Radiation can be dangerous, even deadly - but it has also saved millions of lives thanks to Irène Joliot-Curie's discovery of artificial radiation! Joliot-Curie, the daughter of Marie Curie, the first woman ever to win a Nobel Prize, carried on her mother's legacy of scientific study. Joliot-Curie's groundbreaking research allowed scientists to produce 'designer' radioactive elements quickly and easily, making them widely available for use in research and medical treatment for the first time. This discovery won Joliot-Curie and her husband, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935, cementing her place in scientific history - and making the Curies the family with the most Nobel laureates to date.

“After working at 12 startups, and witnessing a lack of diversity at every one, I founded Girls in Tech with a singular mission: to end the gender gap in tech by institutionalizing the same networking opportunities that helped me.” said Adriana Gascoigne. Here’s why diversity matters, now more than ever: A lack of diversity hurts products and services as well as company culture and performance, Diverse companies are better able to adapt and thrive as consumer populations change. Companies close to gender parity for top-ranking positions earn up to 50% higher profits than companies with fewer female executives. Tech has to do better by making real changes, specifically at the top. Read Adriana Gascoigne's op-ed to learn how simple changes can make a world of difference for women and underrepresented minorities in tech.

Christin Godale campaigns for bigger research budgets and better care for people with epilepsy. Christin Godale has lived with epilepsy since being diagnosed around the age of two. She credits neuroscience with saving her life and giving her a vocation; in 2016, she started a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. Godale advocates for neuroscience funding, as both a patient and a scientist.

Dr. Marguerite Thomas Williams was the first African-American to earn a PhD in geology. She enrolled in the Miner Teachers College and earned a certification and a scholarship to Howard University. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in science, then pursued a master’s degree in geology at Columbia University. She completed her doctorate at the Catholic University of America after successfully defending her dissertation on the contribution of deforestation and agriculture on the erosion of the Anacostia drainage system located in Maryland. She became a full-time professor at Miner Teachers College and taught evening classes at Howard, dedicating her life to education and making geology a more inclusive field.

Meet two amazing women from the Air Force Research Laboratory, who lead the discovery, development and delivery of warfighting technologies for the United States Air Force and Space Force. Through careers in STEM, women from across AFRL pursue a broad range of research and development efforts, work that ultimately provides Airmen and Guardians with new and innovative technologies that help keep the fight unfair. Read their stories and learn more about AFRL’s work with spacecraft thrusters, chemical propellants and noninvasive brain stimulation.

Dr. Wright was the first African American woman to become an associate dean of a Medical Institution (1967) which was the highest ranking African American woman at a U.S. medical school at the time. She earned her medical degree in just three years from New York Medical College. After completing her residency, she worked at the Cancer Research Foundation at Harlem Hospital – leading the foundation from 1952-55. She joined New York University as an associate professor of surgical research and director of Cancer Chemotherapy Research at NYU Medical Center. Wright was appointed to the President’s Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke in 1964. She became the first female president of the New York Cancer Society and was a founding member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The organization she helped found is now one of the largest in the world and helps thousands of citizens.

In a country like South Africa where it was against the law for people who look like her to study STEM fields, the result has been a deficit in diversity: the face of STEM fields is old, white and male. Additionally, STEM subjects and careers have gained popularity for their level of difficulty. These amongst other factors have led to STEM fields being inaccessible to especially marginalised groups such as women and indigenous African people. In turn, this technological era that is an exponentially growing contributor of problem-solving and, ultimately, economic growth, is one these marginalised folks are finding difficult to participate in and influence. As a third generation graduate with a mom that has a master’s in education, education was normalised in her household. The women in her life have often gone beyond their call of duty: her grandmother home-schooled children that couldn’t access school, retiring early to establish an organisation for adult-based education and training that assisted senior citizens in acquiring educational and vocational skills. In hindsight, now she realises that her need to learn and make an impact originates from that early exposure. Having had the privilege to study and work within STEM at a young age, she knew that her mission would be to ensure that many who looked like her had the opportunities she had.

Line Stigen Raquet is a business executive in the life science and medical devices industries. What's the best advice she's ever received? “Instead of always trying to fit in, try to find an environment that fits you, where your values, mindset, and skills are congruent with the company, team, or mission.”

Here is a brief round-up of information and news that crossed NCWIT’s radar recently and which we think will be of interest to you. The practices or content of the news gathered (while not endorsed or vetted by NCWIT) is meant to spark new conversations and ideas surrounding the current diversity statistics and trends in the tech workforce.

Progress in bringing more women and underrepresented communities into the field of Machine Learning will only be achieved if everyone works together to close the diversity gap." - Adriana Gascoigne
Learn more about the democratization of AI and how Amazon Web Services is making the industry more inclusive.