March 2024 // WCEC Newsletter
🔥 Recap of Our Recent Fireside Chat Webinar! 🔥
We were thrilled to join in the celebration of Black History Month by hosting a captivating webinar featuring the brilliant Ari Melenciano! This Fireside Chat, moderated by Stephani Page, PhD, delved into Ari's remarkable journey, from battling the lack of representation in tech to becoming a trailblazer in her own right.
Key Discussion Points:
Overcoming Obstacles: Ari shared how the initial lack of representation in the tech industry initially discouraged her, and how she persevered to carve her own path.
Innovating in Education: Insights on designing STEM education in diverse and inclusive ways, ensuring that everyone has access to quality learning opportunities.
Empowering Black Technologists: The story behind Afrotectopia, the vibrant community Ari founded to uplift Black technologists and foster a space for creativity, collaboration, and innovation.
Exploring AI and Society: Ari briefly shared her recent explorations with artificial intelligence, exploring its role as a mirror to society and the profound implications it holds for the future.
About Ari Melenciano:
Ari is currently a visiting faculty at the University of Maryland's Inaugural Arts for All Artist-in-Residence. She is an artist, designer, and creative technologist with a passion for exploring the connections between design and the human experience. Her work spans various disciplines, including research in human-computer interaction, social impacts of technology, counterculture, sound, and speculative design.
Explore Ari Melenciano's work further:
Ari Melenciano's article on Medium: Theater of Meta-Interiority, Ensemble
Moderator: Stephani Page, Ph.D., WCEC Co-Principal Investigator:
Stephani Page is a scientist and STEM equity professional who has nearly 20 years of interdisciplinary academic research experience. She earned her doctorate in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Access the recording of the webinar on our website: Fireside Chat with Ari Melenciano
Let's continue to celebrate and amplify the voices of women of color in engineering and beyond!
Women's History Month
Supporting women engineers in the workplace is crucial for fostering diversity, inclusion, and innovation. Here are several ways industries can support women engineers:
Promote Inclusive Culture: Foster a culture of inclusion and belonging where women of color engineers feel valued, respected, and supported. This includes setting diversity goals, creating inclusive policies and practices, and holding leadership accountable for progress. This also involves promoting diversity in leadership, celebrating diverse perspectives, and actively addressing bias and discrimination.
Representation and Adequate Support in Leadership: Ensure representation of women of color in leadership positions within the organization. Having diverse leadership and providing support to these leaders helps provide role models, mentors, and advocates for women of color engineers and demonstrates the organization's commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Equal Opportunities: Ensure equal opportunities for career advancement, leadership roles, and project assignments regardless of gender. Implement transparent and fair promotion processes and provide mentorship and sponsorship programs to support women engineers in their career progression.
Cultural Competency Training: Offer cultural competency training to all employees to increase awareness of unconscious bias, cultural differences, and systemic barriers that women of color may face in the workplace. This training can help create a more inclusive and supportive environment for all employees.
Address Intersectional Challenges: Recognize and address the intersectional challenges faced by women of color engineers, including racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination. Address the transformation needed to create workplaces that actively remove barriers to success.
Flexible Work Policies: Offer flexible work arrangements such as remote work, flexible hours, or part-time options to accommodate the diverse needs and responsibilities of women engineers, including caregiving responsibilities and work-life balance.
Support Networks: Establish employee resource groups or affinity groups specifically for women engineers to provide networking opportunities, mentorship, and support. Encourage participation in professional organizations and industry events focused on women in engineering.
Training and Development: Provide training and professional development opportunities tailored to the needs of women of color engineers, including leadership training, technical skills development, and workshops on topics such as negotiation skills and overcoming imposter syndrome.
Address Bias and Harassment: Implement zero-tolerance policies for discrimination, harassment, and microaggressions. Offer training on unconscious bias awareness and bystander intervention to create a safe and inclusive work environment for women engineers.
Fair Compensation and Benefits: Ensure pay equity and equitable access to benefits for women engineers compared to their male counterparts. Conduct regular pay equity audits and address any disparities identified.
Family-Friendly Policies: Offer family-friendly policies such as parental leave, child care assistance, and lactation support to enable women engineers to balance their professional and personal responsibilities.
Recognition and Visibility: Recognize and celebrate the achievements and contributions of women engineers through awards, promotions, and public recognition. Encourage women engineers to participate in speaking opportunities and industry conferences to increase their visibility and representation.
By implementing these strategies, industries can create a more inclusive and supportive environment where women engineers can thrive and contribute their full potential to the success of the organization.
