WE20 CONFERENCE
CONTENTS
Special Events - 2
Virtual Adaptations - 3
Self-Management & Development - 4
Career Management & Development - 6
Advocacy & Outreach - 10
Inclusion & Cultural Awareness - 11
Utilizing a dramatically different format from previous national conferences, the Society of Women Engineers established WE20 as an immersive, vibrant and entirely virtual experience. Over the first two weeks of November, participants accessed a combination of live, semi-live and pre-recorded sessions, keynote speeches, networking lounges and a career fair! Attendees from Pitt SWE describe their favorite memories, reflect on skills they've gained, and share the lessons they will be taking with them into the future.
Strategic Leadership - 12
WE20
SPECIAL EVENTS
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Opening Keynote
Virtual Career Fair
by Dana Emswiler
by Kaitlyn Wintruba
The opening keynote of SWE’s record-largest
The virtual career fair was a completely
conference ever featured Laura Maxwell, the
new experience for both attendees and
Senior Vice President of Supply Chain for
recruiters. The obvious benefit was that I
PepsiCo Foods North America. Laura’s energy
was able to wear a blouse and blazer with
and passion shined through as she spoke
my pajama pants and fuzzy socks. Even
animatedly about her journey through her
while participating from the comforts of my
personal and professional life. Not only does she
apartment, I was still just as nervous as if I
excel as an engineer and supply chain leader,
was there in person. Once you enter the
Laura also has competed in boxing! First
virtual floor of the career fair, each
introduced to the sport by her daughters when
company had their own main chat room
she wanted to get fitter, Laura was hooked
that served as an ideal place to briefly
when she found out she could punch a bag AND
introduce yourself. From there, each
call it exercise (now that’s multi-tasking goals).
company had their own method for 1:1
It wasn’t always easy for her in the boxing ring -
conversations with a recruiter including
- just like in her career, she experienced self-
direct messages through the webpage, a
doubt and fear. However, Laura has learned
schedule that you had to add yourself to in
that as a dynamic engineer, compassionate
advance, video calls, and phone calls that
mom, and as a fierce boxer, it’s vital to turn self-
seemed to be the last resort when
doubt into the fuel to achieve your goals
technology difficulties arose. The most
without sacrificing your personal style or values.
challenging parts were trying to navigate
Despite Laura’s eventual success in the ring, the
between the different methods each
moral of the story was never really about
company used and having to wait hours or
boxing. Instead, it’s about self-confidence and
days to have a 1:1 with the more popular
not being afraid to take the road less traveled
companies. I spent the entire first day
even when you face internal or external
trying to get organized and set up
challenges. I loved this keynote because it
meetings with companies, so I had
reminded me that no matter how successful
somewhat of a plan to follow moving
someone may seem on the outside -- whether in
forward. The recruiters were also at home,
life, sports, or engineering, they most likely had
often with pets or children nearby, and this
to overcome their own unique set of barriers to
made the conversations feel a lot more
get where they are today and even where they
relaxed and informal. Although I did not
would like to be tomorrow.
receive any internship offers from my experience, I did gain a few valuable connections and learned a lot about companies I was interested in.
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VIRTUAL ADAPTATIONS Connecting Across the Digital Divide by Rachel Blum One of the most enriching parts of attending a conference is the ability to socialize and network with other SWE members. These opportunities happen between sessions, at lunch events, and dedicated networking events such as Hospitality Suites. Pitt SWE members usually take time to explore the host city and get to know each other. In this unique year, the virtual format left many wondering how we could keep the social aspect of WE20 going.
During sessions, SWE members were able to interact with each other through the chat feature in Zoom. This led to many interesting conversations. During the mega-session about digital communication, attendees were sharing stories about email mishaps and giving each other advice on how to navigate tricky communication issues. Virtual Networking Lounges also provided a space for SWE members from around the world to meet and chat.
Pitt SWE members navigated the digital divide quite successfully. We kicked off the WE20 Conference with a WE20 101 session where attendees got to meet each other and ask questions about what to expect at the conference. Throughout the conference, Pitt SWE attendees communicated via GroupMe where we discussed the talks we attended and what we learned. Finally, Pitt SWE conference attendees met up and got to know each other at a socially distanced picnic. It was a nice break and a great opportunity for attendees to bond with each other. Through creativity and virtual accommodations, SWE members were able to keep the social atmosphere of the conference alive and well.
