By At this year’s Beach Women in Engineering Conference, College of Engineering Dean Jinny Rhee said that despite the engineering field being dominated by males, more females pursuing careers in engineering could even the playing field.
“Women are the minority,” Rhee said.
The College of Engineering and Women’s Gender and Equity Center collaborated for the fifth annual conference, which was available on March 28 for students interested in engineering.
The theme for this year’s Women in Engineering conference was “Unlock Your Potential.”
“It is about call to action,” Conference Chair Sandra Labib said.
Labib mentioned how important it is to rephrase the question “What if I fail” into “What if I succeed,” in order to embrace new opportunities.
“We look at the trends in engineering. This year it will be heavy on construction,” Lead Organizer Roni Allen said.
The keynote speaker was International Business Machines Senior State Executive for California, Laura Guio.
“The technology field is extremely male dominated,” Guio said. “[Female] representation in the field is disproportionately low.”
Guio also spoke about a recent hot topic: artificial intelligence. She said artificial intelligence needs to have diversity in order to provide the best results with non-bias perspectives.
“We have an obligation to make technology that is fair to everyone, not just those with privilege,” Guio said.
Helen Ho, a fourth year computer science major and upcoming graduate said she wants a career in game development. Ho said she wanted to build her network with all the women who attended the event.
Compared to previous years, this year’s Women in Engineering conference had a wider range of guest speakers with less time slots for each speaker. The conference has three sessions with six speakers per session.
The Women in Engineering conference marks the end of celebrations for this year’s Women’s History Month.