Coury, S., Huang, J., Kumar, A., Prince, S., Krivkovich, A., & Yee, L. (2023, October 5). Women in the Workplace. McKinsey; McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace
Minkin, R. (2023, May 17). Diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/05/17/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace/
What is the Women of Color in Engineering Collaborative?
The Women of Color in Engineering Collaborative (WCEC) was created in 2021 as a partnership network of professional engineering societies and STEM-based companies. The WCEC is working to address systemic barriers that prohibit equitable work environments for women engineers of color.
Since its inception, the WCEC has grown to 29 organizations, created a shared vision and mission, and developed a strategic plan that will guide our efforts over the next few years. Thank you for your interest and support of our work. We hope that you will engage with the WCEC as we begin implementing the strategies aimed at tackling the major challenges facing women of color (WOC) in the engineering workplace.
Want to Get Involved?
Are you interested in having your organization become a member of the WCEC? Read our membership guidelines and fill out an application. Learn more.
While we don’t offer membership to individuals, we do want to grow the WCEC community! Soon we will begin collecting profiles of amazing WOC engineers for our Inspiring Leaders database. We are also collecting resources from our member organizations to place in our online Resource Center. We will be using this newsletter to get the word out as these activities get underway. Please share the WCEC with your network and invite others to sign up for our newsletter through the Contact Us form on the WCEC website.
Upcoming WCEC Member Events
The WCEC shares the numerous professional activities offered by our member organizations. Member organizations are committed to creating a supportive, encouraging, and inclusive environment for WOC in engineering. Find out more about their events and register to attend!
NSBE 50th Annual Convention
Atlanta, GA, March 20-24, 2024
NSBE's 50th Annual Convention is a four-day constitutional event with over 15,000 attendees, 400+ company career fair and a 5,000+ General Session. During the Annual Convention, the Society conducts organizational business, elects national and regional leaders, holds competitions and provides professional and personal development, networking and celebratory activities.
**WCEC Leadership will be at the NSBE Convention and we look forward to connecting with you!
SAMPE Conference
Long Beach, CA, May 20-23, 2024
SAMPE 2024 Conference and Exhibition is exclusively dedicated to advanced materials and processes. Produced by the North America Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE), this event brings together leading companies, engineers, scientists, and professionals from throughout the advanced materials and processes industry.
WEPAN Equity in STEM Community Convening
Baltimore, MD, June 2-5, 2024
Since 2019, the NSF-Funded ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening has served as the convening for NSF ADVANCE grantees in a format that facilitates engagement with change agents within and beyond the NSF ADVANCE community. The ADVANCE EiSCC brings together a variety of change makers from higher education, professional societies, industry, government, and non-profits in an engaged exchange of knowledge, resources, and support to drive systemic change in STEM.
**WCEC Leadership will be at WEPAN and we look forward to connecting with you!
AWWA ACE24 National Conference
Anaheim, CA, June 10-13, 2024
ACE, where the water community comes together to learn, connect, and be inspired to solve global water challenges. Be a part of the water revolution that addresses critical issues about the world’s most important resource. Regardless of where you are in your career, there is something for everyone at ACE.
ASEE National Conference
Portland, OR, June 23-26, 2024
The premier event of its kind, the ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition fosters an exchange of ideas; enhances teaching methods and curricula; explores how to manage engagement, retention, and return on learning experiences; and provides unparalleled networking opportunities for engineering and engineering technology education stakeholders, including deans, department chairs, faculty members, researchers, and industry and government professionals.
AISES National Conference
San Antonio, Texas, October 3 - 5, 2024
The Annual AISES National Conference is a unique, three-day event focusing on educational, professional, and workforce development for Indigenous peoples of North America and the Pacific Islands in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) studies and careers.
SWE Conference
Chicago, IL, October 24-26, 2024
WE24 is poised to be the premier global conference for women in the fields of engineering and technology. It aims to unite a wide array of female engineers, those aspiring to join the field, and supporters from around the world. The conference will feature sessions designed to inspire, showcase technological innovations, and provide valuable networking opportunities. Attendees can also expect insightful panel discussions led by leading experts, focusing on the latest trends and effective practices in the industry.
SHPE National Convention
Anaheim, CA, October 30-November 3, 2024
Held annually in a different city, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers national convention brings together over 9,000 of the best and brightest Hispanic scientists, mathematicians, and engineers to celebrate our Familia through our STAR Awards, compete for top prize money showcasing their skills, and enhance skills and networking through our many workshop sessions and engagement events. For corporate sponsors, it is a beacon of top STEM talent. For SHPE members, it is a life-changing opportunity to build a dream career.