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SELF-MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT Being Your Own Self-Advocate by Cambell France During WE20, I was inspired by Selena Rezvani to be my own advocate, and to fight forwhat I want in my career. In order to do this, I learned that I have to understand myself and haveconfidence in my abilities. Without this confidence, it will be extremely difficult for me to trulybelieve that I deserve to pursue my goals. The phrase from Ms. Rezvani, “do no harm but takeno bleep” is such a valuable way to approach these situations. She is encouraging us to be hardon the problem, but respectful of the person. This quote emphasizes to not settle, and to do thisI have to believe that I am deserving of the position I am self-advocating for.
The presentation “The Power of #EmotionalIntelligence” gave me vital skills on how tounderstand the best and worst parts of me, and how to continuously improve myself. One pointthat stood out to me in this presentation was the discussion on self regulation. Kia Smithemphasized the importance of monitoring your own behavior and improving in the areas thatyou struggle with more, but she also mentioned that it is important to not be too hard onyourself. When you can identify key characteristics that describe you personally andprofessionally, you can advocate for yourself in an effective manner. These two presentationsgreatly inspired me to fight for my aspirations in my career, and understand that I am deservingof my goals.
Time Satisfaction by Olivia Porcello The presentation “Time Satisfaction: Because there are No More Minutes” by Mary Kinsella was very informative and definitely applicable to our current circumstances. In Kinsella’s session she encouraged changing the way you think about time management into time satisfaction, given that we only have so much time; a fact we must accept. Kinsella gave advice to optimize your time and be more satisfied with the outcome. She talked about enhancing your energetic center, which is the combination of your values, skills, strengths and passion, to increase your happiness, motivation and reach your career potential. She suggested focusing on the essence at the moment, prioritizing what you need to accomplish based on what is important at that time. She said not to get caught in the idea that everything needs to be done perfectly. Time satisfaction has to do with meaning and fulfillment, not quantity or perfection. Another tip was forming a “ta-da” list of the work you accomplished to be proud of what you did and not dwell on the tasks left uncrossed on your “to-do” list. Kinsella expressed that less is more and it is important to take breaks and allow yourself time to relax. These techniques focusing on time satisfaction increase mindfulness and lower stress. This session was relevant to our current circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It reminded people to be proud of themselves even if motivation was lacking when work became the main focus after other events and tasks became limited.
WE20
Building Confidence Through WE20 by Isabella Steinley WE20 was filled with inspiring sessions about
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Emotional Intelligence by Katie Harris What I learned in the WE 20 Conference session, “The Power of #Emotional
building confidence both in the workplace
Intelligence”, helped me to focus more on
and in pursuing our future goals. In “Sorry, Not
myself and assess my current mental state
Sorry – Speak with Intention in the Workplace,” female engineers from 3M talked about how women have the tendency to over-apologize and their own experiences as female engineers. I had not realized how often I – and many of my peers – were using sorry language and little words like “just,” “maybe,” and qualifiers of “am I making sense?” They recommended using language of gratitude
with the transition to online. Not only have I attended classes online for the entirety of the semester, all SWE events, including the WE 0 Conference, have been moved online as well. I believe that this online transition has been difficult for everyone and, as mentioned in this session, it is essential now more than ever to learn how to be aware of, control, and express your emotions.
instead, such as thanking colleagues at a meeting for waiting. It is also important to politely mention to others who are unnecessarily apologizing that they have not done anything wrong.
My experience with the online transition to WE 20 was made easier by on-demand sessions that I could watch at a later time due to my hectic schedule. “The Power of #EmotionalIntelligence” session was the
Similarly, “The Power of Self Love in Achieving Your Career Goals” was a short session, but one that really stuck with me. The speakers
first session I watched on-demand and the one that stuck with me the most. I learned to self-regulate by reframing negative
made an analogy to the phrase on airplanes:
thoughts that came from stress throughout
“put your oxygen mask on first before helping
the week, to motivate myself by writing my
others.” As they said, self-love is our oxygen mask. Self-love was split into 3 pillars of acceptance, reflection, and self-care. As they went through the talk, they helped the
goals for the day down, and to be selfaware by looking at my day without viewing it in a negative or positive light. These lessons helped me to decide when I
audience to develop a toolkit for our journey
needed a break after a long day of classes
towards self-love including elements such as
instead of cramming in watching
words that we can describe ourselves with,
conference sessions on-demand or working
visualization of goals, and rephrasing
ahead on homework. During this difficult
weaknesses as “I am not good at this yet.”
time, we all need to be more gentle with
Engineering can be difficult and time-
ourselves, give ourselves a much needed
demanding, but it is so important that we set time aside to take care of ourselves especially during the challenging year it has been.
break, and accept that this is a new experience for all of us.
