By Lisa Woodward, SWE RMS Vice President

IBM Tour at WE17

I was fortunate to get to sign up or the IBM tour.  There were about   30 of us attending, and we were able to see the artificial intelligence (AI) computer named Watson.  The floor to ceiling 360 degree computer screens felt like you totally immersed in the demonstration.  Watson demonstrated his ability to determine treatment for cancer patients.  You just input the patient’s type of cancer, other physical problems and along with insurance information and the computer displays a series of bar graphs comparing three different types of treatment.  Each treatment is compared for cost, duration of treatment and side effects, which helps the physician and patient made the best decision for a particular patient.   Watson is also being programed to look at newspaper articles around the world analyzing content as well as tone, which is something new. IBM personnel also showed off their totally modular work spaces.   It was a fun and informative tour at the WE 17 convention.

Mentoring at WE17

At the WE17 conference I was asked by a former manager if I could help his daughter at the conference and in particular at the career fair.  I said yes and met Delaney and her friend Rachel at WE17.  I helped them with how you should dress as well as strategy for deciding which booths they wanted to visit at the career fair. Rachel says “going to the SWE career fair for the first time was really intimidating.  The conference gave me great experience with my interviewing skills and talking to recruiters. Also having a seasoned SWE member to answer my questions and show me the ropes gave me more confidence”.  Delaney says, “WE17 was an awesome experience and really opened my eyes to everything that engineering entails and has to offer.  It was an awesome experience to speak with the companies and really learn more about their recruiting and hiring process.” Another Rocky Mountain SWE member and past president Megan offered to have them come to their booth to practice.  The pair started out very unsure of themselves, but by the end of the career fair they both had managed to get 2nd interviews.  I enjoyed helping them out with their initial career fair interviews and hope to do more of this in the future. 

Senior Women’s lunch sponsored by Google and Intel at WE17
Just before WE17 I received an email that asked for women to apply to attend the Senior Women’s Lunch for WE17.   I sent in the application not expecting to get accepted, but I was really excited to be chosen to attend this prestigious lunch.  The lunch was for women who have done work, either paid or volunteer, in STEM for students and who have high leadership skills.  When I got there I expected to be mentored by some really talented women.  We were given assigned tables to sit at and the table I sat at were several women who worked in the computer industry from around the country.  Much to my surprise I become the mentor, as the women at my table were really interested in how I started Girls Lead the Way at the Colorado School of Mines.  I described some of the obstacles that I had to overcome to make this event a success, and I think as a result of this lunch, Girls Lead the Way may spread to other states.  It was a really incredible lunch where I was able to meet women from all over the country and talk about one of my favorite subjects, STEM events for students, with the goal of getting more students interested in science and engineering careers.