STEMvisions Blog

Yale Women in Leadership Conference

Smithsonian Science Education (SSEC) Director, Dr. Carol O'Donnell, served as a presenter at the 10^th Annual Yale Women in Leadership Conference. More than 600 female undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and community members gathered at Yale University Law School on Wall Street Saturday February 3, 2018 for an all-day conference organized by the Yale Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI). The conference brought females together to engage in a vital conversation regarding how women can empower themselves and engage with Women Leaders from across the country in Education, Technology, Politics, Business, Performing Arts, and others, sharing experiences, counsel, and words of empowerment.

WiSTEM²D

2017 launched the WiSTEM²D (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Manufacturing and Design) Initiative, that partnered Johnson & Johnson (J&J) with SSEC.  The mission of WiSTEM²D is to engage hundreds of girls and boys (grades k-8) in experiential STEM²D learning and career opportunities.  Each event planned by schools/districts in collaboration with J&J employee volunteers and the SSEC is uniquely designed to meet the needs of the students.  For example, in Hillsborough, NJ, 120 middle school students heard J&J employees talk about their work and career paths, and then the students participated in a simulation of the phases, trials and challenges, a new drug must go through before it is available on the market.  In February 2018, 150 6^th grade students in Branchburg, NJ, led by J&J employee volunteers, will also learn about STEM2D careers and then discover if they have a genetic trait for the bitter taste of PTC.