The IEEE Women in Engineering and Humanitarian Technologies Panel took place during the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference on October 22, 2017.
Moderating was Celia Shanaz, Communications Chair for the IEEE SIGHT Steering Committee, Chair of the IEEE WIE Workshops Subcommittee and member of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology WIE Subcommittee.
The panel’s theme was “Inspiring more engagement of women in humanitarian-technology-based projects at local communities.”
Panelists:
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, IEEE WIE CHAIR 2017
Kathleen Kramer, IEEE R6 Director
Joan Kerr, Chair, IEEE Smart village Project, Sustainable Agriculture working group
Silvia Figueria, Santa Clara University, Vice Chair, GHTC 2017
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan discussed IEEE WIE initiatives for IEEE WIE membership development and retention. She has strongly supported Humanitarian-technology-based initiatives by IEEE WIE members in local communities as an effective means of encouraging more members to join IEEE WIE.
Kathleen highlighted humanitarian-technology-based initiatives at IEEE R6, shared her contribution to form WIE in her San Diego section, and proposed the idea of inviting more WIE members to carry out Humanitarian-technology-based activities to solve local problems. Joan discussed the scope of women working in agricultural engineering through IEEE smart village projects around their communities. Silvia shared her experience in developing apps to support humanitarian causes, and she found many of them have potential for solving problems faced by women and can encourage more female members to join the initiatives. Celia Shahnaz emphasized that initiatives can be taken to inspire more engagement of women in humanitarian-technology-based projects at local communities. For example, a project and contest called WIEHUM can be launched to encourage young WIE members to solve real-world challenges applying science and technology. IEEE HAC, IEEE SIGHT, IEEE SSIT can be associated partners of IEEE WIE to conduct WIEHUM.
Reported by Celia Shahnaz, Ph.D, 2017 Communications Chair, IEEE SIGHT Steering Committee
