71 women assistant professors in their first three years of an academic appointment in engineering at Big 10 universities were invited to the workshop; 39 of them attended. In addition, 20 senior women faculty attended to lead workshops, panel discussions and break-out group sessions.
The workshop consisted of plenary talks and panels, breakout sessions, critical friends workshops, and a research networking/poster session.
The Big 10 engineering schools are all located within the upper Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin). All but one are state-funded public universities, and all are large schools. Many of them are located in small "college towns." Thus, their cultures are similar, and they can easily share best practices among them.
These ten universities produce more than 10% of the bachelor’s degrees in engineering and almost 17% of the PhDs in engineering in the US. Four of the top 10 schools in terms of numbers of degrees produced (BS and PhD) are in the Big 10. Thus, the Big 10 engineering schools are big, and affecting change at these universities can have a large impact on the careers of the women faculty who participate as well as on the thousands of engineering students with whom they interact annually.
Research suggests that peer mentoring and collaborative efforts are successful when senior women and administrators both support them. The engineering deans of the Big 10 have a culture of collaboration and sharing best practices. This endeavor involving the Big Ten engineering schools will be seen by junior faculty, senior women faculty and deans alike as a natural extension of such ongoing efforts and activities.
Each participant submitted an electronic copy of her poster (template provided by the organizing committee), and the printed posters were displayed in the reception room. Food and drinks were available to facilitate an informal atmosphere for networking. The intended outcome of this session is for the participants to get a broad view of research in engineering, and possibly make some connections for future research collaborations.
After the workshop, participants will be able to apply for small travel grants to visit other schools in the Big 10 to give invited seminars, meet with potential collaborators, or work on joint research proposals or projects. The post-workshop travel application is linked here: post-workshop-travel-app.doc
Participants were broken into groups of 6 junior women, each led by a senior faculty member. Each junior woman had a chance to present a situation in which she would like advice from an "anonymous" cohort, such as an issue with a colleague or technical staff, negotiating for a "fair share" of resources (space, funds, etc.), dealing with students (in the lab or in class), etc.
The critical friends workshops work as follows. For each scenario, the facilitator first sets the stage (2 minutes). The presenter then has 5 minutes to describe the situation, and the group gets 5 minutes to ask clarifying or probing questions. The presenter then turns her back to group and listens while the others discusses potential solutions to her problem (12 minutes). Finally, the presenter has 5 minutes to respond to the discussion. During the critical friends workshops, the participants develop problem-solving skills through peer mentoring. In addition, the participants will understand that their problems are not unique, and that they can help each other.
More details on the Critical Friends workshops can be found in criticalfriends.pdfPowerpoint Slides from Keynote Address
The academic profession is a "colleague system." Your relationships influence your place within your profession and your field. You can negotiate your way through such a system by establishing a variety of connections and relationships. We will discuss classic mentoring relationships in addition to mentoring in more contemporary terms, where mentoring occurs on multiple levels with multiple individuals and incorporates peers, professional networks, and colleagues as well as the classic mentors. We will also explore strategies for creating your own peer mentoring group and growing your professional network.
Powerpoint Slides from Mentoring Presentation
Giving and Getting Career Advice: A Guide for Junior and Senior Faculty
The Importance of Mentors (Science, Feb. 2010)
Jessop, J.L.P., "How to Grow Your Graduate Students: Mentoring Tips for New Professors," ASEE 2003 National Conference Proceedings CD-ROM edition, June 2003. http://soa.asee.org/paper/conference/paper-view.cfm?id=19119
How to Mentor Graduate Students: A Guide for Faculty
How to Get the Mentoring you Want: A Guide for Graduate Students at a Diverse University
Giving an effective technical or scientific presentation is more than making slides of the figures from your paper or dissertation and then talking about them! At this seminar, we will discuss the essential differences between giving an oral presentation and writing a document. The secrets are in the stuff you do ahead of time, and in understanding the differences between hearing information and reading it. We will cover how to plan, how to present, and most importantly, how to design your visual aids to get your message across. We will also point out common errors and tell some great horror stories. Finally, we will discuss how to handle the highly stressful question-and-answer period.
http://www.ece.osu.edu/~anderson/pubs.html#techtalksRam shared examples of technology collaboration between Industry and Universities/Government agencies and provided an overview of some of the best practices. The presentation covered topics such as R&D involving Customer funding, Government Agency funding, Consortia, and Connect and Develop approaches. He also discussed student Internships and Co-op opportunities.
Ram was appointed Director for Rockwell Automation, Advanced Technology labs in April 1998. He is responsible for the technology planning and development to support the company's business growth. He serves on the Rockwell Automation Technical Council and drives technology leadership, technical innovation and research process improvements. Ram's current interests center around energy management and alternative energy technologies.
Ram has published 12 technical papers in research journals and conferences and holds five patents and holds a Ph. D. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kentucky, Masters in Engineering Management from Northwestern University, and a Bachelors in Electrical Power from the University of Mysore. Ram is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the Milwaukee School of Engineering where he has taught since 2009.
Powerpoint Slides from Rockwell Presentation
Since January 2009, Dr. El-Hakim accepted an IPA (Intergovernmental Personnel Act) assignment at the National Science Foundation, becoming Director for Diversity and Outreach in the Directorate of Engineering. She has responsibility for establishing sustainable diversity programs that bridge all learning communities from K-12 to post-graduate levels. Dr. El-Hakim is responsible for visioning ways to accomplish NSF's strategic goals as they relate to broadening participation in the engineering community that enhances equity and diversity. One of Dr. El-Hakim's visions is to reach out to international communities to provide global opportunities that will benefit students and faculty, both nationally and internationally.
Dr. El-Hakim is a steadfast advocate for women, underrepresented minorities and persons with disabilities across the nation. Her goal is to collaborate with existing programs at the NSF directorates such as HRD - LSAMP, AGEP, TCUP and others to expand and create new outreach opportunities of excellence.
Powerpoint Slides from NSF Presentation