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WiE Newsletter - April 2021 - ISSUE 18
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Front and Center
News from the Director
Spring ushers in warmer weather, vaccines, a hope for return to academic normalcy, and ... new lambs!
Congratulations to WiE Board Member Barbara Fleming on the birth of her new (lamb) babies. One ewe's triplets are shown here, and Easter brought two more births - a set of triplets and a set of twins.
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WiE held its Internal and External Advisory Board Meetings on March 31. In addition to providing an update on the many events WiE has held virtually for engineering students, faculty and alumni over the past 3 months, the discussion dove deep on the topic of the Center's focus on women. In a climate of inclusion and awareness of the obstacles faced by women and minorities, WiE is examining ways to support all underrepresented GW communities, while maintaining focus on women. We invite your thoughts by emailing scwie@gwu.edu. In fact, WiE is not alone - we hosted a discussion among several regional "sister" university centers from Stony Brook University, Towson University Women in Science, UMD, Center for Women in Computing, Johns Hopkins University and Howard University to talk about both our similarities and challenges. You might say we engaged in peer mentoring, as we shared concern about lack of resources and people, discussed ways to merge silos, and explored how to address the impact of the pandemic on our students.
You may want to review some of the amazing webinars WiE has held -- their recordings are available below. The Biomechanics of Human Birth, presented by Dr. Megan Leftwich, was one of the most fascinating presentations we've had the pleasure of hosting.
And don't miss the April 14 presentation by the very first female engineering faculty member to be admitted to GW SEAS, Dr. Mona Zaghloul, as she discusses the history of women engineers and her current research on nanostructure (see below).
Shelly Heller
WiE Center Director
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On the History of Female Engineers and Nanostructure for Sensors in Chemical and Biological SystemsWednesday, April 14 - 12 pm EDT
WiE is proud to present Dr. Mona Zaghloul in this episode of our SEAS Faculty Discussion Series.
Dr. Zaghloul has achieved many firsts in her storied career, including being the first woman to earn a doctorate in engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and the first woman faculty member hired in SEAS. In addition to talking about her journey, Dr. Zaghloul relates a brief history of women engineers and the effect of advances in technology.
Featured during this webinar is Dr. Zaghloul's research on nanostructures, including lessons learned and perspectives on the future of this fascinating area of engineering.
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| Access Recent Event Recordings Below
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Eager to help open cybersecurity careers to women veterans?
This interactive discussion, being held online May 25 by GW Center for Women in Engineering (WiE) and the Cyber Security and Privacy Research Institute (CSPRI), will delve into these key components:
Challenges from a Woman's Perspective - We work to "peel the onion" of this many-layered issue, highlighted by a video compilation of women veterans voices.
Transition from Military to Non-Military - Although transition programs help, women veterans in particular (as well as military spouses) are challenged to shift from ranks, expectations and skill perceptions in the military to language, culture and expectations in the civilian environment.
Cybersecurity Pathways - The exponentially growing cybersecurity talent gap in the U.S. opens up a wide range of opportunities, with pathways including apprenticeships, sponsorships, scholarships and mentoring.
Organizing for the Future - Our interactive gathering of many organizations will yield exciting new ideas for furthering the outlook for women vets as they look to their future careers. What will we tackle going forward, and who will be involved?
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Closing the Gap Advisory BoardOur gratitude to the Closing the Gap Advisory Board members (shown below), for their contributions of resources, speaker suggestions, and advice on content.
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Women in Cyberspace: Attend a GW Security Policy Studies Program
April 14 - 7 pm EDT
WiE is pleased to co-sponsor this virtual event, hosted by the GW Security Policy Studies Program.
The speakers will describe their personal experiences in the cybersecurity field as female experts, and discuss current cyber happenings, as well as the role of cybersecurity within the international order.
Featured Speakers:
- Rhea Siers, Senior Legal and Policy Fellow, Elliott School, GWU
- Sayako Quinlan, Incident Response Consultant, CrowdStrike
- Cheri Caddy, Senior Advisor, Cybersecurity Strategy & Policy, U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE)
- Michele G. Markoff, Deputy Coordinator, Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, U.S. Department of State
Please email spsboard@gwu.edu with any questions, comments, or concerns. We look forward to seeing you there!
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What We Are Reading
The Sunday, March 28, New York Times At Home (which has replaced their standard Sunday Travel section for nearly a year) includes an article “Rethink Your Notion of Female Role Models,” that both enlightens and challenges. In part that is true to the online version of a study about women’s leadership or leading in the time of the pandemic.
The article notes that these trailblazers (sic women leaders) map a path forward. I agree that “role models inspire by showing people what is actually possible”. But you or I do not have to be a Nobel Prize chemist, the leader of a nation, or the World Cup soccer team to be a role model. We are all role models; we all can use stories of our own pathways, engage in robust discussions about what is essential in our life story and how our every-day heroes make an impact.
I am still walking a lot during this pandemic and I am still listening to podcasts while I walk. Check out the ASEE series “A Day in the Life of an Engineer”. There are nine podcasts so far, and -- no surprise -- only three, so far, are women engineers. That aside, the podcasts are worthwhile and range from a biomedical engineer at Medtronics to a mechanical engineer at Microsoft.
Speaking of engineers, I recommend this article from the American Economic Association, Inventor Gender and the Direction of Invention, which examines “whether increasing the share of female inventors leads to more biomedical inventions that focus on the needs of women. After accounting for detailed disease-technology, disease-year, and technology-year fixed effects, we find that a 10 percentage point increase in the share of female inventors in a research area yields 1.2 percentage points more female-focused patents. Notably, this effect only holds for female-led invention teams. Areas with a greater share of female inventors in supporting roles do not produce.”
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