Women in Innovation Summit

Today I attended a Women in Innovation Summit in Boulder, hosted by the office of Representative Jared Polis. Not quite sure how I got on the invite list, but I am glad I did. If there was a Venn diagram of the topics (loosely, policy, STEM, and entrepreneurship), I would be in the teeny little portion where they all overlap, because I'm trying to get involved in all three (through City of Arvada advisory committees, programming, and a small cottage food industry business I'm trying to get off the ground).

There were three panels, with a number of good panelists, plus introductory and closing remarks, and a brief statement by Former Rep. Betsy Markey and current Rep. Polis.

Panels included:

• "Women Entrepreneurs," with panelists Sue Heilbronner (of MergeLane), Terri Fiez (CU-Boulder Research Administration & Support), and Andrea Guendelman (of BeVisible), with facilitator Kerry Underell (of Colorado Innovation Network [COIN])
• "Women in Science and Engineering," with panelists Mari Tye (of NCAR), Kelly Mahoney (of NOAA), Kathay Rennels (of Food and Agriculture Key Industry Network), and Amber Gell (of Lockheed Martin), with facilitator Rachel Hauser (of UCAR)
• "STEM Education and Innovation Gender Gap," with panelists Lucy Sanders (of the National Center for Women & Information Technology and ATLAS Institute at CU-Boulder), Bev Louie (The BOLD Center at CU, including Women in Engineering Program), and Sandra Laursen (of CU-Boulder's Ethnography & Evaluation Research), with facilitator Sarah Miller (also of the BOLD Center at CU-Boulder)

Big topics included:

• Increasing diversity in STEM not just including women but also other historically-underrepresented groups--and also a critique of how "lily-white" Boulder in particular tends to be
• Better tracking of women (and other historically-underrepresented groups) in meaningful positions in STEM
• Mentorship and leadership: women (and other historically-underrepresented groups) supporting each other and building a culture of inclusion
• Subconsious biases that we all have, and working to be aware of that cognitive scaffolding
• Policy suggestions that would help get more women and historically-underrepresented groups in STEM fields, including better maternity (and paternity) leave policies (and without penalizing women in particular over the long term for taking time off), improving K-12 education in STEM, particularly programming/computer science, and improving access for all kids of all socioeconomic categories to early childhood education
• Advocacy and visibility for STEM fields in general: most college-bound kids can't say what engineers do. (I concur: I couldn't have!) How can they be interested in pursuing that field if it's outside their realm of imagination? Especially true for girls and other historically-represented groups, who may find fewer role models who "look like them" in STEM fields.

Recommended resources include:

• Project Implicit
• Strategies for Effecting Gender Equity and Institutional Change
• US Small Business Administration, including the Office of Women's Business Ownership

Sorry I did not take any pictures; my phone was almost out of juice.