your organizations long-term competitive advantage.

You get $100 off the current rate when you use code WISBL. For more information or to register, click here: http://bit.ly/1VdZ0nv

Cheers,

The Women in STEM Summit Team

@WISSummit

#WISExchange15

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers get inspired attending the Women in STEM Summit

Getting young people interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers is said to be a high priority for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, specifically encouraging and stimulating qualified women into doing engineering and science.

Last year the 15 team members of New England District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (six male supervisors and nine female employees from Engineering/ Planning) found themselves among attendees at the Women in STEM conference.

Scott Acone, Chief of Engineering/Planning shared, “For Engineering and Planning, I wanted to know how we can create an environment that is more welcoming and open for both attracting and retaining qualified women doing engineering and science activities.”

The feedback on this question came not only from the presenters, but also from the District team themselves. Mark Anderson, New England District’s STEM coordinator said, “People felt comfortable enough to have a conversation. We sat and had about a 20-minute group recap. There were some really honest opinions that were going around the table at the end.” For some men in the audience it was an eye-opening experience to learn about the challenges for women in the STEM fields.

One of the team members stated that the highlight of the conference last year was ‘Broadening the Breadth of STEM Workforce Through Racial and Ethnic Diversity,' presented by Dr. Uma Gupta, Founder and Executive Director, STEM-Smart.org. Dr. Gupta talked about biology of the nervous system behind stereotypes and how we can recognize our unconscious prejudices, both racial and gender to use that to change our behavior.

The Women in STEM 2014 drove awareness and created more opportunities for mentorship and career development for those who attended the event.

Here are some of the titles that will be covered during the Women in STEM Summit 2015:

• Strategies for Effectively Hiring and Retaining STEM Talent
• Smart STEM Investing: What to Measure and Why Diversity Matters to the Bottom Line
• The Tone at the Top Matters: Creating a Culture to Advance Employee and Organizational Goals
• Case Study: Integrating Recent College Graduates into Your Workforce and more.


Read the Women in STEM Summit agenda here.
RVSP your seat now here.

Statistics Show Computer Science Really is a Boys' Club

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the lack of women in STEM professions and in particular computer sciences. Google, after a lot of public media pressure, released a blog post with a breakdown of the company’s workforce. The results regarding the gender gap was unsurprising in that the female percentage of the workforce was significantly lower than the male.

In fact, it was found that out of Google’s 46,170 employees only 30 percent of them are female, only 21 percent of leadership positions in Google are held by women. The lowest percentage, predictably, was found in the tech sector where females hold only 17 percent of the jobs.

The problem is not just at Google as the table below shows Google and nine other large technology companies who released data after Google, showing the percentages of females working their companies.

Company	% of female employees	% of female employees in tech jobs	% of female employees in non-tech jobs	% of females in leadership positions
Google	30%	17%	48%	21%
Apple	30%	20%	35%	28%
Facebook	31%	15%	47%	23%
Twitter	30%	10%	50%	21%
Yahoo	37%	15%	52%	23%
LinkedIn	39%	17%	47%	25%
Pandora	49.2%	18%	57.8%	14%
Pinterest	40%	20%	66%	19%
eBay	42%	24%	49%	28%
HP	32.5%	18.4%	48.7%	25.6%

All data given in 2014 apart from HP which is from 2013.

Only three out of 10 of the world’s leading technology firms scrape 20 percent with eBay the highest on 24 percent. It shows that in other aspects of the company, percentages of people in non-tech fields are pretty equal, so why is there such a dramatic difference in tech?

One issue is something again that can be seen from the table; female leader numbers in the above companies are very low, which provides a lack of role models for aspiring female tech professionals. It is very difficult for women to get into managerial positions as the top firms are dominated by what the New York Times’ Claire Cain Miller describes as ‘a fraternity of chummy men.’ She states that there is a ‘sexist culture’ amongst companies in Silicon Valley. The females that work there are isolated and in some cases have been found to be harassed. A group of women working at major tech firms came out and stated that they were ‘harassed on mailing lists and called ‘whore/c—t’’ and received ‘creepy e-mails’ that haven’t been dealt with by higher powers. The ‘fraternity of chummy men’ may not be too far off the mark as many of the top firms will hire from only top schools where again, STEM courses such as computer science will be dominated by male students and teachers (14 percent of US physics professors are female); again a potentially off-putting statistic for young female scientists. 

