Experience is widely recognized as one of the life’s most effective teachers, and organizers of the upcoming 2018 Susan M. Arseven ’75 Conference for Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) guarantee multiple opportunities to learn from some of the best within the STEM professions and Aggieland next month on the Texas A&M campus.
Registration opens this week for the popular annual WISE Conference, now in its 26th year and set for Saturday, Feb. 24, in the Memorial Student Center on the Texas A&M campus. This year’s theme, Transitions: Building Bridges, focuses on creating professional and personal networks — critical connections essential to successfully navigating, mastering, and maximizing the many facets and phases of life.
The event will feature a day of common ground, conversation and inspiration among friends in a series of interactive workshops featuring speakers who are examples of diversified bridge-builders across academia and industry who will share their insights gained along the journey from diploma to career and all points in between. Topics include collaboration, leadership, transitioning into new sectors and careers, making choices and many other areas of interest to women as they move out into the technological workforce.
“This is a two-way participatory opportunity to discuss a variety of challenges women face in preparing for and pursuing successful science, engineering and technological careers, with knowledgeable speakers addressing obstacles and opportunities they have encountered in both their personal and professional lives,” said Dr. Nancy Magnussen, director of Educational Outreach and Women’s Programs in the College of Science, which organizes and hosts the annual event. “Whether trying to get out of graduate school or deciding if the current career path is the correct one, everyone should take away new thoughts and ideas from our motivated and inspired speakers.”
The daylong conference (see schedule here) will feature a keynote presentation by Dr. Frances Colón, a former Deputy Science and Technology Adviser to the United States Secretary of State who has spent the past decade representing the U.S. all over the world on topics ranging from climate change, to the advancement of women scientists, to the re-engagement of Cuba through science cooperation. In 2016, she was named one of the 20 most influential Latinos in technology.
In her presentation, “Science Citizenship: My Path From the Lab to Washington, D.C., to Going Local,” Colón will discuss the role of women scientists as active citizens at a time of unprecedented change in our country.
The conference is named in honor of the late Dr. Susan M. Arseven ’75, one of the leading strategists in information technology during a career spanning several disciplines and a pioneering example of Aggie leadership. Thanks to generous funding from a permanent endowment established through the Texas A&M Foundation by Arseven’s husband, biostatistician Dr. Ersen Arseven ’74, the event also showcases the Susan M. Arseven Make-A-Difference Award — two $1,000 awards presented to female graduate students pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees in science, engineering or technology as part of the conference.
The registration fee is $50 ($35 for students) and includes a pre-conference reception on Friday, Feb. 23, a registration packet and lunch on Saturday. Participants can register online at outreach.science.tamu.edu/wise/2018/wise_online_registration.php.The deadline to register is Feb. 19.
Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) at Texas A&M is a university-recognized organization of graduate students, staff and faculty from various science and engineering backgrounds. The group was created to address specific problems faced by women in non-traditional fields.
For more information about the conference or other outreach events and women’s programs in the College of Science, visit outreach.science.tamu.edu.
Women In Science and Engineering: wise.tamu@gmail.com
