Embedded Files
Event Update
Event Update
By Christina Majercak, Events Manager
Christina was a valued member of the WiSTEM team for the past year, when she contributed greatly as our Event Manager. We are excited for your next ventures, and we are proud to have had you serve as a valuable model woman in STEM. Best of Luck.
As midterms season settles in, WiSTEM is proud to say that we have held another two successful events. Ending September with our Programming Workshop event was a very useful way to provide our members with the path to work on some of their technical skills.
A value-adding event like this allowed for a quick introduction to the many programming languages that some majors are expected to know.
It is evident that many of the coding languages used within classes are never fully taught and are in most cases just picked up along the way.
The idea behind our event was to bridge the gap between familiarizing oneself with a new coding language and starting a class that heavily relies on the skill.
The workshops were held by Illinois Tech’s very own senior students and faculty. Each speaker provided a full overview of the coding language. The highlighted coding languages were Python, LaTex, SolidWorks, and R. The languages were chosen to cover as many different STEM major-related technical skills as possible. The array of languages allowed for students of all majors to be able to pinpoint at least one or two interests. The overviews included the very basics of starting up the software and ran all the way through different input variables.
Students were also provided with a few real time examples of how running the code would look like. With the event being held virtually, participants were able to see a real close-up simulation of how the different softwares are run.
Given that our speakers had great expertise in their topics, students were able to ask questions and get quick demonstrations as a result. In the SolidWorks break-out room, the presenter was able to model 3D figures and then show the process of how to convert the drawing concept into a 3D print. Such a skill can be very useful when trying to prototype a project.
Overall the event created a unique opportunity for students to gain expertise in a language that is not normally taught in a step by step fashion during class. All of the presentations were recorded and each presentation was condensed into an outline that can be found on our website.
To cater to our goal of preparing members for their professional future, WiSTEM held the event Work Like a Woman, in which three speakers were invited to elaborate on women's rights within the workplace, self-advocacy, and dress code. The event was based on an earlier event held in spring of 2021, which was very successful and well sought after. WiSTEM believes the topic is especially crucial because of the many challenges that gender minorities face within the workplace. Events like this one help introduce and prepare attendees for the real issues that may be faced in a job setting.
The first topic was discussed by our very own advisor, Dr. Nicole Legate. Dr. Legate elaborated on the legal rights that protect women in the workplace. She spoke on the importance of being aware of any forms of discrimination and always documenting the issues that arise. To highlight her presentation, Dr. Legate touched on the pay gap between different minorities. This spoke strongly to everyone in the room because of how real the issue is and how the media address it.
The next topic was covered by Dr. Sonja Petrovic, who spoke about self-advocacy and confidence. Within her topic, Dr. Petrovic highlighted that women are twice as likely to be interrupted during a meeting than anyone else. To counter that point, Dr. Petrovic provided examples for how to address the rudeness of the interruptions and gain back the opportunity to speak.
Addressing leadership as a woman was very powerful in providing attendees with the motivation to lead and empower a team one day, regardless of whether or not they are the minority within the group.
Lastly, I was granted the opportunity to speak on workplace dress code. This topic was very sincere to me since upon starting my position last summer I struggled to know what the expectations were for a woman in engineering.
I learned that the key in dress code is wearing what you feel most confident and comfortable in, all while keeping aligned with the dress code standards. The presentation provided insights and examples for the different types of dress codes. The examples included real sculpted outfits with what to wear from head to toe. Guidelines and examples can be viewed on the shared PowerPoint slides.
Lastly, WiSTEM hosted the event Don’t Let Your Finances Spook You in collaboration with the well-known Chase Bank. Chase representatives came in to advance our attendees with insights on financial literacy. The event took place in three parts pertaining to undergraduate savings, credit score, and future salary management. The goal of the event was to allow students to understand the importance of managing finances and provide methods for how to start doing that. WiSTEM hopes that the event brought forth a valuable learning experience as well as tied in a fun ‘spooky’ theme right before Halloween. We are grateful for our collaboration with Chase Bank: don’t let your finances spook you anymore!
Resources For Reporting On-Campus Incidents
Resources For Reporting On-Campus Incidents
By Barien Gad, President
Recently, I have come across more and more students sharing unacceptable experiences in the classroom and with faculty at Illinois Tech. Many of them are scared to speak up, because they are currently taking these classes, and their grades matter.
The theme of faculty humiliating students either privately or in front of other students is coming up over and over again. Students are not properly equipped to report these incidents and seek justice. The university has a no retaliation policy, and there are measures in place to ensure that they remain.
There are ways to report faculty both anonymously and privately. There are people on campus who are responsible for resolving conflict between students and the university. However, these resources are not advertised, shared, or mentioned.
WiSTEM’s goal is to always support the Illinois Tech community by supporting individuals, and so below we have compiled a list of resources students should be aware of and use when needed. We encourage you to share these resources among your students, peers, and friends to help hold others accountable for their actions.
