What better way to spend your Sunday Night, November 11th, from 9-10 PM EST then listing in to the final episode of the Gender Diversity/Women of FIRST EWCP Podcast series!
Join hosts Renee Becker, FIRST Senior Mentor in Minnesota, and Katie Widen, Mentor for FRC Team 3928, for an EWCP podcast focusing on Female Engineering Mentors in FIRST.
This final podcast will have a number of strong female engineers on the call to discuss questions like:
- Do teams need to recruit more female engineering mentors to their teams?
- Do mentors inspire their own gender more than the other gender?
- As a FEM, are there any differences that you notice between you and MEMs?
- What have you seen in strong engineering mentors that makes them quality role models for students and encourages them to go into STEM?
- Are Female Engineering Mentors well known on a national level?
- Which comes first, the chicken (having more nationally known female rockstars in FIRST) or the egg (more female students in FIRST in general)?
- What are some ways that girls who want to be engineers can have access to FEMs they can remotely connect with and receive support from? Would FEMs be willing to connect with FESs?
- Would building a community of FIRST FEMs help strengthen the FIRST community and give FEMs a venue to talk and network?
Join us at the usual place (http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=98466&cmd=tc) and time (9pm EST) on November 11th!
Do you have pre-cast questions, questions you want to be covered in Q&A after the cast, or general interest in this topic? Contact Renee at: rbecker@usfirst.org or PM Littleswimmer14!
Interesting Articles and Comics we’ll be referencing:
http://ur.umich.edu/1112/Apr30_12/3537-feminine-math-science
http://www.usnews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2012/05/31/college-mentors-key-to-prospective-female-stem-majors
Previous Gender Diversity casts- https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ewcpcast/id477122221?mt=2
If people have pre-cast or post-cast questions they can also post them via Facebook in the event we created: http://www.facebook.com/events/346644242098755/
Renee
Great! We’re going to be starting off the cast by looking at this webcomic:
The recording has started.
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<GabeSalas> pin not recognized
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<LadyLogistics> http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1883
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<LadyLogistics> http://www.usnews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2012/05/31/college-mentors-key-to-prospective-female-stem-majors
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<LadyLogistics> http://ur.umich.edu/1112/Apr30_12/3537-feminine-math-science
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<GabeSalas> this reminds me of this tweet a while ago: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/220163990347718657
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<LadyLogistics> Hey guys if you have questions as we're talking feel free to ask them and we can pick them up at the end
<GabeSalas> the number 1 listed is a deadlink - here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g032MPrSjFA
<GabeSalas> Goes back to the "Science: it's a girl thing" UK commercial
<LadyLogistics> Great! Thanks for the link
<GabeSalas> anytime
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<schreiaj> And for reference guys, Dustin has to put his hair back when he goes to work too
<GabeSalas> probably a good thing to avoid hair getting caught in moving parts
<Guest 12> all the girls on our team have to pull their hair back when working due to safety concerns.
<GabeSalas> totally understandable
<schreiaj> To be fair, I used to have to do that when my hair was longer. Getting back to that point now anyway.
<tmccanna94> In my female engineering sorority, there is a large range of femininity, but in both ends of the spectrum there are some of the most beautiful women
<tmccanna94> I have ever met
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<Kaaatie> I wonder if ISU has FE sorority...
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<GabeSalas> sweet - I got my pin to work
<Guest 12> out of curiosity, you just mentioned the "26% women in FIRST, 74% men". where did you get that stat? did first publish demographics?
<GabeSalas> FIRST releases stats annually I believe
<LadyLogistics> Yes we talked to the grant writers at FIRST HQ around August
<Guest 12> thank you, i will look around the FIRST site then.
<schreiaj> Look in the annual report. I think that's where I found it
<LadyLogistics> I'd suggest contacting the grant department since I had a hard time finding more the just FLL statistics
<LadyLogistics> if you can find it on the website we'd love the link!
