WEPAN Newsletter February 2024

"Understanding Patent Law" with TIPA and Qualcomm

Sponsored by Qualcomm, this WEPAN webinar series will explore 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.

‍The second webinar in this WEPAN series on Tuesday, March 5, 11am-12pm ET aligns with Module 2 of TIPA, "Understanding Patent Law," which covers the specifics of patents, patent rights, and duration, including the steps of applying for a patent and the professionals, such as patent attorneys and patent agents, who play a key role in the process. Join us for this panel discussion featuring three experts who will share their knowledge, strategies, tools, and tips for navigating your own patent journey. Register at bit.ly/TIPAWEPAN2

‍TIPA, created by Qualcomm and Invent Together, is a six-hour course you can complete at your own pace. Each of the course's three modules is broken down into lessons of approximately 10 minutes, allowing for completion on a timeline that works for you. To learn more about The Inventor's Patent Academy and to take Module 1 and 2, visit https://learn.inventtogether.org/qualcomm

‍Panelists:

• Sridevi Basavaraju, MS, Patent Agent, Myers Bigel
• Jennifer Hayes, JD, LLM, MS, Principal, Jordan IP Law
• Katherine Jin, CTO and Co-Founder, Kinnos

Events

Join Us on 3.7 for a Webinar on "Ecosystems of Inclusion"

WEPAN and its ACCESS+ initiative are hosting Shani Dellimore Barrax, founder of the Aurora Change Agency, to discuss Ecosystems of Inclusion. The webinar is open, and we encourage folks working to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging to attend!

As diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) efforts strive to endure recent attacks, organizations must consider how to develop sustainable strategies with demonstrated impact. Many well-intentioned efforts are undermined by approaches that neither consider the broader implications of people and culture or the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational intentionality required to facilitate successful results.

In this session, participants will explore a model that proposes organizational change through broad engagement with both the "doing" AND the "being" of this important work.

Read more and register at bit.ly/EcosystemsInclusion

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News

Registration Open for the 2024 ADVANCE EiSCC

Registration is open for the 2024 ADVANCE EiSCC! Join us in Baltimore, Maryland from June 2-5 at the Hilton Inner Harbor.

The complimentary annual conference registrations that are a part of institutional memberships will be applied to this conference. Additionally, all WEPAN members receive a $150 discount off the general registration price.

There is also a virtual ticket option for $50. Virtual attendees will have access to the live streamed plenary sessions through the WEPAN Events App. Virtual attendees have event app access for networking, viewing presenter materials, and using other features.

Register at https://registration.socio.events/e/adveiscc2024/

THRIVE Change Team Cohort Opportunity

The THRIVE Partnership (NSF ADVANCE #2204577) is seeking applicants for 2024-25 cohort. THRIVE supports Hispanic Serving Institution STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) chairs and their change teams in developing and enacting a plan to promote a psychologically healthy workplace where faculty, especially Latinas, thrive.  

BENEFITS INCLUDE:

• A $6,000.00 stipend (department chair or change team lead designee)
• Engagement with other HSI STEM department chairs
• Learning Circles facilitated by organizational change experts
• Access to Executive Coaching
• Travel support for participation in the 2024 and 2025 Latina THRIVE Annual Summit, and
• Networking opportunities to engage with STEM Latinas and diverse/Latina organizations

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

• STEM department chair at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (Note: Chairs at emerging HSIs will be included as space allows);
• Commitment to the THRIVE year-long program (see THRIVE Change Team Application Overview)
• Chairs who are selected as part of the THRIVE Cohort will be expected to participate in the THRIVE Summit May 16-17, 2024 on South Padre Island, TX; as well as THRIVE Summit May TBD, 2025 (as noted above, travel expenses are covered.)

The application can be found at: https://wepan.b-cdn.net/thrive-change-team-application.docx. Please submit a PDF of the completed application to Gretalyn.Leibnitz@utrgv.edu, by March 1, 2024.

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.

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.  

• "Becoming an entrepreneur: A study of factors with women from the tech sector" by Y. Kovaleva , S. Hyrynsalmi , A. Saltan, et al.

"The gender imbalance in technology, sciences, and engineering is a global problem and according to the statistics, this really has not changed much in the last thirty years. Moreover, there is also a lack of women in tech entrepreneurship; most success stories are about male entrepreneurs, and in Silicon Valley the term describing the start-up culture is called “tech bros” for a reason. This paper identifies different factors affecting the women's decision to select a tech sector and become an entrepreneur in the tech sector."

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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