No, I did not forget, I really did celebrate Engineers Week last week. I can't let this event go by without a few special words. If you work in a scientific, technical, or engineering field, you likely know that we celebrated Engineers Week last week. There may have been visits at your work location by students for your company to introduce engineering, science and technology to young women. Or, engineers, scientists, and technologists could have spent time in the schools last week, leading discussions, demonstrations, or experiments with students.
For the last five years, I have participated in the e-mentoring program with MentorNet with my company. MentorNet is an award-winning nonprofit e-mentoring network to positively impact the retention and success of those in engineering, science, and mathematics, particularly but not exclusively women and others underrepresented in these fields. It pairs community college, undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and untenured faculty with experienced professionals in their fields for email-based mentoring relationships. During my five years participating in the MentorNet program, I have had the opportunity to meet great students pursuing education for careers in scientific fields, including:
- Lisa, while in her second semester in Hawaii as a full-time nontraditional student (also a full-time mom returning to school to complete her degree)
- Will, while in his third semester at Honolulu Community College and working part-time as a computer technician (Yes, guys can participate too)
- Krithika, while a PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University and working on an internship
- Rawan, while a sophomore at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, and
- Rosa, while a PhD candidate at the University of Central Florida, who has also been instrumental in creating a mentoring program for women in science and engineering at her university
Every year about this time, I remember the ladies who have been pioneers in the computing industry. One of my favorites is Grace Hopper, also known as Amazing Grace for the breadth of her accomplishments in computing and the Navy. You might be interested in participating in the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing . Read the Wikipedia article about many of her accomplishments, but don't miss the story about the origination of debugging the computer. You may also recognize a couple of the quotes below, but may have not known that they are attributed to the Amazing Grace herself.- From then on, when anything went wrong with a computer, we said it had bugs in it.
- It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
- A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for. Sail out to sea and do new things.
- You don't manage people, you manage things. You lead people.
- Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down. Respect for one's superiors; care for one's crew.
- One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.
- At any given moment, there is always a line representing what your boss will believe. If you step over it, you will not get your budget. Go as close to that line as you can.
Not long after her retirement from the Navy in 1986, Grace Hopper appeared on David Letterman's Late Night show. She was very entertaining. Watch the video and you can see her infamous nanosecond wires for a demonstration.
As posted on YouTube by JanPB
Image credit: Florida Atlantic University, MentorNet, and Computer History Museum
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