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<Guest 12> I was able to find 2012 season facts that had some demographics but not women / men
<Guest 12> http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/FRC/FRC_Communications_Resource_Center/Flyers/FRC_2012_Season_Facts.pdf
<GabeSalas> I cannot find it either
<GabeSalas> found this (page 24): http://first.wpi.edu/Images/CMS/First/2007CON_Students_Attitudes_Toward_Science_Lundy.pdf
<Guest 12> speaking of panels, i know this year at CMP their was a panel on women in FIRST. (i only know because i volunteered my mum to do it)
<ziptie3182> does FIRST have any connections with getting mentors from SWE?
<Guest 12> and thank you for the think to the demographics pdf gabesalas
<GabeSalas> no prob - it is all I could find
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<GabeSalas> I do
<jess2705> i don't
<ziptie3182> no
<LizSmith> I met her and I look up to her, for sure.
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<Guest 12> im from louisiana. i know the 27 rush mentor. meet her at CMP
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<Kaaatie> From Andrew (27 alumni): She has a comp sci, math background
<Kaaatie> Not engineering, but still STEM
<Guest 14> sorry, got disconnected. Back now. -Kate
<Guest 12> has that SWE video from CMP been made? (i believe i was interviewed for it) But i think it would be really relevant to this conversation
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<GabeSalas> I have no idea
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<Kaaatie> Renee is the one working on it
<Kaaatie> If she reads the chat she should answer it
<LadyLogistics> In progress The SWE conference is in February so I the video is compiled but specific editing is being done to make it relevant to the conference
<Guest 12> alright, thank you!
<Guest 26> Awesome!
<LadyLogistics> We'll be promoting it once it's finished since there are many great answers in the videos
<LadyLogistics> Ziptie 3184 mentioned "does FIRST have connections with getting mentors from SWE"- based on my area I have not seen SWE being a huge supporter...
<LadyLogistics> but I know that Kim is a part of SWE, and maybe on a individual level there may be FEMs that are part of SWE
<LadyLogistics> That's why we're doing a presentation at the conference to try and get them involved
<Guest 26> I started in FTC my freshman year of high school and my coach is basically like my second father, so I agree if the mentor, regardless of gender,is a
<Guest 26> good mentor, things will work out just fine
<GabeSalas> I agree with the sentiment of a good mentor, regardless of gender is important and will garner positive results with both male and female students
<GabeSalas> A good mentor will know how to approach engineering based on each student on the team
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<schreiaj> For reference, we did search - turns out it is hard to find a male who qualifies as a female rockstar
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<GabeSalas> In some cases a pat down is not required
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<jess2705> That would be so cool!
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<Guest 12> there was something called US FIRST Girls. http://www.usfirstgirls.org/ we were ambassadors at competition but it did suffer from a what do we do now
<GabeSalas> I worry that a "match.com"esque online community to connect female mentors engineers with aspiring female high school students may gravitate
<GabeSalas> to more of a support group - I do not think alienating genders within FIRST is a great idea
<Guest 26> I think it would be a good idea - as mentioned before it could be a good place to discuss the 'burnout' - being asked to all these places and being
<Guest 26> worn down
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<LizSmith> There was also the "robot chicks union" RCU back awhile ago
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<GabeSalas> oh yea, I vaguely remember RCU
<GabeSalas> my sister was on there
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<Guest 19> RCU thats right thats what i was thinking of
<Guest 26> But I do not think it would be a good place to discuss technical ideas or similar ideas - if it is solely women, you could be missing half the ideas.
<GabeSalas> ^agree
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<Kaaatie> I think finding an "engineering big sister" is a good goal for a program
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<Kaaatie> not technical discussion, but making connections
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<jess2705> engineering big sister would be nice
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<Guest 12> this is a nonFIRST group, but im associated with NCWIT and they do (in my opinion) a great job of encouraging women in STEM
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<Kaaatie> big sister for high schoolers
<Guest 26> ^agree - my coach is absolutely wonderful, but being male, cannot provide me with the same advice as a women engineer could.
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<Guest 33> I'd love that!
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<jess2705> that would be great!
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<Guest 33> Thanks so much!
<jess2705> thank you so much!
<jess2705> renee this was awesome!