Audrey McCormack, opening keynote for WE Local Dublin and senior director, research & commercialisation facility lead at MSD Ireland, discusses how engineers can turn failure into a powerful career advantage in this episode. In conversation with host Sam East, Audrey reflects on her unconventional path from electrician to biotech leader and shares how the moments that didn’t go to plan shaped her resilience, confidence, and leadership style. Hear how to pursue STEM roles when you don’t meet every requirement, rebuild confidence after a failure, and create space for your team to take risks - even in high-stakes technical environments.

Scientists today are asked to make high-stakes decisions quickly - sometimes with limited context and data. On June 11 at 1 p.m. ET Chantel Wilson Chase will present the TAP Method (Tools • Analysis • Population), a practical way to make decisions with those imperfections in clearer view. This session is designed for scientists who often face social penalties for asking clarifying questions. TAP provides neutral, non-adversarial language that helps you surface limitations, challenge assumptions, and articulate when a decision is being made with “half data” - not as a flaw, but as a deliberate act of decision intelligence. You’ll leave with a set of questions and strategies that increase your influence, confidence, and clarity in fast-moving scientific environments. Key Takeaways: Understand the limits of imperfect data; Make responsible decisions even when data is partial; Ask sharper questions without being dismissed or penalized and Increase your influence in high-stakes discussions.

If you had a suspicious lesion or lump, would you trust a computer algorithm to spot, diagnose, and recommend a treatment for a possible tumor? While some clinicians, oncologists and radiologists resist doing so, most still agree that using artificial intelligence to aid in the identification, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of cancer in their patients represents the wave of the future. Dr. Bipin Gaikwad, a postdoctoral researcher at the Tufts University Institute of Artificial Intelligence (TIAI), once worked in smart surveillance, a technology that uses AI to develop security systems to prevent terrorist attacks. Now, he has turned his fascination with AI in a very different direction. Recently, while working to complete a postdoc at Tufts University, he contributed to a paper on the use of AI in medicine published by Tufts researcher Dr. Thomas Schnelldorfer. Their work focuses on how to use AI during minimally invasive laparoscopies to determine whether gastrointestinal lesions are benign or malignant.

NCWIT’s power has always resided in the passionate community dedicated to broadening participation in tech. At the upcoming 2026 NCWITSummit, meet and collaborate with changemakers from across NCWIT’s ecosystem in engaging breakout sessions. These workshops will explore our relationship to technology, and how we can all play a role in shaping the BPC future — both within computing education and within the broader workforce! This year’s event at the University of Colorado Boulder, will feature thought-provoking workshops, award celebrations, and galvanizing presentations between June 1-2.

In March, the NCWIT workforce Alliance convened for their Quarterly Meeting! The session explored the current cultural and technology climate and its implications for leadership In the NCWIT Media Hub, Dr. Brad reflects on belonging; designing better systems for real people; and how you can maintain clarity of vision, ethical standards, and integrity in your decision-making.

Now is the time to center the uniquely human capacity for critical thinking, ethics, and empathy to shape our technical future before we are shaped by it. At the 2026 NCWITSummit, join changemakers from across NCWIT’s ecosystem for a variety of galvanizing plenaries! These sessions will explore our relationship to technology, and how we can all play a role in shaping the future!

Looking for your next career move in STEM? Registration is now open for SWE’s Virtual Career Fair happening this May designed for professionals with 3+ years of experience. Connect with employers, explore new opportunities, and take the next step in your career—all from wherever you are!

NCWIT’s K-12 programs joined forces to amplify the great work already underway to broaden participation in computing — from inspiring students to enabling the individuals that advise them! In this session, we introduced attendees to NCWIT’s K-12 programs and resources designed to support BPC efforts and prepare students for the workforce of the future. By watching, you will learn about NCWIT’s K-12 Alliance programs and the many free resources available, hear stories from AiC students about their experiences in the AiC Community, and gain insights from student advisors on strategies that help students connect computing with workforce readiness. The recording also explores practical, ready-to-use STEM activities from Teach Engineering and includes breakout discussions with program representatives. Together, these elements equip you with new tools and knowledge to empower your students throughout the academic year.

Explore how small, deliberate actions you can take every day — amplifying a colleague’s idea or inviting a quieter voice into the conversation — can create a powerful ripple effect, accelerating innovation and success across your entire organization. Learn how to recognize the subtle slights and other interactions that erode trust and stifle innovation, and walk away with practical “microbehaviors” you can put to work immediately, regardless of your role or title. Weaving these simple practices into our every day interactions is an efficient and effective way for creating the kind of culture where everyone can truly thrive.

From AT&T to NASA, women working as computers performed the calculations that made modern science possible. In the early 1900s, computing joined teaching and nursing as one of the few careers open to college-educated women, and it opened doors that few other professions could. New York City native Sallie Pero lived with her family while she attended Barnard College, the all-women liberal arts school affiliated with Columbia University. Only 16 when she began her studies in 1909, Pero excelled at math and athletics. Between field hockey, basketball and baseball, Pero played a sport every season. Physical activity paired well with her studies. When she graduated in 1913, Pero received Barnard’s Kohn Mathematics Prize and went on to complete a master’s program in mathematics at Columbia University. She started out as a substitute teacher in New York City schools but left teaching to work as a computer at American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) in 1915. In the first decades of the 1900s, computing was emerging as a potential career, in addition to teaching and nursing, for women graduating from college. In fact, for scientifically inclined women, such as Pero (1893-1981), working as a computer opened the door to a career in scientific research.