Finding confidence, a career path in a TU immunology lab
How mentorship, research shaped Hill-Lopes scholar Sumra Chaudhry’s TU experience
Events
Women make groundbreaking contributions to the STEM workforce. Join us to learn from and honor their achievements.
Events are sponsored by The Hill-Lopes Scholars Program and the Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics.
Past Events
Previous speakers included:
- Lisa Orbé-Austin, licensed psychologist and executive career coach
- Dawn Wright is Chief Scientist of the Environmental Systems Research Institute
- Anne-Marie Imafidon, co-founder of Stemettes
- Teresa Norberg-King, an aquatic toxicologist
- Malika Grayson, founder of STEMinist Empowered LLC
- Meg Urry, pioneering researcher who discovered several black holes
- Rita Colwell, a groundbreaking microbiologist
Imposter Syndrome 101
Lisa Orbé-Austin, Ph.D. gave an overview of impostor syndrome, including:
- typical signs and behaviors
- different ways it may manifest as a result of sociocultural and environmental factors
- how it impacts leadership and team functioning
- the most effective coping strategies
- action planning to address it in daily practice
About the Speaker
Lisa Orbé-Austin is a licensed psychologist and executive coach, with a focus on career advancement and leadership development. She is a co-founder and partner of Dynamic Transitions Psychological Consulting, a career and executive coaching consultancy, where she works mostly with high-potential managers and executives. She earned her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University.
The Dive of a Lifetime to the Deepest Place on Earth
Dawn Wright, Ph.D. shared the results of her recent mission to Challenger Deep—the deepest place on Earth. A major objective of the dive was a technological proof-of-concept operation of the first portable FOD sidescan sonar to be installed and operated on a submersible, and for well beyond the standard commercial limitation of 6000 m.
About the Speaker
Dawn Wright is Chief Scientist of the Environmental Systems Research Institute (aka Esri), a world-leading geographic information system (GIS) software and data science company.
Learn more about Dawn and follow her @deepseadawn!
Women Taking Back Tech
Anne-Marie Imafidon, MBE lead a discussion about her book She’s in CTRL, a guidebook for women to take back tech.
About the Speaker
Anne-Marie Imafidon is the co-founder of Stemettes, an award-winning social initiative dedicated to inspiring and promoting the next generation of young women in the STEM sectors. Since its inception 10 years ago, it has exposed more than 60,000 girls across Europe to her vision for a more diverse and balanced science and tech community.
Deemed a prodigy, she was the youngest girl ever to pass A-level Computing at age 11, and was just 20 years old when she received her Master’s Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Oxford.
Picture a Scientist Film Screening and Panel Discussion
The program hosted a screening of Picture a Scientist - a feature-length documentary film that chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. After the film, a panel of faculty and staff members from the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics, College of Liberal Arts and The Office of Inclusion and Institutional Equity lead a discussion.
Highlights of Career Research Experiences at the EPA
Teresa Norberg-King shared highlights of her career research experiences at the EPA. Her presentation included personal and professional experiences about how she developed aquatic toxicity test methods for wastewater, contaminated sediments and problem pollutants. She discussed technical challenges, scientific accomplishments and how methods and approaches were vetted through the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) journals and scientific conferences - essential for environmental management decisions within EPA.
About the Speaker
Teresa Norberg-King is an aquatic toxicologist. During her career at the EPA, Teresa conducted research in the Office of Research and Development, where her research interests included chemical testing, mixtures, bioaccumulation, effluent and sediment toxicology, toxicity identification evaluations, toxicity of major ions (TDS), early life stage fish testing, and animal alternatives. She focused on various biological approaches to assessing the effects of chemicals and chemicals on aquatic ecosystems.
Teresa Norberg-King is now self-employed and continues to pursue her research interests and mentor professionals in environmental toxicology and chemistry.
Hooded: A Black Girl's Guide to the Ph.D
Malika Grayson, Ph.D., discussed her “ABCs of STEM Success” and spoke about her book Hooded: A Black Girl’s Guide to the Ph.D.
About the Speaker
Grayson is the founder of STEMinist Empowered LLC—an organization focused on the empowerment of women of color who pursue graduate degrees, through consultancy and mentorship.
Dr. Grayson is a Fortune 100 global speaker, mechanical engineer and bestselling author. Her passion for increasing the number of women who graduate through the STEM pipeline motivated her to create ASPIRE STEM, which focuses on providing financial assistance to young women from high school and secondary school who aspire to pursue STEM at the university level. In 2021, Grayson was awarded the inaugural scholarship to three young women from Trinidad.
Black Holes, Galaxies and the Evolution of the Universe
Meg Urry, Ph.D. has discovered several black holes. During the presentation, she discussed her research on black holes and advocacy for advancing women in STEM.
About the Speaker
Meg Urry is the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Yale University, Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, former Chair of the Yale Physics Department, and former President of the American Astronomical Society. Dr. Urry earned her Ph.D. in Physics from Johns Hopkins University and her B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from Tufts University.
Her scientific research on active galaxies appears in over 330 refereed research papers, including one of the most highly cited review papers in astronomy. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and National Academy of Sciences, and received the Annie Jump Cannon and George van Biesbroeck prizes from the American Astronomical Society.
A Lab of One’s Own: One Woman’s Personal Journey Through Sexism in Science
Rita Colwell, Ph.D. shared stories from her new memoir, A Lab of One’s Own: One Woman’s Personal Journey Through Sexism in Science. The book documents Colwell’s journey through six decades in science, from sexual harassment in the lab to obscure systems blocking women from leading professional organizations or publishing their work.
About the Speaker
Colwell is a groundbreaking microbiologist and the first woman to lead the National Science Foundation, where she served as the director from 1998 to 2004. She is a distinguished professor at the University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.