100+ Women Strong Summer 2017 Newsletter

100

+Women Strong

Upcoming Events

• Aug. 18, 2017: Fall New Student Welcome Event* • Aug. 18, 2017: 100+WS Member Meeting • Oct. 28, 2017: War Eagle BEST*

• Nov. 11, 2017: 100+ Women Strong Football Tailgate • Nov. 17, 2017: High School Girls AU Engineering Event* • Dec. 2-3, 2017: South’s Best Robotics Competition* • Feb. 23, 2018: E-Day* • March 1, 2018: Deadline for students to apply for 100+WS scholarships • March 1, 2018: Deadline to nominate for 100+WS Faculty Diversity Award • March 8, 2018: Greater East Alabama Regional Science and Engineering Fair* • April 2018: Leadership Development Conference* • April 2018: 100+WS Member Meeting • June 2018: WIE Camp Luncheon* *Volunteer opportunities for 100+WS Members

Let us know…

• If you have any changes to your current 100+WS profile (education, location, job title, employer, etc.) so that we may update your profile on our membership webpage.

JULY 2017

Greetings 100+ Women Strong members, It’s my pleasure to share with you a sampling of 100+ Women Strong’s recent accomplishments and future plans, as well as other significant happenings in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering:

• For the first time in the history of Samuel Ginn College of Engineering:

• female lifetime donors to Auburn Engineering (35.7 percent) surpassed male donors (34.3 percent).

• female engineering graduates had a higher percentage of giving (6.85 percent) than male engineering graduates (6.49 percent).

• 100+WS provided a record $82,300 in scholarships and awards for 2017-18: three

undergraduate research awards ($6,000), two undergraduate leadership awards ($2,000), two graduate leadership awards ($2000), two study abroad awards ($7,000), 19 annual scholarships ($19,000), six upperclassmen Helping Hands awards ($6,000), a Leadership and Diversity Faculty Award ($5,000) and six new female faculty research awards ($35,000).

• 100+WS has an all-time high of 200 mentor/mentee assignments and requests.

• 100+WS now actively includes engineering graduate students in its initiative to recruit, retain and reward Auburn women in engineering.

• 113 engineering students, 68 100+WS members and 10 sponsor representatives

registered for the 2017 Leadership Development Conference held April 21, 2017. Chris Moody, ’90 electrical engineering and Twitter vice president and general manager for data and enterprise solutions, provided an inspiring keynote address encouraging female engineers. A new networking event was included in this year’s conference offerings. The student post-conference survey respondents indicated 98 percent would attend this conference in the future and 96 percent would consider joining 100+WS upon graduation.

• The April 20, 2017, female engineering faculty luncheon was attended by 16 female

Auburn Engineering faculty members. Carol Godfrey, ’86 industrial engineering, led the program in which faculty members shared their thoughts on ways to recruit, retain and reward Auburn women in engineering.

• If you would like to be included on our 100+WS member speaker list for speaker requests and event development. Please send us your areas of expertise.

• 100+WS provided four Women in Engineering Camp scholarships and four Computer

• If you would like to join a 100+WS committee, and your preference: Recruitment, Retention, Reward.

• 100+WS will be sponsoring a new on-campus recruiting event for high school junior

Contact: myra.girard@auburn.edu

Science Camp for Girls scholarships for summer 2017. 100+WS sponsored a luncheon for the WIE campers and several members volunteered to be on hand during the luncheon to discuss engineering careers. and senior females and their parents Nov. 17, 2017.

• A 100+WS LinkedIn page connected to the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering 100+WS group is available for membership.

Happenings • Maria Auad, Department of Chemical Engineering, has been promoted to to the rank of professor.

• Beverly Banister, ’83 chemical engineering, received the YMCA of Metro Atlanta’s Volunteer of the Year award for her service with East Lake Family YMCA. She is currently the board chair and chair of the executive board committee for the East Lake YMCA. • Melissa Baumann, former Auburn professor and assistant provost for the Honors College, has recently been appointed as the provost and chief academic officer at Xavier University.

• Ashley Barnes and Natalie Mills, ’13 and ’10 civil engineering, respectively, were nominated for Young Engineer of the Year by the Engineering Council of Birmingham.

