THIS IS WHY WE NEED WOMEN IN STEM

Beyond practical reasons to join up, there’s a lot of female role models to look up to. In the past, many women leaders in STEM fields unfortunately hid, either voluntarily or not, behind male co-workers. Others got overshadowed by men in their field and were not taken seriously.

You may have heard of Marie Curie, but there are plenty more worth mentioning. Looking for a few examples of female role models you can share in your organization? Here are 8 of the most ground- breaking women in STEM that made a difference in their field:

Science: discovering & visualizing information like no other

• Florence Nightingale: Statistician and nurse, she helped advance medical knowledge by developing statistical graphics to visualize data called coxcombs. Her creation helped illustrate various causes of death during the Crimean War. In recent times, her approach is being used to visualize COVID-19 cases.

• Marie Curie: Physicist and chemist whose radioactivity research propelled nuclear science. This helped lay the foundation for X-rays and radiotherapy to treat cancer, to name a few. She was also the first woman to earn the Nobel Prize.

Technology: IT, computers, games, and all things in-between

• Ada Lovelace: Thought to have written the first computer algorithm by recognizing computers could do more than pure calculation. Many see her as the first computer programmer.

• Nicole Eagan: AI thought leader, she introduced disruptive machine learning to the market. Her company is not only a leader in AI cyber defense, but also maintains an equal number of male and female employees in an industry were women make up less than 20% of the workforce. She won the 2020 award for Top Women Leaders in Cybersecurity.

Engineering: designing a better world

• Lillian Moller Gilbreth: one of the first female engineers to earn a PhD. She was an efficiency expert who contributed to the study of industrial engineering. She left a legacy on the human element in scientific management, and eventually taught many girls and women to love engineering. Did you know? PhD positions are posted for free on Vorsers.

• Ellen Swallow Richards: an industrial and safety engineer, environmental chemist, and university faculty member in the United States during the 19th century. She made her mark thanks to her pioneering work in sanitary engineering. Her experimental research on water quality led to Massachusetts establishing the first water-quality standards in America.

“Her work later contributed to the development of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology.”

Mathematics: logic & calculus masters

• Katherine Johnson: Mathematician and NASA scientist, her calculations proved essential to U.S. space exploration. She calculated launch windows, trajectories, and emergency return paths that helped fly the first U.S. astronauts into orbit.

• Hedy Lamarr: Gifted mathematician and inventor. During World War II, she worked on a radio guidance system that encrypted torpedo control signal to prevent enemy from sending them off course. Her work later contributed to the development of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology.