5 minute read
At the helm
Megan DiBella
Society of Women Engineers Alison Garrity
Women in Tech Theresa Gundel
HackBU
Ariel Khatchatourian
Eta Kappa Nu Jessica Kuo
Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers
Melanie Lyons
Biomedical Engineering Society
WOMEN-LED STUDENT GROUPS ARE NARROWING THE STEM GENDER GAP
By Natalie Blando-George
Abigail McHugh
Girls Who Code
Maya Shah
Alpha Pi Mu Caitlyn Svitek
Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers
Catherine Swail
Pi Tau Sigma Michelle Tiangco
Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers Elizabeth Wang
Alpha Omega Epsilon
—Megan DiBella
In her first year as a computer science impossible to find other women in the same situstudent at Binghamton University, Theresa ation,” says Megan DiBella, a biomedical engiGundel and three other women students neering student and president of Watson’s section created a game called “Breaking the Glass of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Ceiling” to shed light on gender inequality in Gundel says HackBU is open to anyone interthe technology workforce. ested in technology who wishes to make friends Players start the game as women interns in a and learn something new. Knowledge of coding fictional organization composed of all men, who isn’t necessary, and members don’t have to be are disrespectful to the interns. Players must computer science (CS) or even Watson College complete coding assignments (mini-games such as students. The group hosts weekly workshops Snake or Brick Breaker) to earn promotions. With that cover various CS topics (cloud computing, every promotion, players receive more respect machine learning, data science and other from their men coworkers. Players win the game upper-level subjects) in a way that makes them when they become CEO accessible for all, as well as weekly “hacky hours” WOMEN IN ENGINEERING of the organization. where members play online games. Developing the game In addition, each year the group holds a earned Gundel and her team an award at that 24-hour coding competition (hackathon). The year’s hackathon, an annual event hosted by event is always popular and draws corporate and Watson College’s HackBU student group. University sponsors. But winning isn’t why Breaking the Glass Ceiling SWE, on the other hand, is primarily intended means so much to the senior from Clifton Park, N.Y. for Watson College students who wish to help “I worked on that game with three girls, and empower women in STEM. And DiBella says three of us are now on the board for HackBU,” students interested in transferring into Watson says Gundel, who is the organization’s president. have approached the group to learn about engi“We started with a game that said, ‘Hey, there’s an neering and what it’s like to be a woman in STEM. inequality here,’ and now we have a board that is On a national scale, SWE works to raise aware50% women.” ness of the importance of diversity within the Watson College has 28 active student groups, engineering profession and to empower women and in the 2020–21 academic year, 43% of those to advance their engineering studies and careers. groups are led or co-led by women students. The group focuses on career services, professional “Having women-centered student organiza- development and networking opportunities. SWE tions makes an incoming or prospective student also holds events including company tours, discusfeel comforted by showing them it won’t be sion panels and volunteering with Girl Scout troops.
For DiBella, a senior from Syracuse, N.Y., being part of SWE has been beneficial personally and professionally.
“The upperclassmen in SWE that I met as an underclassman were huge role models for me when I first came to Binghamton. I found mentors and then friends in many of them,” she says. “I have also met many engineering professionals through the greater SWE organization who have given amazing advice and inspiration.”
Gundel found her inspiration early and close to home — her mother is a software engineer.
“Going into engineering as a woman never really scared me or bothered me because my mom was able to do it,” she says.
It won’t be long before both Gundel and DiBella will join the 28% of women who make up the nation’s workforce in science, technology, engineering and math.
Following graduation, Gundel will be a firmware developer at IBM in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., while DiBella will be a manufacturing engineer at medical device manufacturer Medtronic in North Haven, Conn.
DiBella has SWE to thank for bringing her together with her future employer.
“It was at the 2019 National SWE Conference that I landed an internship with Medtronic for summer 2020, and despite that internship going virtual, I had a great experience,” she says. “I know I’ll face challenges, but I’m confident I can overcome these difficulties, especially with the SWE community supporting me.”
Gundel
Bejarano
WOMEN IN ENGINEERING
From Peru to Binghamton
Growing up in Peru, Gissella Bejarano, MS ’17, PhD ’21, first heard of Binghamton University when the Fulbright Program offered to help fund her master’s degree in computer science.
She liked Binghamton and Watson College enough to stay for her PhD, with Assistant Professor Arti Ramesh as her advisor. For her thesis, she explored how machine learning could be better applied to smart cities, particularly water and energy consumption.
Bejarano already has taught courses as an assistant professor at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, and she plans to return to Peru to encourage a technology boost there.
Her success is undeniable, but she remains humble: “I feel very, very grateful for the opportunities that the Fulbright program gave me. I’m sure other people as smart or maybe smarter than me are not having those chances.”
Also, she adds, “If I have this privilege, I also feel that I have a duty to support other women and open doors to create opportunities.” —Chris Kocher