• Jan Davis, ’77 mechanical engineering, encouraged 64 young women attending the summer 2017 Tech Trek to pursue their interest in STEM careers, including space. Davis is a former astronaut and currently works with Jacobs ESTS Group, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

• Jan Davis, Linda Figg, ’81 civil engineering, and Cindy Green ’79 chemical engineering, have been named Distinguished Auburn Engineers for the class of 2017.

Thank you, 100+WS members, for all you do for Auburn women in engineering. Each contribution — whether volunteering for 100+WS events, video conferencing with a mentee, recommending new 100+WS members or sharing your financial resources — makes a positive difference in the experience of Auburn women in engineering. Research by Jeffrey Fergus, associate dean for program assessment and graduate studies, shows the female students who participate in 100+WS offerings are more likely to remain in engineering at Auburn. Because of the generosity of your resources, you are all difference-makers in recruiting, retaining and rewarding Auburn women in engineering.

Thank you also to 100+WS sponsors who help make many of our 100+WS initiatives, such as the Leadership Development Conference and New Student Welcome Event a reality. Our Visionary Sponsors include Alabama Power, Brasfield & Gorrie, Harris Corp., Lockheed Martin and Southwire. Our Innovator Sponsors are Chevron and Figg Bridge. We would not be as successful as we are without you.

War Eagle!

Myra Girard

Say cheese!

• Nicole Faulk, ’96 mechanical engineering and vice president of Mississippi Power Company, spoke in January with Enterprise High School students about the diverse career options available to female engineers.

• Stella Kontos, junior in chemical engineering and 100+WS student liaison, was awarded multiple scholarships during the 2017 Miss Alabama Pageant.

• Nelda Lee, ’69 aerospace engineering, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Auburn Alumni Association in March.

• Paula Marino, ’92 electrical engineering, was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in February.

• Natalie Mills, ’10 civil engineering, was named a 2017 New Face in Civil Engineering by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Chris Moody, ’90 electrical engineering, was the keynote speaker for the Leadership and Development Conference. He opened the conference by taking a selfie with the group to share on Twitter, where he serves as vice president and general manager for data and enterprise solutions.

Faculty Spotlight: Jakita Thomas Jakita Thomas, professor in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering and director of the Culturally and Socially Relevant (CURSOR) Computing Lab, joined the Auburn University Samuel Ginn College of Engineering faculty in August.

She earned her bachelor’s in computer and information sciences from Spelman College in 1999 and her doctorate in computer science from Georgia Tech in 2006.

Her research interests include exploring the development of computational algorithmic thinking, promoting access to health care information and services for underserved populations, improving reasoning using expert cases, scientific reasoning, complex cognitive skills learning and computersupported collaborative learning.

Prior to her current position, Thomas was a member of the Computer and Information

Key National Honor Society and is active supporter of encouraging women in engineering through the college’s 100+WS program.

Science faculty at Spelman College from 2010-16 and a research staff member in the service design and people and practices groups at IBM Research-Almaden in San Jose, California, from 2005-10.

She is a member of the International Society of the Learning Sciences, Association of Computing Machinery, Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, African-American Ph.D.s in Computer Science, Upsilon Pi Epsilon Computer Science Honor Society, Golden

“It’s incredibly important for women in engineering to support and encourage other women for several reasons,” Thomas said.

“First, given our low representation within engineering, supporting and encouraging other women provides a critical community that is necessary to persist, survive and thrive within the field. Second, our experiences as women and our varied roles in the home, workplace and community mean that we bring a unique perspective and insights that are critical for innovation within the field. Finally, being supportive of and encouraging to each other is one of the best ways that we can ensure that we use our collective voice to push the field and to advocate for the resources, support, opportunities and advancement within the field that we deserve.”

Member Spotlight: Anne-Marie Larsen Anne-Marie Larsen, ’92 computer science, is a project manager for Nortridge Software, an all encompassing loan servicing software company with a platform that helps lenders and servicers better track, manage and service their loan portfolios. Since her graduation, Larsen has enjoyed a successful career across the information technology sector.

She credits much of her success to the support she received at Auburn.

“I am thankful I had the opportunity to pursue a computer science degree at Auburn,” Larsen said. “The learning environment, tools and people within the stellar Auburn Engineering program created an experience that changed my life.”

Although the college was far below its current rate

of 20 percent females in engineering while Larsen was an undergraduate student, she said she always felt supported and encouraged to accomplish anything she set her mind to.

