March is Women’s History Month. All month we are celebrating women who contributed to the advancement of science, and the next generation of women in STEM. Despite severe gender bias, these bold and brilliant women paved the way for future generations. Help us share their accomplishments so they too can be household names like Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking.

In this episode, Abigail Mizzi, master’s student in aeronautical and astronautical engineering at Purdue University, and Steven Collicott, Ph.D., professor in Purdue’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, share the story behind Purdue 1 - a groundbreaking university-led spaceflight mission set for 2027. Abigail is poised to become the first graduate student to conduct her thesis research in space, operating her fluids experiment during three minutes of microgravity. Dr. Collicott will also fly a human-tended experiment studying how liquids move over surfaces in weightlessness - research that can’t be replicated on Earth. In conversation with FY26 SWE President Inaas Darrat, hear how Purdue 1 became a reality, what it takes to prepare mentally and physically for suborbital flight, and how SWE has shaped Abigail’s STEM journey - including receiving the Outstanding Collegiate Member award.

The AWIS Career Center uses skills-based searching for better job matches, focusing your search and saving you time. Our system matches the technical STEM skills that you possess with the required and desired skills of employer’s job postings. Start exploring our career center today and take the first step towards achieving your professional goals.

In this interview, SWE APEX Distinguished Engineering Educator Award recipients Marca Lam, Ph.D.; Tsu-Jae Liu, Ph.D.; and Anne Lucietto, Ph.D., F.SWE share the moments, mindsets, and mentoring that shaped their careers, from supporting students who struggle to building inclusive learning environments and stronger professional networks.

Mentorship is invaluable in science—but what exactly is a mentor? A mentor is someone who provides guidance, support, and opportunities for professional growth. They serve as role models who encourage their mentees, recognize their strengths, and offer honest, constructive feedback. Mentors can also act as liaisons, connecting mentees to peers, professionals, and colleagues within their field. Mentorship can take many forms and last for varying lengths of time. It may be a lifelong relationship or a single, impactful conversation. Receiving meaningful career advice from someone you meet at a conference is mentorship. Staying in touch with a mentor over several years is also mentorship. The duration and depth of a mentoring relationship depend on the mentor–mentee dynamic and the effort invested in fostering that connection. Regardless of scale, these interactions are crucial to both personal and professional development. Mentorship can occur one-on-one or in group settings. Group mentorship offers the added benefit of hearing others’ questions and perspectives, allowing for broader discussions and shared learning. In all cases, mentors provide invaluable insight because they have navigated the early stages of the career paths their mentees are now beginning.

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.