Draper engineer Kelsey Jones reflects on how she found new opportunities and overcame imposter syndrome by participating in SWE’s annual conference.

The AWIS Career Center connects talented jobseekers (you) with forward-thinking employers. Our site uses a skills-based algorithm that matches the technical STEM skills you have with the required and desired skills of an employer’s job posting.

When a buzz from Mary Brunkow’s phone awoke her at 1 a.m. showing an international number, it seemed like “spam, obviously,” she said. A couple minutes later, her phone rang again and this time she put it on “do not disturb” and went back to sleep. Her husband did the same with his phone, which also started ringing strangely. Then about two hours later, after an Associated Press photographer showed up at the door, waking the dog and her husband, the truth finally dawned on Brunkow: she had won a Nobel Prize. Ross Colquhoun wakes his wife, Mary E. Brunkow, on Monday after she won the Nobel Prize in medicine for her work on peripheral immune tolerance. On Monday morning, Brunkow was among three scientists who won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries about how the immune system knows not to attack the body. The other winners include Fred Ramsdell, who worked with Brunkow at a biotech company in Washington, and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi, who is a professor at Osaka University in Japan. Their research helped unlock an understanding of how autoimmune diseases like lupus, arthritis and Type 1 diabetes work and has been credited with helping discover better treatments.

After spending 178 days aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Ron Garan returned to Earth carrying something far heavier than space equipment or mission data. He returned with a transformed understanding of humanity itself. From orbit, Earth doesn’t look like a collection of countries, borders, or competing interests. It appears as a single, radiant blue sphere suspended in darkness. No lines divide continents. No flags mark territory. From 250 miles above the surface, every human conflict suddenly looks small — and every human connection looks unavoidable. Garan described watching lightning storms crackle across entire continents, auroras ripple like living curtains over the poles, and city lights glow softly against the planet’s night side. What struck him most wasn’t Earth’s power — it was its fragility. The atmosphere protecting all life appeared as a paper-thin blue halo, barely visible, yet responsible for everything that breathes, grows, and survives.

Being a woman of color in science does not mean that you should have to work twice as hard to get the grant. As a professor at the University of Washington, Dr. Kemi Doll realized she had special set of tools for writing research grants. She founded Get That Grant, a coaching program geared toward high achieving women of color.

The world lost one of its most iconic scientists and conservationists, Dr. Jane Goodall, on October 1, 2025. Known internationally for her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees and her tireless advocacy for environmental stewardship, Goodall was also a transformative change leader whose work continues to inspire generations today. Her legacy resonates deeply with NCWIT’s mission to empower young people, particularly those underrepresented in technology, to lead change in their fields and communities. In a 2020 NCWIT Conversations for Change event, NCWIT Research Scientist Brad McLain spoke with Dr. Goodall about her Roots & Shoots program and the power of young people to drive global transformation. “Roots and Shoots is about listening to the voices of young people,” she explained. “It is empowering them to take action. We’re training young people who can be leaders - leaders in academia and leaders in all of the different walks of life.”

This large printable poster (24″x36″) provides information about various paths students can take to get to a career in computing. The poster includes specific steps to follow beginning in high school, college, university, and military service pathways that lead to various jobs. A career in computing can offer wide-ranging jobs, high pay, and interesting work! Counselors, When discussing post-graduate plans with your students, you can refer to the NCWITC4C Intersecting Pathways Poster as a resource!

Cultures and practices have an indisputable influence on the workplaces people choose and their willingness to stay. A research-backed approach to intentionally building an organization’s culture enables employees to innovate and do their best work while employers see new dimensions of creativity that positively impact their bottom lines. NCWIT offers research, data, and strategic approaches that can help companies of all sizes thrive. The meeting explores the psychological, emotional, and cultural dimensions of communication, leading to actionable strategies to create an environment where truth can be spoken and heard.

The STEM world is shifting fast, and women are playing an increasingly vital role, even though they remain underrepresented in many fields. Access to education, scholarships, mentorship, and leadership opportunities still lags behind, creating significant barriers to entry and advancement. However, understanding the scope of the problems and learning about the resources that can help to break down these barriers can be key steps in working toward a more inclusive and innovative future. Women's representation in STEM fields has improved over the past decade, but there's still a long way to go. Of the women who do choose to pursue a degree in a STEM-related field, the most popular choices are the biological sciences, engineering, computer science, and math. Bioscience degrees are by far the most common: Women actually earn nearly 60% of all degrees awarded in this field. Meanwhile, the number of women pursuing a computer science degree has been falling precipitously, dropping nearly 80% in the first decade of this century. And of those who do complete their degree and get a job in technology, more than half end up leaving the field; not only is computer science not attracting women, but it can't keep them, either. Mathematics and engineering have similar problems. More than 40% of math majors are women, but few of them go into high-paying STEM jobs; most end up teaching math instead. And women only make up around 20% of engineering majors, but that's still higher than the 11% who actually get jobs as engineers. Surveys have shown that while some women just lose interest in engineering as a career, many cite issues with the workplace culture in this field as a factor in their departure.

Dr. Misty D. Freeman reflects on her journey into advocacy, and offers advice for those just beginning: » If you had asked me in 2013 what my path would look like a decade later, I would not have predicted that “advocacy and policy in technology” would be part of the answer. At the time, I was buried in my dissertation, experimenting with how to merge my love for technology with my deep concern for marginalized communities. Specifically, I wanted to ensure people with disabilities could access the web equitably. It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t policy in the formal sense. But it planted a seed. Technology isn’t just about tools; it’s about who gets to use them and who gets left behind.«