“I never felt that I was treated any differently by my male classmates and professors at Auburn. They supported and encouraged me, particularly on the days when I was unsure that I would be able to complete my degree,” Larsen said. “I believe it goes back to the values and principles that are the foundation of Auburn University.”

A few years ago, Larsen learned of 100+WS and, although she didn’t get involved at the time, she eventually made time to become active.

“I knew that it was something I wanted to do in the future,”

Larsen said. “I wanted the opportunity to share my love for the IT industry with young women to encourage them to pursue a degree. After all these years since I started my career, it is still a largely male-dominated profession. I feel that we need to do a better job of recruiting and supporting women. By participating in the 100+ Women Strong program, I can demonstrate my appreciation for this experience.”

Giving back with her time and resources is important to Larsen, as she hopes to afford female Auburn Engineering students with the same opportunity that Auburn once afforded her.

“I think it is important for women engineers to share their experiences and knowledge with young girls and women so they can see the possibilities in this field,” Larsen said.

“Women have innate skills and abilities which makes us uniquely qualified to excel in engineering. By collectively working as a group in the 100+ Women Strong program, we can ensure that young women consider engineering when they might have shied away from it.

Taking time to connect with other women engineers allows us to enrich our knowledge and strengthen our confidence in our own day-to-day work life, ultimately having a positive impact on the lives of future women engineers.”

Giving Back as a Mentor The 100+WS mentoring program was established in 2013 as an initiative to encourage the retention of Auburn women in engineering. Since that time, 100+WS has grown to a membership high of 165, thereby increasing the number of available mentors for Auburn women in engineering.

The mentoring program is one of many volunteer options that members may choose to pursue in their mission to positively impact Auburn female engineering retention rates.

Currently, 200 Auburn female engineering students and 96 100+WS members and are engaged in the mentoring program. Auburn female engineering students are given the opportunity to request mentees during the fall New Student Welcome Event and the spring Leadership Development Conference and ongoing through the year at the 100+WS mentoring webpage and through the engineering office. Mentors are available from all Auburn engineering disciplines.

Most recently, the 100+WS mentoring program was expanded to include the

option for freshman and sophomore female engineering students to be mentored by a junior or senior female engineering student, in addition to the traditional option of a 100+ Women Strong member mentor.

Currently, there are eight active student mentors.

One of the most dramatic examples of the impact of mentoring may be witnessed annually during the spring Leadership Development Conference. Auburn female engineering students are given the opportunity to participate in speed mentoring in which they are randomly seated across from 100+WS members and given eight minutes to interact with the 100+ WS member before moving to the next member. This active, hour-long

session is characterized by lively discussion and the frequent exchange of contact information for future discussion. These contacts often lead to co-op placements and even future employment. One of the engineering juniors who participated in this event said she was disappointed she did not attend this event until her junior year. Her advice to the conference planning committee was to do whatever it takes to get freshmen to participate. Another student expressed thankfulness for the feeling of empowerment she experienced after having the opportunity to interact with successful female engineers.

Thank you to all 100+WS mentors. You are truly making a difference in the experiences of Auburn women in engineering!

Corporate Partner Spotlight: Brasfield & Gorrie Brasfield & Gorrie has been a supporter of Auburn University and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering for nearly four decades, supporting numerous programs and scholarships in the Department of Civil Engineering; College of Architecture, Design and Construction; College of Sciences and Mathematics; the Athletics Department and more.

In 2016, Brasfield & Gorrie became a visionary sponsor of 100+WS and a committed partner with the program.

Brasfield & Gorrie is one of the largest privately

held construction firms in the nation. Its mission is to strengthen relationships by honoring commitments, exceeding expectations and living the company’s core values everyday. Known as the company SPIRIT, Brasfield & Gorrie’s core values of safety, performance, integrity, respect, innovation and teamwork embodies the Auburn spirit and that of 100+WS members.

Jeff Stone, executive vice president, said Brasfield & Gorrie firmly supports women’s initiatives in engineering, and the company is proud to partner

with this prestigious group of female leaders of today.

“Brasfield & Gorrie is committed to the advancement, development and retention of women in construction operations positions and the mentoring of future women leaders in our company and industry,” Stone said. “The

100+ Women Strong program’s dedication and commitment to recruiting, retaining and rewarding these young women directly aligns with this commitment, and we are honored to join the organization in helping promote the engineering and construction industry as a viable career path for women.”