The IEEE Women in Engineering (WiE) International Leadership Summit – 2019 organised by IEEE Women in Engineering Affinity Group of IEEE Bangalore Section, had a Vibrant Start on 30th August here at Sterling’s Mac, Bengaluru. These summits held around the world provide regional opportunities to foster diversity in the workplace, networking, mentorship, and collaboration, their uniqueness being that they provide a platform for women in Engineering to share successes and learn from failures and challenges, celebrate Entrepreneur sprit and Leadership of women in the fields of Science and Engineering. The theme of the current Summit being “Redefining the Defined” it included 9 keynote addresses, 5 presentations, quizzes, an entertaining cultural night, a workshop and an invigorating panel discussion, with 27 speakers and over 350 participants from all over the globe- USA, Japan, Thailand and Srilanka. Around 175 participants were non IEEE members and over 250 participants were IEEE members.
ILS 2019 was inaugurated with an invocation by Ms. Snigdha from BMS College of Engineering and lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries. Keshav Bapat, Chair -IEEE Bangalore Section, welcomed the gathering. Puneet Mishra, IEEE Bangalore Section Chair Elect, provided a glimpse of 43 year old history of IEEE Bangalore Section, its activities and its many volunteering opportunities. Dr. Deepa Shenoy, Conference Co-chair, highlighted the growth and process of Women in Engineering Affinity group and it’s eleven year journey.
Harish Mysore, Senior director of IEEE India operations gave a brief overview of WiE’s global initiatives. He expressed pride in the leadership that the subcontinent is taking in these activities. Divya M G, WiE Chair and the program chair for ILS2019 gave the key highlights of the summit.
The inaugural address was given by Smt. Nigar Shaji, Project Director, Aditya-L1 Mission of ISRO. Smt. Shaji recalled the vision of the founding Father of Indian Space Establishment, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, to put India on the global space map and use space missions for social and national development. Today, India has demonstrated its technological capabilities and transformed the space program from what was once considered as a luxury to a necessity. Space research and science missions are now the next frontier for human species and ISRO is engaged in several missions like Chandrayaan, Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), Aditya L1, Xposat and many others to explore the universe.
The vote of thanks was proposed by the conference chair Dr. Sujatha D N. The inaugural was concluded by a group photo of the over 350 delegates and dignitaries from around the world.
Keynote addresses were by: Dr. Supavadee Aramvith, Chapter Committee Chair, IEEE Region 10, Dr. Kathy Susan Land, US Department of Defense , Bala Bharadvaj Boeing India Engineering and Technology Center, Emi Yano, R10 WiE Chair, Japan, Pallavi Srinivasa, Cisco, Ravishankar B V, BMSCE, Srinivas A, DSU, Sarada Vempati, J P Morgan Chase, Sudheendra Kowshik Prasu, Takako Hashimoto Global Chair WiE, Parul Jain- Google, Ravikiran Annaswamy Numocity, Shruthi K Prakashan, HP Entreprise, Dr Punith Cariappa DSU, Aruna Kalagnanam JPMC, Shalini Kapoor IBM, Pallavi Srinivasan CISCO, Dr. Kavitha Sooda BMSCE, Smitha Ojha Google Enterprise, Subodh Gajare- CISCO, Sandhya Ranganathan HPE, Lakshmi Mukund and Sandhya Kerehalli CISCO, Vidya Hungud RJio.
Panelists in the very invigorating discussion were Shruthi Kannan CISCO, Vibhavari Jahagirdar JPMC, Prashanthi Moningi HPE, Latha Christe DRDO, Pamela Kumar TSDSI and Deepika BR CISCO.
On 30th August 2019, the Key note in Humanitarian track was delivered by Dr. Supavadee Aramvith and Prof Takako Hashimoto. Same day during Networking session Dr Prabha Ravi, MSRIT & Dr Ashwini Appaji, Chair Elect, YP briefed and attended IEEE HAC initiatives and opportunities in India and R10. On 31st August 2019, Subodh Gajare of Cisco, Bangalore delivered talk in Humanitarian track.
The valedictory session was hosted and MC was Prof Annapurna Patil, MSRIT, Bangalore. The valedictory function chief guest was Ms Pamela Kumar, Director General, TSDSI. Chaired by Kathy Susan Land, program Manager, US Department of Defense and Mr Keshav Bapat, Chair, IEEE Bangalore section.
Included in these two days was also a very helpful networking session, cultural night and feedback session. 