Creating a more female inclusive tech world will not happen overnight; however steps are slowly being made. For example, many of the companies mentioned have set up initiatives and groups for their minority employees such as the Pandora Women in Business scheme. In fact, Columbia University has a group that brings together female computer science students to help expand their opportunities and provide direction. Initiatives like this will encourage more females to study computer science and by having more equal college gender ratios then the stigma of computer science being a boys club may start to fade out. I believe because these areas of study are dominated by men, when they then progress into companies also dominated by males and it becomes a culture. If computer science is seen as a unisex area of study from a younger age then it will eventually filter into the workplace too. 

About the Author: Harry Kempe, a marketing intern at IIR USA, who works on various aspects of the industry including social media, marketing analysis and media. He is a recent graduate of Newcastle University who previously worked for EMAP Ltd. and WGSN as a marketing assistant on events such as the World Architecture Festival, World Retail Congress and Global Fashion Awards. He can be reached at hkempe@IIRUSA.com.

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Staying in STEM: Nurturing a Career Path for Girls

Did you know that jobs in STEM make up the second fastest growing job sector in the next 10 years? More reason for us to help girls and young women stay in STEM. Check out the infographic below which outlines why it is hard to keep girls and young women in STEM, and how we can encourage them to stay.

STEM Chat with Jaren Landen

chat with Jaren Landen
October 27, 2014 Jaren Landen, Ph.D., Pfizer Global Research and Development, Director, Clinician, Global Innovative Pharma
The person who inspired me the most when I was growing up is my grandmother. She is a mother of six, grandmother of 20, great grandmother of five so far including my four, became a realtor at 55 and lied about her age to get her first job because she thought she was too old to work. At 93 years old, she is still working today and does not miss a beat. Keeping her mind and body active has been the greatest blessing to our family. I had no idea I would be part of at least half a dozen major acquisitions and still with the same company I started with a dozen years ago in a field where the average employment is approximately two years, and in many cities like Cambridge you can change jobs and keep your parking space. My dream project is to work on a team that impacts disease progression of Alzheimer's Disease. The best advice I ever received was to do a great job at whatever you are doing today no matter what the task and the next great thing will come your way. I always worry but not too much about what is next because when colleagues/supervisors take note of a job well done and positive working relationships, the next opportunity always comes. In my free time I am too boring to describe. Life is about soccer, baseball, softball game, swim meets, dance lessons, and playmates. Because I have chosen to have such a large family, work has become my hobby. It is the part of my life that I look forward to because it is for me filled with stimulating adult conversations about interesting cutting edge science topics and challenges.	If I had a one year sabbatical, I would take my entire family on a global health fellows tour. Pfizer offers a six month sabbatical to do amazing things throughout the world through an application process. My children are too young at the moment and it is hard to imagine a time when we could stop time and do something like this; however, I imagine it would offer extreme personal and professional growth. Now that I have stated this here, I am hoping to be held accountable to doing a fellowship at some point in the future. My tools of the trade are interpersonal skills. Never underestimate that the key to getting anything done well is not how smart you are, but how well you work with others, manage others as appropriate, and are sensitive to the needs and pressures of others in the workplace. Likeability makes teams work harder towards a common goal and is more likely to lead to team success than a great idea alone. I'm proud that I stayed in the workplace while having four children. I cannot underestimate how important staying in the workplace has been for me. This is such a personal decision. Although I will always have some regrets about never being in a mothers group or attending Gymboree class, my children are starting to understand what I do and the contributions that I have made in my workplace. I have taught them by example how to prioritize and develop time management skills. They have learned how to entertain themselves in the evenings or weekends during the occasional emergency work call. For me, staying in the work place has kept my knowledge in my field current in an ever changing science field, ensured that I maintained industry contacts, and developed a very powerful camaraderie among other working women in the industry. I still hope to participate in an eMBA program.
Jaren will be speaking at The Women in STEM Idea Exchange Summit in Boston. Find out more at www.womeninSTEMsummits.com © 2014 IIR Holdings, LTD. All Rights Reserved.

See Why These Companies are Attending The Women in STEM Idea Exchange Summit

In case you haven’t heard, The Women in STEM Idea Exchange Summit is taking place next month and we couldn’t be more excited to be able to take part in changing the future of the STEM workforce.  100+ individuals including HR Representatives, Corporate Social Responsibility, Diversion and Inclusion teams, Talent and Acquisition representatives, Scientists, Engineers, Mathematicians and Tech Professionals and College students will come together to share what they’ve learned, engage with the next generation of STEM women and drive change.

