WEPAN Newsletter February 2023

Proposals Now Open for the 2023 ADVANCE EiSCC

Proposals are open for the 2023 ADVANCE EiSCC! Read more about the session types and the submission process and submit your proposal at https://www.equityinstem.org/eiscc/call-for-proposals.

Since 2019, the NSF-funded ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening (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 2023 ADVANCE EiSCC will take place June 5-7 at the Washington Duke Inn, Durham, NC.

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.

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

Proposals close March 15, 2023. If you have questions, please contact the ARC Network at arc@equityinstem.org.

Events

DiscoverE Persist Series: International Women's Day

The DiscoverE Persist Series for women in STEM is back for a special International Women's Day episode presented in collaboration with WEPAN. Join us on March 8 at 12pm ET to meet speaker Monica Morales, PE, ENV SP, a Water Resources Engineer at Jacobs and active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Monica will share her experiences as a first-generation college graduate and how she prevailed over adversity in her early career as a young woman in a male-dominated field. Hear her story and stay tuned for a live Q&A moderated by Kameelah S. Majied, PMP, MS, BE, an engineer, diversity champion, and Director of Operations at Merck.

Register at: https://bit.ly/persistmorales

News

DiscoverE Releases Messages Matter Report

DiscoverE conducted a year-long research project to find out what today’s teens and their parents think about engineering. This research delves into what today’s teens and their parents think about engineering including:  

·       How they view engineering and a potential career in STEM

·       What resonates and motivates them to consider engineering

We found that targeted messages and profiles of engineers can and do spur interest in engineering among the very groups that will ensure a more diverse future for the field. We invite you to read the findings and share the report with your networks.

Free Online Patent Education Tool, the Inventor's Patent Academy

The Inventor’s Patent Academy (TIPA) was created to help people understand IP and prepare them to apply for their own patents.  The course also explores challenges inventors may face along the way and provides practical advice to overcome those challenges. TIPA is unique because it was designed specifically for diverse inventors and features videos of diverse inventors telling their invention and patenting stories.

The course is comprised of three modules, totaling ~6h of content.  Course takers are provided with completion certificates for each module.  Although the course is designed for individual inventors, instructors and those who work with inventors can also use it as a teaching tool.  

TIPA is available for free on the Invent Together website. See more and get your inventor's journey started at: https://bit.ly/3o5tOg0

NFPA Foundation Scholarship Announcements 2023

NFPA (National Fluid Power Association) has two scholarships available to high school, tech college, and university students. Please share with your community.

Fluid Power Scholarship Application Now Available
The NFPA Education and Technology Foundation is now accepting applications for $2,000 scholarships available to students pursuing fluid power education. This scholarship is partially funded by generous donations to the Tom Wanke Legacy Fund. Multiple scholarships are available for the 2023-24 academic year. The deadline to apply is April 3, 2023, at 11:59 PM CST.

Robotics Challenge Scholarship Application Now Available
The NFPA Education and Technology Foundation is now accepting applications on for the $30,000 scholarship ($7,500 per year, for up to four years) award for a graduating high school senior participates as part of a FIRST® Robotics, National Robotics League, or VEX Robotics Competition Team and uses pneumatics in their robot. One merit-based award is available for the 2023-24 academic year. The deadline to apply is May 1, 2023, at 11:59 PM CST.

Read more and apply at: https://nfpahub.com/nfpa-foundation-scholarship-announcements-2023/

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.  

• "Gender Segregation Across Engineering Majors: How Engineering Professors Understand Women’s Underrepresentation in Undergraduate Engineering." by E. Blosser

"Women’s persistent underrepresentation in undergraduate engineering is a well-documented concern. One issue missing from many discussions on the topic, however, is that women are not equally underrepresented in all engineering majors . . . Faculty are influential figures who have been shown to play a central role in introducing students to the profession and can significantly impact students’ experiences. This article addresses these gaps by examining the reasons engineering professors provide to explain women’s underrepresentation across majors."

• "A new approach to increasing diversity in engineering at the example of women in engineering" by A. Schafer

"A new initiative to incorporate diversity issues into the common engineering curriculum at the University of Wollongong (UoW) in Australia is outlined and the effect on student awareness quantified. The diversity issues were illustrated in the example of women in engineering, seeing that the numbers of women in engineering have dropped drastically over the last five years at UoW. However, the methodology applied can be adjusted to any diversity group to suit the needs of the institution performing the activity."

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/categories/erw-reports.

Join WEPAN

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

Specific details regarding the member benefits listed above, please review the 30 for 30 Institutional Champion onboarding guide. 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

WIEP Slack Channel

WEPAN has launched a new channel for Women in Engineering Program staff, #women-in-engineering-programs. The channel is designed for members to share news, ask questions, and network with their peers from other institutions, and post discussion topics for the lunch and learn webinars.

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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