The advent of virtual reality may mark a major turn toward gender equality in tech. The roaring debate regarding the lack of women working in technical roles has spawned a real effort to create gender equality in the workforce. We need a giant cultural shift, beginning with schools encouraging more women to study computer science to join these elite ranks and through to companies hiring more women for technical roles and grooming them for the climb to the C-suite. Can virtual reality be the catalyst? For those individuals who dare to be pioneers, new industries can create spaces for career breakthroughs. Virtual reality may represent a big opportunity for women developers and programmers in film, journalism, education, and gaming. There's been a lot of discussion recently about the need for morediversity in virtual reality as the industry begins to take off. It is estimated that by 2020 it will be a $30 billion industry and that currently about 22 percent of game developers in virtual reality are women. This shift is further supported by a new study that found women are considered better developers but only if they hide their gender.

According to a new analysis by the Institute for Women's Policy Research, women held fewer than one in five patents in 2010. And the numbers are even worse when it comes to women as primary inventors: Just a puny 8%.At the current rate of progress, gender equality among patent-holders is more than 75 years away-meaning that women won't close the ''patenting gap'' until 2092. The number of patents held by female inventors has seen a five-fold increase over the past 40 years, albeit from an extremely small base. In 2010, 18.8% of patent-holders were women, compared to 3.4% in 1977, according to IWPR.

The pipeline that funnels women into careers in math and science is leaky all the way along along, but if one particular leak could be plugged, it might make a dramatic difference. Researchers have identified one change that would increase the number of women in so-called STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math) by 75 percent. A new study finds that women are 1.5 times more likely to leave their STEM studies after their first college course in calculus, a crucial stepping stone for those pursuing a career in the field. Despite having above-average mathematical abilities and preparedness, women are more likely to both start and end the course with lower mathematical confidence than men. They report that they don't understand the course material, meaning they leave that educational track and are diverted from STEM fields.

AWIS Director of Research, Dr. Heather Metcalf, featured in CBE-Life Sciences Education special issue journal on broadening participation.

In an effort to increase the diversity of engineering faculty, the National Science Foundation awarded $2.9 Million to the following leading national engineering diversity organizations: Great Minds in STEM (GMiS), American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), MAES: Latinos in Science and Engineering, National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), SACNAS: Advancing Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and Society of Women Engineers (SWE). This collaborative research project, titled ASSIST: Strengthening Engineering Faculty through Diversity Serving Professional Organization Engagement, is a historic first step toward long-term collaboration between the organizations. The establishment of this collaborative infrastructure between these organizations will result in the design, implementation and evaluation of a model for effectively increasing the number of underrepresented engineering faculty across all institutional types.

The event will bring together more than 170 scholars and industry leaders in Barcelona and aims to close the gap between research and the practical implementation of open innovation. The event will bring together more than 170 scholars and industry leaders in Barcelona and aims to close the gap between research and the practical implementation of open innovation. The World Open Innovation Conference is being held in Europe for the first time. The conference chair is Prof. Henry Chesbrough of the Department of Operations, Innovation and Data Sciences at ESADE, who is known for coining the term - open innovation - to describe the new trend of opening up business innovation processes to the outside world. Open innovation allows universities and research centres to offer the business community real solutions while also enabling companies to commercialise their innovation processes or use technologies and processes designed by other companies.

K-12 Alliance Member The New York Academy of Sciences is looking for mentors for their 1,000 Girls, 1,000 Futures program! Mentors in the program work with young women in high school who are interested in STEM fields and are developing their 21st century and college readiness skills.

Interested in joining NCWIT? The NCWIT Academic Alliance brings together more than 1,400 distinguished representatives from academic computing programs at more than 400 colleges and universities across the country, spanning research universities, community colleges, women's colleges, and minority-serving institutions. Charged with implementing institutional change in higher education, the Academic Alliance provides feedback on NCWIT programs, contributes and adopts effective practices, and serves as a national agent of change. It meets several times per year to compare approaches and provide guidance and mutual support. Membership in the AA is free for participating academic institutions.

At Google, we believe a diversity of attributes, experiences, and perspectives are needed to build tools that can change the world. Everyone deserves the opportunity to pursue a career in computer science and technology, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, disability or military service. To help break down the barriers that prevent underrepresented groups in computer science from attending leading tech conferences, we're excited to offer Google Travel and Conference Grants for selected conferences in Computer Science and related fields. Grants are available in North America for all traditionally underrepresented groups in technology (including, but not limited to, African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, persons with disabilities, women and veterans) and in Europe for women in technology.

The American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) - of which the Society of Women Engineers is a member - has earned a 2016 American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Power of A Gold Award for its Engineering Competency Model (ECM). They've long needed a competency model for engineers, but until recently no widely accepted model was available. The development process was the united effort of representatives from across the engineering community, and SWE was very active in the design and vetting of the model. Given that they had their own leadership competency model for more than six years, their expertise was welcomed and appreciated.