Download the brochure for full program details: http://bit.ly/1uHbNEv

Here’s Why Companies are Investing in the Women In STEM Idea Exchange Summit:

Senior management is attending to show their support of this effort

Find ideas at the summit that will help us build on the existing formal and informal activities

Learn best practices for encouraging leadership of women in STEM

Increase the community role for our organization

To identify topics that resonate for personal development

Hear case studies that will serve as best practice for my organization

Identify candidates for continued networking beyond the summit

What are you waiting for?  Make your mark within the STEM community by attending The Women In STEM Idea Exchange Summit next month in Boston and you will impact change in your organization and community.

Here is just a sample of companies participating:

Northeastern University
Fidelity Investments
Sage Cloud
Knewton
Liberty Mutual Insurance Co
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
STEM-SMART
Pro Search Inc
Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems
Princeton University
Idexx Laboratories
Pearson
Bristol-Myers Squibb
BattelleED

Dassault Systèmes
Covidien
MIT
The Center for STEM Education, Northeastern University
Xerox
Tata Consultancy
STEMConnector
Pfizer
Hanscom Air Force Base
Bentley University
Draper Laboratory
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
PAREXEL International
Shire

All that’s missing is YOU: gain inside knowledge from leaders who have already diversified their STEM workforce, meet and recruit recent graduate women, investor in mentorship, share your story of inspiration and learn best practices in smart STEM investing.

Become part of a movement to change the future of America. Join us.

Mention code STEM14BL & Save $100 off the standard rate. Register today: http://bit.ly/1vEjE3Q

Check out our monthly STEM Chat Newsletter that features the amazing women of STEM: http://bit.ly/1tZ9YT2

Looking forward to seeing you at the Summit!

Cheers,

The Women in STEM Exchange Summits Team
#WomeninSTEM
@WISExchange
Steamacceleratorblog.iirusa.com

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STEM Chat with Alisha Sarag-Sieminski

chat with Alisha Sarang-Sieminski
September 29 2014 Alisha Sarang-Sieminski, Associate Professor of Bioengineering, Director of SCOPE, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
If I could tell a young woman pursuing STEM one thing it would be that when you feel the small slights that happen, or you flinch just a little bit about the way someone says something (sexist), or you feel like your knowledge is questioned, it's not just you. It's part of a larger system and other people experience it too. And other people notice it. You are not alone. And though this may not resonate with you yet, tuck it away somewhere for later when you start to question whether you belong here. And then find yourself some really good allies. My dream project is to grow really awesome tissue-based models for testing pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The best advice I ever received was to (this is going to sound cliché) just try things and to believe in myself. Starting from that place helps keep all the little voices in my head telling me I can't do something or I shouldn't do something a little quieter. And takes me in some amazing directions.	I lead by a combination of benevolent dictatorship and consensus. What brings these together is finding the win-win for people as much as possible and being transparent about my motives and constraints. While I'm the one in charge, I also think that all the stakeholders need to be heard. I'm proud that I have followed my heart and instincts about decisions I have made in my life. There's inevitably a lot of work at every step to make things happen, but leading from my gut has taken me places I wouldn't have expected and has always done me right.
Alisha will be speaking at The Women in STEM Idea Exchange Summit in Boston. Find out more at www.womeninSTEMsummits.com © 2014 IIR Holdings, LTD. All Rights Reserved.

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STEM Chat with Claire Duggan

chat with Claire Duggan
September 15, 2014 Claire Duggan, Director for Programs and Operations, The Center for STEM Education, Northeastern University
If I could tell a young woman pursuing STEM one thing it would be – seek out female mentors pursing STEM pathways – teachers/neighbors/family members. To me, a successful woman is someone that knows themselves, pursue their passions, but never forgets to make time for the people they come in contact with personally and professionally In high school, I wish I had known more STEM professionals and/or had the opportunity to participate in stem research experience – especially in engineering. I had no knowledge of the field and career pathways available when I was in high school. The very next thing on my to do list is to commit to paper several ideas I have for new STEM K-12 educational efforts.	The best way to unwind after a long day is is to play with my grandchildren. If I had a one year sabbatical I would travel around the world and visit schools/classrooms to see firsthand how we are educating children across the globe - then move to build collaborations and accelerate the sharing of best practices. The biggest misconception about women in stem is they are all the same I'm proud that I have helped with the development and implementation of multiple STEM education initiatives and now am supporting young students and faculty seeking to engage in this work.
Claire will be speaking at The Women in STEM Idea Exchange Summit in Boston. Find out more at www.womeninSTEMsummits.com © 2014 IIR Holdings, LTD. All Rights Reserved.