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CAREER MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT How Cognitive Diversity Affects Your Work by Anaya Espadas During the last week of the conference, I attended a session called “Style Matters: How Cognitive Diversity Affects Your Work� presented by Anne Collier. I was really interested to learn about what cognitive diversity is and how that ties into the workplace since I had never heard of that phrase before. It turns out that cognitive diversity is the way different individuals go about solving problems or certains tasks, and how having individuals from a variety of viewpoints creates a strong, balanced team.
Problem solving styles were split up into three categories. The first is analytical, set on using facts to solve problems, likes to create a timeline for these solutions, and respects diversity of perspective. The second is collaborative, identifies pros and cons, considers all alternatives, and makes sure all voices at the table are heard. The third likes fresh ideas, lots of brainstorming, likes hearing wild ideas, and has a willingness to change and accept others ideas. These styles are all on a spectrum, the first style being the left end and the third style being the right end. The second style falls in the middle.
With a cognitively diverse team, the spectrum of problem solving styles should mirror a bell curve, with most individuals falling somewhere between moderately left to moderately right (try not to think politics), and many individuals in the middle. Each style builds off the strengths of each other, and can provide support where some are lacking. Therefore, it is important to ensure a team is cognitively diverse so that all ideas are represented in the engineering process.
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Digital Body Language by Kayla Ruslavage As someone who has grown up in the digital age (or a “digital native” as Erica Dhawan would say), I expected it to be intuitive to learn how to communicate electronically with co-workers, especially when my co-op terms this past year have required a lot of digital collaboration. However, I quickly learned that there were a lot of nuances I hadn’t accounted for. These subtle ways that we communicate electronically, whether it’s the choice of communication form (email vs call vs IM), or the actual structure of our message (lots of exclamation points vs short concise sentences), can all be summarized as “digital body language.” Erica, who led the session “Digital Body Language: The New Rules of Trust and Collaboration” offered some helpful tips on effectively using digital body language to promote collaboration, rather than jeopardizing it. She highlighted these tips by giving examples of scenarios people often encounter in the workplace, which really helped to bring relevance and relatability to the points she discussed. I really appreciated this aspect of her session because it helped me to connect to the points she was discussing, especially since I personally related to one of the examples she gave. Ultimately, her session gave me more confidence in my ability to understand and adapt to others’ digital communication styles to allow for easy collaboration in the increasingly digital world we work and live in.
Equipping Yourself for Leadership by Emily Zuris At this session, two women from Trane Technologies talked about the five key behaviors that women who have achieved leadership roles in the workplace exhibit. These are having clear, shared career goals, advocating for others, influencing upwards, delegating work, and believing there are no barriers to career advancement. They explained that women should think about and share the career path they want to take early on. They encouraged us, even as interns, co-ops, and college students, to reflect on our own goals for what we want to do in the future. Both women shared personal anecdotes about how they “leveled up” within the company, and also shared stories of working with college women and helping them prepare for leadership in the future. Throughout the session, the speakers gave us many questions and statements to reflect on that would help us as we build our careers and head towards leadership roles. Things to think about and work on from this session include acknowledging where you are holding yourself back, reframing failures as learning experiences, identifying what you are most passionate about, and deciding what your goals and dreams are.
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We Should be More Patient with Each Other by Ekaterini Papazekos The title of this presentation, ‘“Let’s Assume
π=3”:
Communication Between Applied and Theoretical Sciences’, is a reference to the popular joke about the differences between scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. But are we really that different? Afterall, these disciplines are often grouped together via the acronym STEM. As it turns out, the most notable difference lies in how engineers and mathematicians solve problems. Presenters Alyson Grass and Molly Nicholas describe their experiences as mathematicians working with computer scientists and engineers. They noted that engineers will often iterate through ideas or possible solutions quickly, while Grass and Nicholas, consider an idea or possible solution and apply it to the problem until they are sure they have considered every possibility. To successfully work with an interdisciplinary team, they suggest clear communication, an understanding of how you and your colleagues prefer to work, and patience to overcome the professional differences in the workplace. The presenters also discussed knowledge bias. When we know something, we assume others know and see the solution too. This explains the frustrating habit professors have where they explain a concept quickly and describe it as simple or obvious when to students it remains unclear. It also comes up when members of interdisciplinary teams assume that their teammates have the context needed to understand an idea even if they do not. This bias only serves to reinforce the presentation’s key takeaway, we should be more patient
Subtle Acts of Exclusion
when communicating with each other
by Alexis Zito The very informative session I attended broke down some uncomfortable and real-life experiences women have as a minority in the STEM Field. The speaker began with a story of how a woman in a conference may make a good point and it may get overlooked, and then later a man may make that same point and be praised for the great idea, despite the woman mentioning that exact point prior in the meeting. The speaker, Gloria Cotton, explained that this was an example of something called Subtle Acts of Exclusion (SAE) (which was also the name of the seminar). Ms. Cotton explained these subtle acts of inclusion are a problem as they do not feel subtle when they occur but they are made subtly so that they can continue to happen.