WiSTEM’s goal is to always support the Illinois Tech community by supporting individuals
Incident Reports: Illinois Institute of Technology Community Reporting Form
The community reporting form can be used to report a multitude of incidents on campus from student-student incidents, to student-faculty, to faculty-faculty incidents. The form allows for anonymous submissions. It is a way to report even small incidents to the university to hold them accountable for what is happening. I encourage all to report any and all incidents without hesitation - because even if the resolution is not achieved you will have done your obligation in reporting it to the university.
Screenshot of the Bias Incident Report Form provided by IIT at this link
Incident Reports: Mies Campus Bias Reporting Form
The Bias reporting form is designed for reporting any bias or hate-related incidents on campus. The bias reporting form allows for anonymous reporting, however, the university warns that resolution cannot always be achieved when anonymous reports are made. This form is the place to report micro-aggressions experienced every day that need to be addressed.
Incident Reports: Ombudsperson
The Ombudsperson is individually responsible for handling and resolving incidents/disputes between students, faculty, and stand. They serve as a “mediator, who acts with neutrality and impartiality in an effort to achieve mutually agreed to outcomes” The current Ombudsperson at Illinois Tech is Melisa Lopez (lopez@iit.edu) 312.567.3642.
New In STEM: Molten Mathematics
New In STEM: Molten Mathematics
By Kaylee Rosendahl, Applied Mathematics Representative
How would a physicist study the explosion of a star into a supernova from their lab? A supernova event can’t be replicated, occurs very rarely, and is dangerous to view close up –that is, provided we had the technology to get close enough. How would any scientist be able to study a phenomena that is too large, fast, small, or dangerous? The answer: computer simulations.
Simulations, which are built upon mathematical and statistical models, have been used by a myriad of scientific fields: engineering, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, and of course, astrophysics, just to name a few. Mathematicians create these types of models and algorithms to simulate a naturally occurring phenomena, built upon the existing knowledge of the phenomena. The theory of mathematics and computing power of a silicon chip has proven to be useful in simulating that which can’t be directly studied.
Volcanologists, who study the formation and eruption of volcanoes, face this problem as well. Among floods, tsunamis, and suffocation from ash, the most unpredictable fatal factors are volcanic bombs and blocks.
Blocks, or solid chunks of volcanic rock, have already been studied. Scientists from New Zealand even built a cannon, loaded it with rocks, and launched them at roofs to study their strength and impact —all in the name of science.
But volcanic bombs, which are still slightly molten, are more difficult to study. They are common to Surtseyan explosions, where magma clumps are propelled through shallow bodies of water; they gain plenty of water which then turns to steam, creating the perfect exploding projectile. It’s a little harder to load these into cannons, believe it or not. Sometimes, the bombs don’t even explode. Volcanologists couldn’t figure out why they hit the ground without detonation, becoming even more of a hazard to someone on land (Andrews 2021).
That’s when in early September this year, volcanologist Ian Schipper teamed up with Mark McGuinness and Emma Greenbank, two mathematicians at Victoria University of Wellington of New Zealand. Together they were able to create a simulation of a bomb launching from a volcano, monitoring and changing parameters such as pressure and temperature (Andrews 2021). Here’s how it works: consider a Surtseyan bomb, which forms as fresh magma mixes with a slurry of water and debris that has fallen back into the volcano after ejection. The mathematicians first examined the porosity (a measure of how “empty” an object is), and the permeability (how well a material allows liquid to flow through it), in fragments of volcano rocks. They found a relationship between the two using a gas flow simulation, and thus decided on using a sphere-within-a-sphere model. Here, a bomb has three parts: a sphere of magma and vapor, a smaller sphere of liquid and slurry inside of it, and the flashing front, which separates the two (Greenbank et al., 2021).
That’s when the “real” math comes into play. They were able to create a system of equations modeling different aspects of each section. For instance, to model the inner sphere, you can consider conservation of water and liquid density. For the outer sphere, consider the conservation of steam and the pressure. When you put these equations together, there is an entirely new system, which actually models the behavior of a volcanic bomb as it is shot out.
The final solution came easily enough. As the system can be coded, the researchers were able to simulate different explosions, experimenting with different parameters (26, to be exact, including specific heat, magma radius, and viscosity). From here, they studied the relationships between parameters.
One example would be how permeability affects pressure —the more permeable the bomb, the more steam can escape, and a release in pressure means no explosion. Another example could be the initial temperature, which can define pressure in the flashing front.
In the end, they reached two conclusions. First, they were able to derive a single formula for the maximum pressure, relying on several of the bomb’s properties. Second, they discovered why some bombs failed to explode on impact. The reason? Foam.
In the formation of a Surtseyan bomb, magma rises, depressurizes, and water can escape. This foamy magma is then ejected. However, the very water that created the bomb is what can defuse them. This foam means that there are multiple paths from which steam can escape, which prevents a pressure spike. Provided that the network is large enough—or high enough in permeability—the bomb will hit the ground without exploding (Greenbank et al., 2021).
Math can be more than a series of complex equations on a page. It can be eloquent, exciting, and even beautiful.
