A playlist brought to you by Women’s Center staff member, MJ Jalloh Jamboria

As we approach the end of Women’s History Month, I wanted to share a playlist I made for a Women’s History Month Empowerment Program. The playlist features some throwbacks, a few current jams, Beyoncé (more than once) and I throw in Kelis’ “Milkshake” just for fun!

Get up and dance like this kid

Check it out on Spotify or YouTube below!

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

March is Women’s History Month!

Three  years ago Women’s History Month’s national theme was “Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination: Celebrating Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.” The theme honored generations of women who throughout American history have used their intelligence, imagination, sense of wonder, and tenacity to make extraordinary contributions to the STEM fields. At UMBC we honored this theme by partnering with the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) to feature some of their amazing students participating in technology in the engineering and information technology fields. While the theme for Women’s History Month changes every year, we have come to love the tradition in spotlighting the stories of UMBC’s CWIT women. So with that, we are honored to bring you the 3rd Annual CWIT Showcase in honor of Women’s History Month.

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Natacha Ngea
Computer Engineering
CWIT  Scholar & Newcombe Scholar

Meet Natacha Ngea! A CWIT Scholar and computer engineering major.

Describe what sparked your interest STEM and the journey to choosing your major.

I have always been interested in Science and Technology. My favorite classes were biology, chemistry and Mathematics. I still remember how excited I was to perform experiments with test tubes. In my country of origin, Cameroon, you specialize in high school and your admittance in College depends on what you graduate in. I was placed in Modern Languages. It never felt right. When I got the opportunity to come to the US, I decided to use that chance to finally do what I always wanted to do. In order to do so, though, I needed to pay my way to school and fill the gap I had in technology so I had so I enrolled in a professional certificate at Howard Community College (HCC). My first class was a computer repairs class. I loved it. I wanted to know how computers work. My professor knew so much on the topic that I asked him what was his background was in. He told me he was a mechanical engineer. That is when I started thinking about getting a degree in engineering. After meeting with my advisor, I took some tests and I enrolled in a second degree in engineering. After physics I, I knew mechanical engineering was not the right fit for me but I found out there was a computer engineering program. I read the curriculum and I was sold. In the meantime, I was invited to join the STEM community at HCC. Through this program, I grew more and more confident. I also joined the Computer/Network support team as an intern. I discovered that I liked troubleshooting and taking things apart. I learned a lot there. I am a visual learner and English is not my first language so being able to relate a concept I learned in class with an application I encountered through my internship was great. After an A.A.S in Computer Support Technology and an A.A in Computer Science, I transferred to UMBC in fall 2014 to pursue a degree in Computer Engineering and I also work for DoIT as a network technician.

Tell us about an internship, research experience or project that you are proud of.

When I started my first internship. I had no experience. No one expected much from me or asked me anything so I started going on tickets on my own and shadowed more experienced technicians. I wanted to be taken seriously. Finally a big project came and individual assignments were made as it went. When I was given my own part of the project, I knew that my efforts were paying: I was part of the team.

Who are your role models in the engineering or IT field? How have their stories influenced your educational or career goals.

My role models are my peers. Each one of them has her story and it is really fascinating to hear them. I went to Grace Hopper Conference last Fall and I met a lot of professionals in the field and other students in the country or from other countries. It was very encouraging to me to hear the same passion and drive, sometimes the same goals and I felt re-energized. It was a great experience. If you are in a computing major, you must attend Grace Hopper.

Women often face subtle comments (microaggressions) or people who tell them they can’t/shouldn’t be in these majors which are often dominated by men. What would you say to those women or what advice do you have?

In the environment where I grew up, the young are discriminated against because they are young. The older can get away with anything because they are older. That experience and the other forms of discrimination I faced taught me a very important lesson: It is not about you. It is about the aggressors. They have a problem. You do not. For the most part, you are never really conscious right away of these microaggressions. You find yourself angry and low on energy because those tiny papercuts start to accumulate. You are not alone in this. At Grace Hopper, I kept hearing the same story over and over again no matter where the women were in their professional lives.You need to create your own support system: It may or may not involve people. If it does, it does not need to be other women in your major, though that would be ideal. My first year at UMBC, I was hanging out with mechanical engineers. Do something that always brings you high positive energy (it will channel your frustration into something positive) and remind yourself of what motivates you to be in these majors. I created a Women in Computer Engineering Lean In Circle opened to undergraduates, graduates and alumnae. Of course, there are plenty of other resources on campus such as SWE and affiliates from scholarship programs.

Natacha is also a Newcombe Scholar and part of the Women’s Center Returning Women Students Program. She’s pictured here with other UMBC returning women students at fall orientation.

