Women Stepping UP will focus on Engineering Opportunities in Math and Science for an online panel discussion at noon on Wednesday, September 22, to continue our celebration of the 100th anniversary (plus one) of the ratification of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. In addition to celebrating the past we look to the future and say, “It’s Your Turn.”
Our annual Women’s Equality Day Centennial (Plus One) celebration luncheon in August was postponed due to rising COVID numbers. Our guest speaker, Astronaut Mae Jemison, has agreed to reschedule her appearance but a date for that appearance has not been selected.
The online series, It’s Our Turn: Stepping Up Together, will continue with the panel discussion Engineering Opportunities in Math and Science from noon to 1 p.m. September 22. It will be free and broadcast live on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/steppinguptoequality. A recording will be available after the event.
September 22’s panel, Engineering STEM Opportunities, will feature Electrical Engineer and consultant Amy Barrett, Sherry Shen, Operations Excellence Manager for Kaiser Aluminum Warrick, structural engineer Theresa Davies and Talitha Washington, mathematics professor and the inaugural director of the Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC) Data Science Initiative.
Shelley Kirk, WEHT/WTVW anchor, will moderate
This panel session, in collaboration with YWCA Evansville, is designed to address the importance for girls and women to train for and seek jobs in sciences, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Why do you need to know math? What are the opportunities for a STEM career path? What are the obstacles? What are the rewards? Our panelists will tell about their experiences and offer suggestions for workers at all levels in these fields. How to navigate advancement, pay equity, professionalism and most importantly how to reach your potential in the field of your choice? What is the flexibility for work/life balance?
Amy Barrett
Amy Barrett is an electrical engineer in transition from corporate work to a private consultant who focuses on career mentoring and leadership development for young engineers. She spent the past 17 years with HAFER Associates designing electrical systems ranging from small renovations to a new $15M corporate headquarters facility. She has completed work for the higher education, healthcare, civic, and corporate markets. Barrett’s role at Hafer grew from a Staff Electrical Engineer when she started in 2004 into a Project Manager, Associate and a full Partner before her retirement in 2021.
In addition to serving as Vice-President of the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers (ISPE) Education foundation, Barrett is a past president of ISPE and past Chair of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Council of Fellows. Over the past 10 years, she has also served at the NSPE Central Region Director on the NSPE Board. Barrett has been a board member for DiscoverE since 2017, serving as President of the board from 2018-2021. She is actively involved with the Lampion Center Board where she currently serves as Secretary. She is a past board member for the Evansville YWCA as well as a member of the Tri-State Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
In 2012, Barrett was awarded the ISPE– Indiana Young Engineer of the Year.
She and her husband Clay have two active boys, Dylan (14) and Logan (12).
Barrett believes that we teach our children by example and hopes her leadership will have a positive impact on her children and our future generations
Sherry Shen
Sherry Shen is the Operations Excellence Manager for Kaiser Aluminum Warrick. She has responsibility in Continuous Improvement / Lean manufacturing implementation and overseeing Quality Department for Recovery improvement, quality assurance, new product qualifications and customer service. She started at Alcoa at Davenport, Iowa in 1998 as a mechanical engineer she was a Business Systems Specialist when she joined Alcoa Warrick Operations. Sherry holds a master’s degree of science in mechanical engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Iowa.
“I still remembered when I first started at Alcoa Davenport plant in 1998, I was the only foreigner that was hired in that plant. Davenport plant had about 2,500 employees. A supervisor dragged me door to door at work to introduce me, starting with “can you believe she was from China, and she is now working here!”
“When I moved to Newburgh in 2008, there was not much going on for the Chinese Ethnic group. I worked with several friends to start organizing traditional Chinese New Year Celebration for the local Chinese community. With getting the Chinese community members together, now we also have a Chinese School.”
“This is what I learned: if you like a place, do something to make it your home, and it will be. This is how I felt about Tri-state area.”
Shen and her husband Don Zou have two children.
Theresa Davies
Theresa Davies is a structural engineer for Hodge Structural Engineers. She develops structural design based on an architect’s building layouts and analyzes existing structures to determine their structural stability and capacity. She has worked on Deaconess GI Specialty Center, Henderson Public Library, Jefferson Elementary in Henderson, Ky., Bethel Manor, Lincoln Elementary School, Shawnee Community College in Ullin, Ill., Christian Church of Jasper, Ind., among others. She is a graduate of Purdue University.
Davies has a son Ben and twin girls, Rebecca and Claire.
Davies also volunteers with a high school youth group doing service projects with the Tri-State Food Bank, Borrowed Hearts, and the Challenger Ball game.
She is also a part of a Wednesday night Catholic Conversation group that this fall will look at gender ideologies from a Catholic perspective.
Talitha Washington
Talitha Washington, the daughter of the late Rev. Walter Wangerin, grew up in Evansville. She was a graduate of Bosse High School and later returned as an associate professor at the University of Evansville.
She is a professor of mathematics at Clark Atlanta University and director of the Atlanta University Center Data Science Initiative.
She also served as the program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Convergence Accelerator.
Washington was the first person to be named both a 2021 Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and a 2021 Fellow of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) in the same year.
Washington is a graduate of Spelman College and the University of Connecticut and a post-doctorate program at Duke University. It was while studying for her doctorate in Connecticut that she grew interested in mathematic biology and differential equations models of how proteins act as on/off switches in cells.
She has also taught at Howard University.
Washington is also featured on a STEM Trading Card.
“Access to leadership is an ongoing challenge,” Washington said while speaking at Purdue last year. “I think it is because oftentimes, at least in STEM, people don’t see me as normal.
Shelley Kirk is an Eyewitness News anchor for WEHT/WTVW.
The final panel discussion of the year will be November 10 when we will look back and prepare ourselves for the future with Ready Next Time: Lessons Learned from a Pandemic.
A new date has not yet been set for Women’s Equality Day, featuring Astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison. The luncheon was postponed due to COVID. Dr. Jemison is an engineer and physician who became the first African American woman to be admitted into NASA’s astronaut training program and travel in space. Dr. Jemison served as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavour and orbited the earth for almost eight days in 1992. Jemison is now focused on encouraging young people to consider careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects to help solve the challenges of the future. Sponsorships are available now and a limited supply of tickets will be available soon. Follow the links at SteppingUpEvv.com. Tickets and sponsorships purchased for the 2021 luncheon will be honored when the luncheon is rescheduled.