Each year, the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AiC) program receives thousands of amazing award applications from women, genderqueer, and non-binary students across the country who are interested in tech. To select the national and regional award recipients, volunteers of all experience levels are needed to review and score each submission. It’s a simple and inspiring way to meet and support the future of tech, and increase much-needed diversity within computing, technology, and STEM fields! Volunteering as a reviewer is a rewarding and convenient way to: Uplift inspiring students who are the future of tech; Build a supportive community that encourages persistence; Get involved online from anywhere, at your own pace. Volunteers who complete 20 or more reviews will also receive a certificate. Volunteer reviewers are crucial in recognizing and encouraging current students, as well as their educators and mentors. Each review takes an average of 10 – 25 minutes to complete.

Discover how mobile science labs are revolutionizing classroom learning and opening new doors in STEM education. Mobile labs can be a great way to help STEM-oriented students prepare to enter the workforce as well as to reach students who don’t really know what they’re interested in yet, Colvin said. The labs provide an opportunity to boost traditional classroom coursework, giving students and teachers a break from the same experiences every day. They also provide a way to reach rural communities, where going on field trips may be harder. The labs also offer students a chance to be taught by people who look like them, Colvin said. Whenever possible she hires instructors from local communities. “I want to support teachers (with activities) that maybe students haven’t seen yet and offer role models that students can identify with.”

The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) expresses deep disappointment that no women were awarded Nobel Prizes in the sciences this year. This outcome highlights a persistent gender imbalance in the recognition of scientific and academic excellence in physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, and economic sciences.
“We know many women are succeeding and thriving in STEM, but they don’t always get the recognition they deserve,” said Meredith Gibson, CEO of AWIS. “The Nobel Prize is one of the most prestigious award platforms in the world. It sends the wrong message to future generations when they see zero women among the newly named laureates.” Women are published less often, receive fewer patents and awards, and face challenges that men do not. Organizations must re-examine existing practices and do more to break the systemic biases that are deeply rooted in STEM culture in order to retain women in STEM, dispel the stereotypes, and inspire the next generation. AWIS urges the Nobel Prize committees to take concrete steps to ensure that women scientists and scholars are nominated and recognized for their contributions including: Transparent Nomination Processes: Ensure that the nomination and selection processes are transparent and inclusive, with clear criteria that promote gender diversity. Publish a list of top nominees so they can receive some benefit from the recognition; Diverse Selection Panels: Ensure diverse selection committees that include a balanced representation of women and men from various scientific and academic fields. If the pool of candidates is not diverse, look harder; Active Outreach and Encouragement: Do more to actively seek and encourage nominations of women scientists and scholars, as well as historically excluded minorities, particularly from underrepresented regions; Regular Reporting and Accountability: Set measurable goals for improving gender diversity. Publish annual reports on the gender breakdown of nominees and awardees. AWIS remains committed to advocating for gender equity in science and academia and calls on the Nobel Prize committees to take the necessary steps to ensure that the contributions of women are equally celebrated and recognized.

In recent years, the conversation around gender disparity in entrepreneurship and STEM has gained momentum, especially when data continues to show that only 18% of high-growth enterprises have at least one woman in their founding team, highlighting the urgent need for systematic change. A notable development in this ongoing discourse is Innovate UK's recent decision to honour its original commitment of awarding 50 grants for its ‘Women in Innovation’ funding competition. This decision reflects a broader acknowledgement of the necessity to support women in innovation, while also shedding light on the dynamic nature of public funding. However, this development is just one piece of a larger puzzle, revealing the complex and multifaceted nature of achieving gender equality in the sector. Missed opportunities for female entrepreneurs often underscore the broader systemic challenges within the funding landscape. When grants or resources fall short, it reflects not just a financial setback but also highlights the enduring obstacles women face in accessing support and recognition. Such situations reveal the need for a more robust system that addresses these gaps and provides equitable opportunities for all entrepreneurs, regardless of gender. Ensuring consistent and fair access to resources is crucial for fostering a more inclusive and balanced entrepreneurial environment.

Deena Shakir, an investor at Lux Capital, struggled to explain to her three young kids what exactly her job was. She first tried buying a Chia Pet, where kids plant chia seeds on a figurine “to show them how seeds can grow into something amazing.” Shakir, who’s invested in health tech companies like fertility startup Alife Health and women’s health company Maven Clinic, particularly loved that the figurine was a unicorn. “They didn’t get the joke, but I thought it was hilarious,” she said. In 2020, in the midst of quarantine-induced boredom, she decided she needed to create something that explained the process of founding a startup but would also be engaging for children. Shakir settled on a picture book and got to work. In the book, Leena Mo builds a robot to plow snow. Her neighbors all beg her to build dozens more and sell them one, a feat that seems impossible until a neighbor offers to invest. Leena Mo recruits a team, advertises the robot on local news, and, you guessed it, becomes a CEO.

Ruby Jackson, a 23-year-old student midwife at the University of Brighton, has developed an app, “Melanatal,” to address gaps in the recognition of maternal and neonatal conditions on Black and brown skin. Her app aims to educate both clinicians and patients on how conditions such as jaundice, pre-eclampsia, and mastitis appear on darker skin tones, a subject historically underrepresented in medical training. Jackson’s inspiration for Melanatal came during her placement at a neonatal unit in Ghana, where she realized that key symptoms - like jaundice - present differently on darker skin. She had previously been taught to look for “yellow skin,” which isn’t always applicable to Black or brown patients. This moment led her to understand how easily signs could be missed, prompting her to develop a solution. The app, currently in development, will feature hyper-realistic medical illustrations and aims to reduce race-based health inequalities. “This app will help provide the much-needed information for black and brown women who are nearly four times more likely to die in pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum in comparison to white women,” Jackson told University of Brighton. “Through Melanatal, clinicians can get better knowledge to care for black babies who have the highest rate of both stillbirth and neonatal death.”

For women engineers who want to climb the corporate ladder, putting your head down and doing your job is often not enough. Listen to this enlightening conversation with TED speaker Susan Colantuono and Laurie Shuster, editor-in-chief of SWE Magazine, as they discuss the pivotal business and strategic skills to uplift women engineers. Susan Colantuono, TED speaker and founder of Be Business Savvy, shares the key business and strategic skills to help women get ahead in conversation with Laurie Shuster, editor-in-chief of SWE Magazine. Hear Colantuono’s practical tips to understand your employer’s market positioning, promote your achievements effectively, and be perceived as a leader in STEM.

Women engineers bring the professional triumphs and global impacts of their work to the world of entertainment, lending their time and expertise to television, advertising, and feature films. Engineer, STEM advocate, and Emmy Award-nominated TV host Tamara Robertson nearly drowned while filming a segment for Mythbusters: The Search, a reality competition show on the Science Channel. But she can laugh about it now and draw inspiration from the event. Robertson, a fabricator and chemical and biomolecular engineer, was working on a challenge for the show that involved making shoes out of life-vest foam to “walk” on water. The contestants tried out their shoes by gingerly entering a swimming pool at the deep end and trying to walk on top of the water to the shallow end. Robertson got entangled in her shoestrings - strings she had designed so that the shoes wouldn’t slip off - and ended up face down in the water with the shoes floating above her. She had no way to cut the strings, and she couldn’t come up for air.

This annual event, also known as “the Tapia Conference,” is the premier venue to acknowledge, promote, and celebrate diversity in computing. The goal is to bring together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, researchers, and professionals in computing from all backgrounds and ethnicities to: celebrate the diversity that exists in computing; connect with others to create communities that extend beyond the conference; make contact with leaders in industry and academia; and be inspired by great presentations and conversations!