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12 Organizations for Women in STEM

Time and time again we are reminded about the lack of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematical (STEM) professions.  Even though women hold around half of all jobs in the United States, they still only occupy less than a quarter of all STEM jobs.

How can we fix this?

In order to see a significant change in STEM, we must look towards the future.  The young women and girls of today will be the leaders and groundbreakers of tomorrow. 

Numerous organizations have been developed to encourage young woman to pursue careers in STEM.  These organizations pave the way for girls to be an integral part of the next generation of tech workers.

If you are seeking fresh ideas on how to close the STEM gender gap, or are looking to get involved in a new and exciting organization, here is a list of 12 organizations that are making a difference:

1) The National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP)

           

            The NGCP brings together organizations throughout the US that are committed to informing and encouraging girls to pursue careers in STEM.  It includes 31 networks of professionals and researchers, covering 39 states, which allows collaboration between 12,800 organizations, serving 8.35 million girls.

2) The Icebox Derby

            The Icebox Derby is a build-it-race-it competition, requiring 30 female participants to build racecars out of recycled refrigerators.  The refrigerators, provided by ComEd, a refrigerator recycling company, will be transformed into vehicles required to complete five laps around a track at speeds up to 15 mph.  The Icebox Derby is a Chicago-based competition, and is meant to get young woman involved in engineering.  ComEd is partnered by organizations such as the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, and the Chicago Urban League.

3) Imagine: Your STEM Future and Imagine Engineering

            Funded by AT&T and the National Science Foundation, respectively, these programs offer girls from low income and underserved communities the chance to experience STEM and plan for futures in STEM fields.

4) L’Oreal’s Forgirlsinscience.org

            L’Oreal’s new web site aims to connect girls who love science and give them the chance to learn about women in STEM fields.  It includes resources such as a list of summer science camps for girls and the opportunity for STEM-enthusiasts to blog about their experiences.

5) Girlstart

            Based in Austin, Texas, Girlstart provides year-round STEM education programs for girls in grades K-12.  The organization offers after-school programs, summer camps, and an annual Girls in STEM conference.

6) The American Association of University Women (AAUW)

            The AAUW provides STEM education to more than 11,000 girls each year.  Its national STEM camps and conferences target middle-school aged girls because they believe that time in a girls life is vital to maintaining their interest in STEM.  Their goal is to encourage young girls to begin taking courses that will lead to a future in STEM.

7) National 4-H Council and Million Women Mentors (MWM)

            These two organizations are working together in hopes to engage one million STEM mentors to increase the interest and confidence of girls and young women to pursue and succeed in STEM degrees and careers.

8) Science Club for Girls (SCFG)

            The Science Club for Girls has been connecting girls in grades K-12 with female-mentor scientists since 1994.  Over 1,000 girls participate annually in SCFG programs.  The programs operate throughout five cities in eastern Massachusetts, including Cambridge, Lawrence, Boston, Newton, and Fitchburg.  The Science Club for Girls focuses on subjects like chemistry, engineering, archaeology, environmental science, and physics.

9) The Girls, Inc. Operation SMART program

            This organization is “dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold.”  They actively encourage girls to ask questions and solve problems while interacting with women and men in STEM.

10) The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT)

            After receiving funding from the Clinton Global Initiative, the NCWIT will now be able to test their AspireIT initiative.  Volunteer high school or college women will run the program.  These women will lead designing and computer programs for younger girls.  The overall motive for the AspireIT initiative is to have these young women become role models and develop leadership skills while encouraging younger girls to pursue computing.

11) Black Girls Code

            Black Girls Code is dedicated to growing the amount of colored women in the STEM world by working with girls aged seven to seventeen.  The organization’s website states they hope these girls can become “innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology.”

12) Women@NASA

            Women@NASA went above and beyond by creating a virtual mentoring program that offers online mentoring to middle-school students across the country.  A NASA employee instructs these students over Skype or Google Chat.  The NASA employees range in professions such as engineers, accountants, scientists, and astronauts. 

These 12 organizations are taking giant steps towards a more unified STEM future.  Only time will tell if their efforts will come to fruition.

There are numerous organizations besides the 12 listed above that are paving the way for women in STEM.  We highly encourage you to become involved and take some time to read about their values and goals.