(sold out by early June for 50 maximum participants)
Thursday, July 26
Organized by Gail S. Jackson, Anita Simic and Steve Reising
Subsidized by GRSS (reduced lunch registration fee)
Supported by IEEE WIE (swag/handouts for the attendees)
Invited Speakers: M. Crawford, M. Modhaddam, R. Kroodsma in various careers & stages
The event was open to all IGARSS attendees with an interest in making the geosciences, remote sensing, and engineering professions positive and inclusive for both genders. The lunch will provide networking opportunities and a forum of discussion for topics ranging from gender equity, recruiting and retaining of women in these fields, family work-life balance, professional development, and benefits of a diverse workforce.
A LinkedIn group and discussions resulted from these efforts: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4422435
Photo Gallery from the luncheon:
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IEEE WIE magazines, highlighters, mints, and foam boxes generously provided by WIE for the 50 luncheon guests.
Luncheon Survey Results (20 Responses)
How did you hear about this luncheon? Registration & Conference Information
Would you be interested in attending similar events in future years? Most all responded yes.
How did you like the format and content of the presentations? What part did you like the best?
- I liked the format and the possibility to network with women
- I enjoyed the fact that different stage career professional women presented.
- I enjoyed hearing about the women’s experiences and getting to know the other women at my table
- Discussions with the women around the table
- Liked things of how we were able to eat in groups and finish before the presentations
Do you have any recommendations for similar events in future years?
- Describe professional issues/problems dealing with gender and give possible solutions (e.g., communication style differences between men & women)
- Could be in an ice breaker format so that more people could meet & more time to interact
- Would it be an idea to have a mentorship program (one senior member and one young member get teamed up) to get more detailed questions answered or enable coaching?
- It would be nice to get some statistics regarding women like number of chairwomen at IGARSS, number of women presenting at IGARSS.
- Probably mix more women from the various IGARSS regions and various domains (scientist, satellite development, engineering, industrial manager, …)
- Besides luncheon (luncheon is good) maybe a forum (discussion) would also be good for encouraging participation
- The luncheon is a good initiative for IGARSS
- Maybe have themed discussion topics for the lunch speakers or panel discussions
- If tables are a little bit smaller it would have been easier to meet and talk to each other
