| An IEEE Women
in Engineering (WIE) Session was held during the 2008 IEEE NSS/MIC/RTSD
in Dresden, Germany. Having a large and very international conference
with close to 3,000 participants from almost 60 different countries
provided an outstanding opportunity for this WIE event. It was the
first time in the history of this Conference that a WIE event was
hosted. This took place on Thursday, 23 October 2008, in the evening,
and was open to all Conference attendees. The Session, organized
by Barbara Obryk (IFJ, Poland) and Maryam Al Thani (WIE R8 Coordinator),
has provided the opportunity for exchanging ideas and information
on issues of importance not only to the society of women in science
and engineering but of importance to the general public as well.
The theme of the Session was: “New challenges and opportunities
for women scientists and engineers in the world of the Internet
Era.”
At the opening of the Session all attendees were warmly welcomed
by Uwe Bratzler, the Conference General Chair. He also shared and
forwarded greetings from the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel
(a physicist herself), which Dr. Merkel had sent specifically to
the organizers and participants of the WIE Session.
Then the WIE Session guests were introduced, including Joanna Izewska
of IAEA, Hannelies Kluge of DESY, Jane M. Lehr of Sandia National
Laboratories, Francesca Nessi-Tedaldi of ETH Zurich and Sara A.
Pozzi of University of Michigan. Presentations began with a talk
by Jane Lehr, the NPSS President. It was great that she has shared
with the audience her broad experience in the field of merging/joining
her scientific work and her dedication to IEEE activities with her
family life, with which she has succeeded so well. Then Hannelies
Kluge, who is a founding member of the Working Group for Equal Opportunities
of the German Physical Society, spoke about the status and best
examples of best practice on equal opportunities for female physicists
in Germany. Afterwards, Sara A. Pozzi brought the audience from
the discovery of nuclear fission to today’s challenges in
nuclear energy and nonproliferation with a special emphasis on women
contributions to 20th century nuclear physics. Her talk gave an
opportunity to present a book edited by Nina Byers and Gary Williams
about contributions of 20th-century women to physics: Out of the
Shadows, which was sent by Nina Byers (of UCLA, one of 83 women
physicists for whom data is archived on the website: Contributions
of 20th Century Women to Physics) with her best wishes to the participants.
 |
| Women in Engineering: Panel discussion during
the WIE Session in Dresden (from left to right): Hannelies Kluge
(DESY), Jane M. Lehr (Sandia National Laboratories, the NPSS
President), Joanna Izewska (IAEA), Sara A. Pozzi (University
of Michigan), Barbara Obryk (IFJ Krakow), Maryam Al Thani (WIE
R8 Coordinator), Francesca Nessi-Tedaldi (ETH Zurich) |
During the panel discussion, which was moderated by Barbara Obryk
among others, Joanna Izewska shared her broad experience with the
situation of women working in international organizations such as
the one for which she works. Then, Francesca Nessi-Tedaldi presented
her very personal experience of raising a family with kids without
any interruption in her scientific and professional career; she
gave a lot of encouragement to many young women that they do not
need to choose between a career and family. Very lively and interesting
informal discussions, along with delicious refreshments, completed
this very successful WIE event which attracted over 130 participants.
– bringing the session room to its capacity limit.
We would like to thank all participants, the outstanding speakers,
Brookhaven National Laboratory and NPSS, and the Conference Organization
and Conference General Chair, for their contributions and strong
support without which this great success would not have been possible.
We have received already encouragement to organize a 2nd WIE Session
during the 2009 NSS/MIC in Orlando, FL, and we look forward to seeing
you all again in Orlando in October next year.
More information can be found at: http://spn-nssmic.ifj.edu.pl/wie.html)
or please contact Barbara Obryk at barbara.obryk@ifj.edu.pl
or Maryam Al Thani at mthani@ieee.org
|