With viral hashtags like #DistractinglySexy or #AddWomen and #Ilooklikeanengineer, women in STEM are using social media as a tool for activism and creating awareness about women’s representation in STEM. What’s your favorite example of women in STEM supporting and empowering themselves and other women to change the narrative about women in STEM?

I have already mentioned the Grace Hopper Conference and Lean In Circles but my favorite is #Ilooklikeanengineer. America loves labels. I have never seen anything like it. When you think about it, most issues stem from this need to catalog everything including people. This campaign is great because you can fit in any other label and see how pointless they are.

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The Center for Women In Technology (CWIT) is dedicated to increasing the representation of women in the creation of technology in the engineering and information technology fields. CWIT efforts begin with nurturing a strong group of Scholars, grow to building community resources for other women in these majors, extend to fostering a healthy gender climate and ITE pedagogy in College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) departments, and finally expand into outreach efforts to increase interest in technical careers. A successful program for female-friendly engineering and information technology education at UMBC will help make UMBC a destination for women (and men) interested in technical careers and serve as a national model for other universities. To read previous Women’s History Month CWIT spotlights, click here. 

To learn more about the experience of women in STEM, check out the American Association of University Women’s report, Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) which presents in-depth yet accessible profiles of eight key research findings that point to environmental and social barriers — including stereotypes, gender bias, and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities — that continue to block women’s progress in STEM.

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For more information about Women’s History events and happenings, visit the Women’s Center myUMBC group page.

March is Women’s History Month!

Three  years ago Women’s History Month’s national theme was “Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination: Celebrating Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.” The theme honored generations of women who throughout American history have used their intelligence, imagination, sense of wonder, and tenacity to make extraordinary contributions to the STEM fields. At UMBC we honored this theme by partnering with the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) to feature some of their amazing students participating in technology in the engineering and information technology fields. While the theme for Women’s History Month changes every year, we have come to love the tradition in spotlighting the stories of UMBC’s CWIT women. So with that, we are honored to bring you the 3rd Annual CWIT Showcase in honor of Women’s History Month.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Rachel Cohen
Computer Science
CWIT  Scholar

Meet Rachel Cohen! A CWIT Scholar and computer science major.

Describe what sparked your interest STEM and the journey to choosing your major.

When I first decided to attend UMBC as a freshman, I originally declared my major as biochemistry. In high school, I had always excelled in my science and math classes and knew that I wanted to major in something that would allow me to hone in on those skills. After taking the gateway biology and chemistry courses, I came to the realization that I wasn’t exceedingly passionate about what I was studying, so I decided to switch my major to computer science. Having no prior experience in the subject, I was a bit hesitant to make such a drastic switch. I knew that computer science was a prevalent field with a great number of job opportunities, so I knew that if I were able to develop the skills needed to get the computer science degree, I would have a successful future ahead of me. Since switching to computer science after freshman year, I haven’t looked back!

Tell us about an internship, research experience or project that you are proud of.

This past summer, I was accepted into the Cyber Summer Program, the DoD’s outreach effort to recruit computer science students from around the country. I was able to work on mission critical problems with senior cybersecurity professionals, which was a pretty awesome experience.

Who are your role models in the engineering or IT field? How have their stories influenced your educational or career goals.

Megan Smith is definitely someone whose career path I admire. For those who haven’t heard of Smith, she is the current (and first female) Chief Technology Officer of the United States. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from MIT in mechanical engineering. She was the vice president of business development at Google and vice president of Google[x], a semi-secret research and development facility created by the Internet giant. One of the things I admire most about Smith is her involvement in Google’s $50 million dollar investment in their Made with Code initiative. Smith explained that Made with Code was formed to encourage young girls to get involved with basic coding projects and find information about strong female role models. Smith said, “We found out that one of the things that happens with high school girls is they sometimes get discouraged from doing code because no one is encouraging them…nobody’s telling them why it’s so impactful on the world. You couldn’t see a lot of heroes.” Someone like Smith, who has had ample experience in private industry and is now serving our country as the first female CTO, is someone who I aspire to be like. Her strong technical background has allowed her to advance into important leadership roles, which is something that I hope to do one day.

Rachel and Dr. Hrabowski

Women often face subtle comments (microaggressions) or people who tell them they can’t/shouldn’t be in these majors which are often dominated by men. What would you say to those women or what advice do you have?

The issue of gender disparity in tech is something that is very evident and it’s an issue that needs to be addressed. I’ve experienced moments, both at work and at school, where I’ve heard comments made about me that may (or may not) be attributed to my gender. I tend to not let those kinds of things affect me as I try and remember that I, just like everyone else, am where I am due of my qualifications and accomplishments. I am no less of a computer scientist because of my gender. I would say the most common thing that I experience is the feeling of being underrepresented as a woman in my field. For me, it’s important to bond with other women who have had these experiences too, so I would recommend finding a support group of peers as a way to gain connections and advice. That way, you’ll be able to say “yes, I’m the only woman in the room most of the time, but I’m a part of this group of awesome people who has experienced it too, so I know I’m not alone in this.”