Ms. Cotton after explaining what SAEs are, then went on to help me learn that there are eight types of subtle acts of exclusion, or eight thoughts that these acts cause one to have and they are: “you don’t belong”, “you are invisible”, “you are a threat”, “you are not an individual”, “you are inadequate”, “you are a curiosity”, “you are not normal”, and “you are a burden”. With a basic understanding of what SAEs are and how to identify them I was also able to learn why it is important to know them. For one reason knowing them can help you recognize the acts when they happen, and it can provide a language to speak up productively about them.
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Why We're Asking The Wrong Questions for Career Success by Emma Ahlgren “What do you want to be when you grow up?” This is an enduring and seemingly benign question that almost everyone has been asked throughout their childhood. However, to Tarryn Anderson, a systems engineer at Boeing, the question demonstrates a very limited view of career path, fulfillment and success.
Tarryn’s own career journey was both dynamic and diverse. In college, she filtered through her interests in French and journalism before deciding to pursue an international business major.
She
quickly
realized
her
disinterest
in
macroeconomics
and
switched
to
astrophysics, propelled by a desire to explore outside of her comfort zone. Introduced to engineering at Boeing through a research conference, she was drawn to the “hands-on” aspects of the job and has worked with the company ever since. But although Tarryn finally discovered what she wanted to be, the satisfaction was short-lived and she found herself feeling uncertain and disheartened.
Tarryn
believes
that
“Who
do
you
want
to
be?”
is
a
much
more
constructive
and
sustainable question to consider. Asking “what” suggests that a career is a one-directional ladder, with little room for external exploration and success represented as a title at the top. In comparison, asking yourself who you want to be emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and growth. It shifts the idea of career satisfaction from one specific end goal to a series of achievements: “I want to be someone who researches complex problems,” or, “I want to be someone who uses their creativity to find solutions.”
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ADVOCACY & OUTREACH
Make a Difference! Empower the SWENext Generation by Vincenzia Vargo Make a Difference! Empower the SWENext Generation presented by Mary Zeis and Fiona Redmond is an inspirational event about the importance of empowering young girls and boys to participate in STEM. This event informs WE20 participants about how K-12 students can start a SWENext club at their school and how SWE members can recruit and inspire SWENexters. As a collegiate member of SWE, it is important for me to inspire SWENexters and educate young students about the engineering field. My passion, since my freshman year of high school,
The Impact of FIRST from the Perspectives of SWE Members by Anila Ghosh At WE20 I attended a session on the impact of a program called FIRST, which I had participated in during high school. If you’ve never heard of FIRST (or their high school competition FRC), I would highly recommend attending a local competition – it is a completely unique experience, with the energy of a football stadium, and thousands of people cheering and dancing for STEM. Teams are given 6 weeks to build a large (usually 120 lb.) robot that plays a game that is unique to each competition. Teams also use their resources to run STEM programs, volunteer programs, and other philanthropic endeavors, led by student leaders and professional volunteers. I learned that female FIRST alumni are more than 3 times more likely to remain interested in STEM majors, 2.6x more likely to take engineering courses, and
is to inspire girls to pursue a career in
2.5x more likely to declare an engineering or
engineering. While in high school, I founded a
computer science major than similarly STEM-
SWENext club, and I launched this organization
interested girls who did not participate in the
to encourage my female peers to develop their
program. It reminded me of the importance of
interests in science and engineering. After
the volunteer efforts of our collegiate chapter
attending this WE20 event, I am determined to continue to expand the view of women in engineering. I hope that my efforts in Pitt SWE to champion the need for women in engineering will create a more inclusive engineering workplace for women.
– holding events at every grade level helps ensure that there is always a next step for girls in STEM and it is one of the ways that we can ensure that in some future generation, girls will be grow up with a vision of STEM that includes women.
