WEPAN Newsletter December 2023

Submit a Proposal for the 2024 ADVANCE EiSCC

Proposals are now open for the 2024 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening (EiSCC).

Since 2019, the NSF-funded ADVANCE EiSCC has served as the convening for NSF ADVANCE grantees in a format that facilitates engagement with change agents within and beyond the NSF ADVANCE community. The ADVANCE EiSCC brings together a variety of change makers from higher education, professional societies, industry, government, and non-profits in an engaged exchange of knowledge, resources, and support to drive systemic change in STEM. The 2024 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening will take place June 2-5 at the Hilton Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland.

Attendees have an opportunity to share new research findings and exchange resources; brainstorm strategies; collaborate in novel ways; learn about avenues for funding; and demonstrate effective programs and interventions for greater collective impact.

In lieu of traditional text-based abstracts, only visual abstracts will be accepted. Accessible content is encouraged. There are several types of sessions:

• Poster Showcase: Present an innovative poster design highlighting your efforts toward equitable STEM work environments
• High 5 Talks: Challenge yourself to outline the highlights of your work and explain its importance – in just 5 minutes
• Experience Reports: For those on the front lines of change, engage with the audience about your well-developed and/or later-stage initiatives or research
• Early-Stage Innovations: Inform and provide feedback to works-in-progress in a less formal setting
• Symposia: Join 3-5 presenters to discuss a novel, timely, and interesting topic
• Pre-Conference Workshops: Lead a deeper look into critical topics and challenges

Read more about the session types and the submission process here. Proposals close January 5, 2024.

Participants whose proposals are accepted are required to register for and attend the 2024 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening.

Events

Recording Available for "The Inventor’s Patent Academy Webinar Series: Promoting Equitable Innovation"

Sponsored by Qualcomm, this WEPAN webinar series explores topics covered in The Inventor’s Patent Academy (TIPA), a free three-part course that supports current and future inventors in understanding patenting, intellectual property, and how to navigate the patenting system. TIPA, created in partnership by Qualcomm and Invent Together, promotes equitable innovation ecosystems by providing open access to patenting information often withheld from marginalized inventors.

The first webinar in this WEPAN series aligns with Module 1 of TIPA and featured a panel discussion with four inventors who shared their patent successes and challenges as well as strategies, tools, and tips for navigating your own patent journey.

Watch the webinar at: www.wepan.org/events/tipa-webinar-promoting-equitable-innovation

News

WEPAN Survey

As WEPAN continues to grow, we want to gain a deeper understanding of the WEPAN community. Whether you’re a WEPAN member, event attendee, program participant, partner, newsletter subscriber, social media follower, or more – we want to hear from you!

Take just five minutes to share more about yourself and your engagement with WEPAN in our community survey. In addition to providing insights about the WEPAN community, your responses will help also shape our future outreach goals and programming priorities.

‍Everyone who takes the survey will be entered to win a free registration to the 2024 ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening, taking place in Baltimore, Maryland.

Take the survey at: https://www.wepan.org/survey. Your responses will remain confidential and will be for internal use only.

WEPAN Listserv

Do you have something to tell the WEPAN community? Remember that subscription to the WEPAN-L listserv is a member benefit! Share announcements, post publication opportunities, and collaborate with colleagues from different institutions and organizations on special projects.

To subscribe to the WEPAN-L listserv, visit: lists.purdue.edu/mailman/listinfo/wepan-l

Resources

Publications, reports, or communications relevant to women in engineering and STEM equity. All resources listed below are available in the ARC Network online resource library. If you need help accessing the library, please contact ARC Librarian Bethany Farmer at bethany@wepan.org.  

• "Engineering student recruiters: Review of role of women as peer recruiters for potential engineering students" by J. Tiernan, L. Peterson, R. Johnson et al.

"For the last three years, the UT Arlington College of Engineering has had a group of undergraduate peer recruiters. These student recruiters represent UTA Engineering at college fairs, at University Preview Days, and on classroom visits to area high schools accompanying the Engineering staff recruiter. The student recruiters lead hands-on engineering activities in high school classrooms, do follow up contacts with potential students, answer questions from potential students and parents, help prepare material for recruiting events, and do other tasks to support the recruiting efforts of the University. In this paper, we will discuss how the recruiting process works including what types of classrooms are visited."

ARC Network

Funded by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Program, Awards HRD-2121468 and HRD-1740860, the ADVANCE Resource and Coordination (ARC) Network seeks to achieve gender equity for faculty in higher education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. WEPAN serves as the backbone organization of the ARC Network.‍

Read and Give Feedback on the Latest ARC Emerging Research Workshop Reports

The two newest reports from the ARC Network's Emerging Research Workshops have been released. The reports, "Using Big Data and Algorithms to Foster Equity in STEM" and "Cultivating Equity In STEM Through Inclusive Language," cover research and promising practices on each of the topics and suggest new directions for future work. We invite the community to share their expertise on the topics. To read the reports and share your input visit https://www.equityinstem.org/about-emerging-research-workshops.

Institutional WEPAN Membership

Want to encourage your institution to deepen its commitment to equity and excellence?

Consider becoming a 30 for 30 Institutional Champion Member. At this membership level, institutions have unlimited member representatives who get to dive into critical diversity, equity, and inclusion issues through custom workshops. These members also get the opportunity to strengthen their inclusive leadership capacity as part of the Equity and Excellence Council. Additional 30 for 30 Institutional Champion member benefits include:

• Professional Development
• Decades of resources in the WEPAN Knowledge Center
• Professional development webinars, including one featuring an invited speaker from your institution
• Free and discounted workshops, including one customized for your institution
• Free and discounted access to WEPAN’s Program Days
• Three annual convening registrations
• Communication & Networking
• WEPAN-L listserv
• Slack
• WEPAN member directory
• Social media spotlights of your institution
• Workforce
• Free and discounted job postings for your institution in WEPAN’s Career Center

For more information on how to become a 30 for 30 Institutional Member, please email membership@wepan.org.

Get Involved

Committees

We are looking for visionary members to join our committees and influence programming and member experiences. If you are interested in being a member of a WEPAN committee, please complete this survey: https://forms.gle/ZQyijAGNtPYYtNTV9

Slack Channel

Please join us on Slack to drive that connectivity across our membership during a critical time for connection. Join our Slack community today!

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