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.

Role incredulity is a form of gender bias where women are mistakenly assumed to be in a support or stereotypically female role - an administrative assistant, nurse, wife, or girlfriend, for instance - rather than a leadership or stereotypically male role, such as CEO, professor, lawyer, doctor, or engineer. While this slight or mistake might seem innocuous, it can have real ramifications for women. Women must expend extra energy and time to assert and prove their role. Their words may lack the credibility and authority inherent in their position. And when women are not seen as a leader, they may be less likely to be hired into male-dominated roles or to be considered for promotions. While the real issue of role incredulity is systemic, there are steps organizational leaders, workplace allies, and women themselves can take to prevent and correct it., including setting organizational norms, being an ally, owning your mistakes, and, if you’re a woman, proactively identifying your role.

Ekaterina Yushchenko (Rvacheva) was born on December 8, 1919 - a century later then Lady Lovelace (Ada Augusta Byron). The beginning of her creative activity coincided with the years of revival and realization of Charles Babbage' brilliant idea. There were some moments in her life, similar to the fate of the outstanding English lady, but mostly her fate was typical to soviet people. As well as lady Lovelace she was lucky to write first programs for the first (in the continental Europe) computer, created 100 years later after Babbage's project, at the National Academy of Science of Ukraine under the guidance of other genius - Sergey Lebedev. Those programs were very similar to programs composed by lady Lovelace. At last, both women are remarkable by the fact that they devoted all their life to their favorite occupation - digital computing machines and software for them. But here similarities of their fates come to an end. Ekaterina Yushchenko was a corresponding member of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine, an honored scientist, a prize-winner of the USSR Council Ministers' awards, V.M.Glushkov's prize winner, she twice won the State Ukrainian award.

Did you miss our Conversation for Change with Lien Diaz? The Constellations Center for Equity in Computing founder talked with NCWIT about the work she’s doing to increase equity in K-12 computing education, why she’s so passionate about this issue, and what challenges still need to be addressed. Watch the full replay and learn about Lien’s journey and the lessons that have led to her work on challenging the status quo and broadening participation in computer science education, including her work with the Constellation Center which she founded in order to advance equitable computer science education through a comprehensive approach.

Cicely Tyson, the pioneering actress famous for her stunning portrayals of both real and fictional African American women, was one of the Mighty Girl role models who died in 2021. Tyson strove to bring a sense of nobility and strength to the characters she played in film and on television, and rejected roles that she felt were demeaning. Known for "embodying women of great poise striving under great pressure," her performances included depictions of abolitionist Harriet Tubman and civil rights activist Coretta Scott King, as well as the fictional Jane Pittman from her acclaimed film "The Autobiography of Jane Pittman" and the mother of Kunta Kinte in "Roots." Born in New York City in 1924, Tyson grew up in deep poverty and faced disapproval from her deeply religious mother over her career in entertainment, which she considered 'sinful.' She began working as a model for Ebony magazine in the 1950s and then worked on stage and in guest-starring roles on television until her breakout starring role in 1972's "Sounder," for which she received an Academy Award nomination. She followed that up with "The Autobiography of Jane Pittman" in 1974, which was viewed by over 40 million people -- almost half of the television audience of the time. For her lifetime of accomplishments, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Reflecting on her long career, Tyson, who passed away in January at the age of 96, once observed: “It amuses me when people say, ‘Oh, my God, you’ve done so much.’ But it isn’t that I’ve done so much. It’s that what I have done has made a real impact, and I’d rather have it that way.”