With viral hashtags like #DistractinglySexy or #AddWomen and #Ilooklikeanengineer, women in STEM are using social media as a tool for activism and creating awareness about women’s representation in STEM. What’s your favorite example of women in STEM supporting and empowering themselves and other women to change the narrative about women in STEM?

Rachel at the awesome Grace Hopper Conference which is the world’s largest gathering of women technologists.

One of my favorite examples of women empowering themselves and other women to change the narrative about women in STEM is model Karlie Kloss’ experience with coding. Kloss, who is most well known for being a high fashion model, left her role as a Victoria’s Secret Angel to pursue computer science at New York University. While she doesn’t have a typical tech background, she had become a public advocate for girls in computer science, and together with Code.org has donated money to fund a scholarship for young girls interested in coding. She’s started the hashtag #KodeWithKarlie to encourage young girls to post photos of themselves coding on social media. With over 4 million followers on Instagram, she has such a large platform to inform her audience that computer science is an important field not just comprising of the stereotypical geeky, male computer scientist. The fact that Karlie, a young woman who many might not have thought would be interested in or good at programming, is becoming such a strong proponent of the field makes me really excited about the future. Check out this video Karlie made with code.org to see her discuss her newfound passion for coding.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Center for Women In Technology (CWIT) is dedicated to increasing the representation of women in the creation of technology in the engineering and information technology fields. CWIT efforts begin with nurturing a strong group of Scholars, grow to building community resources for other women in these majors, extend to fostering a healthy gender climate and ITE pedagogy in College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) departments, and finally expand into outreach efforts to increase interest in technical careers. A successful program for female-friendly engineering and information technology education at UMBC will help make UMBC a destination for women (and men) interested in technical careers and serve as a national model for other universities. To read previous Women’s History Month CWIT spotlights, click here. 

To learn more about the experience of women in STEM, check out the American Association of University Women’s report, Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) which presents in-depth yet accessible profiles of eight key research findings that point to environmental and social barriers — including stereotypes, gender bias, and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities — that continue to block women’s progress in STEM.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For more information about Women’s History events and happenings, visit the Women’s Center myUMBC group page.

A resource round-up provided by Women’s Center staff members

In case you missed yesterday’s roundtable on Trans Identities + Mental Health (or if you were there and want to keep the conversation going), we thought it might be useful to summarize some of the discussion in addition to linking to some useful reading materials and resources. 

As with all of our roundtables, we reached out to our panel members and asked them to keep some of guiding questions in mind as they shared their stories and examples. Some of these questions included:

• Where do the intersections of trans identities and mental health show up for you personally? In the classroom? In your activism? In your peer networks?
• How does stigma against mental illness impact trans people’s experiences seeking support or other mental health services?
• How are the needs of trans people different and/or similar to those of LGB+ people with regard to mental health?
• Why is the intersection of trans identities and mental health a social justice and/or feminist issue?

One student panelist, Dan, described his experience with gender identity and mental health using an extended metaphor of a car sitting on top of a messy desk in order to illustrate the difficulty of adequately addressing various ongoing mental health issues that are distinct from — yet often complicated by — issues related to gender identity.

With only an hour to spend together, there’s still so much more we could have delved into and learned together as a community. Let the work continue! Below are a few articles and resources to help continue doing self-reflection and growth. As a reminder, this is not an exhaustive list so let us know if you recommend other great resources!

Follow on Twitter!

• @janetmock
• @juliaSerana
• @reinagossett 
• @deanspade
• The Sylvia Rivera Law Project @SRLP

Articles, Blogs and Books on the subject:

• DSM-5: Gender Dysmorphia
• Janet Mock’s Revealing Caitlyn Jenner: My Thoughts on Media, Privilege, Healthcare Access & Glamour
• Transgender People More Likely to Develop Depression and Anxiety
• Dysphoria and Dysmorphia: Understanding Identity and Mental Illness
• Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working With Gender-Variant People and Their Families
• Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community

On-campus resources:

Spectrum – this Women’s Center and Mosaic Center program is for UMBC community members who identify as trans, genderqueer, gender fluid, outside of the gender binary, and/or those who are questioning their gender identity. The program meets weekly in the Women’s Center on Thursdays at 3pm.

UMBC Counseling Center

•  Trans Support Group run through the Counseling Center
• Online Kognito Training for students AND faculty on staff on how to create a supportive campus for LGBTQ students

Critical Social Justice (October 2016)

Read More from Other Roundtable Roundups:

Black Trauma + Mental Health Resources Round-Up (February 2016)
White Womanhood + Critical Whiteness Resources Round-Up (September 2015)