STEMGirls Summit
STEMGirls Summit: An Open Conversation
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, it can be difficult for girls to build face-to-face connections and relationships with other girls and professionals in the STEM field. Because of to the limited amount of social interactions and opportunities to network this year, 2468 hosted the STEMGIRLS Summit: An Open Conversation, an event with the goal of facilitating conversation between girls across all FRC teams and STEM professionals.
The event was held through Zoom on February 13, 2021 from 1-2:30 pm. At the conference, we will had two female panels including one of female STEM professionals and another of FRC students and alumni.
The professional panel included guest speakers Mary Baker, Adrienne Emerson, Libby Kamen, and Tricia Berry.
Mary Baker is the Director of Customer Service and Marketing at AndyMark Inc. She has remained dedicated to empowering others in STEM by mentoring for FLL and FRC teams since 2009, and is currently working with FRC 3940 CyberTooth.
Libby Kamen is the lead mentor for FRC 1932, The MidKnight Inventors. Outside of robotics, she serves as a community management and marketing specialist in the gaming industry, and co-founded Radiance Media, a marketing agency designed at telling the diverse stories of gaming, esports, and livestreaming.
Tricia Berry leads efforts to recruit, retain, and graduate women to advance gender equity in the Cockrell School of Engineering as Director of the Women in Engineering Program at The University of Texas at Austin. She is an active advocate for gender equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Adrienne Emerson is the Director of Robotics at Greenville ISD and has been working with FRC team 148, the Robowranglers, since 2010. She makes an effort to inspire her students through her excitement and passion for STEM, and has helped to create 30 FIRST teams across 10 campuses.
On the student panel, we hosted students and alumni from FRC teams 3504 Girls of Steal, 5414 Pearadox, 2881 LadyCans, and 2468 Team Appreciate.