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INCLUSION & CULTURAL AWARENESS Be the Tide that Lifts All Boats by Melina Hudson At the session entitled “Be the Tide that Lifts All Boats: Sisterhood and Inclusion,” speaker Dana Day, a project engineer at Boeing, spoke about energizing others, using one’s privilege for good, and bringing everyone into the conversation.
Day began the session talking about her personal career journey. Her message was that you have a bright light inside of you and so does everyone around you. She challenged listeners to activate that light in others. She referred to this light as “star power.” Being inclusive means recognizing everyone’s star power and helping them maximize it.
Day went on to say that by delegating work to people in your team who may be under-represented, and then valuing and amplifying their voices, you can stimulate what she called a “recognition hurricane,” an environment of positivity, diversity, and inclusion. Day also noted that true inclusion doesn’t happen if diversity is not a priority. She challenged us to look at the leadership in a company or project team, and fight for minorities to be of the individuals in those leadership positions. Day encouraged us to research topics such as equitable hiring processes. Not questioning who is in leadership or who is getting hired is in fact privilege. She urged us to use our privilege for good by speaking up about equity in our organizations and workplaces.
This talk, while brief, was very inspiring. We all need to recognize the strengths in ourselves and others, and be unapologetic about our work in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
"Being inclusive means recognizing everyone’s star power and helping them maximize it."
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STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP Yoganna Be Great! Leadership Lessons from the Mat by Emily Richard Amongst the many new features added to WE20 due to the purely virtual format, one stood out from the rest. Mainly because you had to stand to do it, daily yoga breaks! Every day a prerecorded class was uploaded for anyone to follow along. This new feature was one of my favorites as it was conveniently located within the other session links. Surprisingly the daily yoga breaks were not the only yoga content provided. A session hosted by Ms. Margaret A Johnson titled Yoganna Be Great! Leadership Lessons from the Mat” provided a fusion of leadership advice and yoga techniques. Johnson an experienced yoga instructor/ PE Mechanical Engineer walked participants through various aspects of yoga and how they relate to leadership. For example, she spoke to hundreds of different styles of yoga practiced and how there is an equivalent amount of leadership styles. She encouraged participants to try several just like she tells her students to try multiple classes. Overall the session was a fresh take on leadership tips and the relation to yoga aspects allowed for greater understanding. An overarching lesson that I took away from this session and WE20 is that just like in yoga it helps to be flexible.
Leadership Development by Sarah Oldenburg The WE20 Society of Women Engineers conference included a number of sessions geared towards emerging leaders, including Avoiding the Leadership Trap, Leading Through a Pandemic: Managing Tomorrow’s Workforce, and Growing as a Tech Leader and Leaning In. Leaders are not born, but bred. On the path to developing a successful leadership style, all emerging leaders must take care of a few things. First, they must always have open communication with their co-workers to “define the what, take care of the why, and focus on the how” to have clear expectations and operation. Leaders must understand that they can shape their own narrative and how they view their successes and failures can impact their effectiveness. Additionally, they must redefine growth for themselves and focus on their authentic self to develop their leadership identity. A tool used by many women in the sessions is to focus on the small wins and learn from failures to prevent feeling like an imposter. Even superwoman needs to train to hone her skills, so do the same in developing a successful style of leadership!
WE20
SWE's Collegiate Leadership Institute by Vidhya Thiyagarajan This year, I was accepted to attend SWE’s Collegiate Leadership Institute during WE20. During the conference, I attended three major sessions for CLI: Upgrading Your Personal Operating System: Evaluating and Enhancing your Personal Leadership Style, The Lies of the Imposter Complex and Campus to Career: How Student Leaders Can Build a Powerful Brand During College. In addition to these sessions, I also attended a speed networking opportunity with SWE mentors and professional engineers.
Of the three CLI sessions, my favorite talk was Upgrading Your Personal Operating System: Evaluating and Enhancing your Personal Leadership Style by Anne Collier, an expert leadership coach and mega session speaker at WE20. In this session, Anne Collier emphasized how important it was for us, as young leaders, to identify our fears, whether it be failure, rejection or betrayal, and what our triggers are when we are faced with these fears. Listening to her expertise and personal stories and following along with the selfreflection questions that she prepared for us really helped me learn a great deal about my leadership style, my leadership strengths and stresses (and a little bit on how to control these stresses) and what I value as a leader.
I really enjoyed CLI and WE20 as a whole, and I am confident that I improved as a professional and leader as a result of the conference. I look forward to watching additional WE20 sessions and learning from more amazing and successful women during winter break!
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