This is no small feat. Besides solving the riddle that was the Surtseyan bombs, volcanologists can now focus on how to prevent more “duds”, which pose more of a hazard than smaller volcanic fragments: I don’t think any of us want to be hit by a fridge-sized projectile clocking in at 230 mph.
As a math major, I often hear “what’s the point of math?” or “what can you do with it?” Well, math can be more than a series of complex equations on a page. It can be eloquent, exciting, and even beautiful. This story of volcanic bombs is one of many. This past year alone there has been so much research using models. This story of volcanic bombs is one of many. This past year alone there has been so much research using models.
In January, mathematicians simulated how electrically charged fish can locate objects without any light, helping advance underwater robotics and deep sea exploration (Baldassari and Scapin, 2021). In March, researchers simulated cell-to-cell interactions when using T-cell therapy for blood cancer, in hopes of finding a better treatment plan than taxing chemotherapy (Kimmel et al., 2021). In July, computer models were used to simulate COVID-19 infections at a cellular level, allowing scientists to examine the immune system’s response and create virtual trials of drugs and vaccines (Sadria and Layton, 2021).
This relatively new method of computer simulation, also known as in silico experimentation, offers us more opportunities —in biology, engineering, physics, chemistry, geology…and the list goes on. Technology is more advanced than ever, and when we apply the principles of mathematical models, we can create something that brings us a step closer to a complete understanding of this world.
References
Volcanic bombs: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/11
Volcanic research: https://royalsocietypublishing.org
Electric fish: https://www.eurekalert.org/
COVID: https://www.sciencedaily.com
Editorial: Performative Masking
Editorial: Performative Masking
By Tiffany Wong, Treasurer
Intro
Performative activism.
We all witnessed it at its peak during the Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate movements. It is when a person posts on their social media about a movement or attends a protest to come across as involved in a social issue, although their main motive is to improve their social status.
Now, let me introduce Performative Masking, the purpose of which is a little altered, but the same underlying idea remains. This term is in no way coined by me, as there have been similar terms such as performative mask-wearing mentioned on social media previously, but the reason I even had to come up with this term is because of the magnitude of disregard I’ve witnessed for COVID-19 as this fall semester progresses.
Screenshot of an email from the Office of the President <president@mc.iit.edu>. Date: May 21, 2021 at 2:05 PM. Subject: Resuming In-Person Operations
Background: IIT’s Wacky Emails
Let’s start with Illinois Tech’s lack of intuition when it comes to the three main mass emails they sent regarding the status of the fall semester and the reopening policies.
On May 21, 2021, Illinois Tech sent out an email to inform all students and faculty that: “the university plans to return to full, on-campus, in-person operations on Monday, August 2, 2021” (Illinois Tech email, May 21, 2021). Now, Illinois Tech was one of the first few schools I saw establishing that this semester will be mandatorily in-person again.I was shocked that they decided to finalize this decision so early on in the year, right after the tumultuous spring semester where there were many confirmed cases throughout April 2021.
The second surprising news came in the form of an email titled, “Full Reopening Policies”, on June 11, 2021, less than a month after the email about resuming in-person operations. In this email, Illinois Tech boldly announced that “members of the Illinois Tech community who have been vaccinated will no longer be required to follow masking and social distancing requirements.” I’d like to make a note that the first Delta variant case in the US was identified in March 2021, and by June, 9.6% of all positive COVID-19 cases in the US were due to the Delta variant. IIT’s initial no-masking mandate also came at a time when only 53.9% of all Chicagoans had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Screenshot of an email from the Office of the President <president@mc.iit.edu>. Date: May 21, 2021 at 2:05 PM. Subject: Resuming In-Person Operations
Screenshot of an email from the Office of the Provost <provost@mc.iit.edu>. Date: Aug 13, 2021 at 11:30 AM. Subject: Return to Campus Next Week
Now onto the third email titled “Return to Campus Next Week”. With this email we were informed that masks are now required in indoor settings regardless of the vaccination status of anyone on campus. This was in direct contradiction with the second email that was sent, but was a sensible edit on IIT’s behalf, seeing as on average Cook County has reported that every day there are 700+ new positive cases of COVID-19.
As a student who commutes every day to school, in between the second and third email there was a lot of fear and mental preparation that went into evaluating my choice to even register for in-person classes in the fall semester. Many students found themselves in similar situations: where they knew they had to keep their masks on to keep their family members and loved ones safe but were powerless to avoid those who wouldn’t be wearing masks.
So even though IIT’s updated reopening policies were a big sigh of relief, it didn’t replace the initial betrayal I felt from IIT: that email showed the school essentially did not intend to protect or care for their students and faculty’s safety.
How It's Been
It’s now been 10 weeks back on campus, how are we doing…? It’s been 9 weeks since we resumed in-person operations and the transition has been seemingly not difficult. However, the reason for the easy transition is due to the lack of trying, where Illinois Tech had this blatant disregard for guaranteeing that effective safety measures are being put in place and observed for positive case prevention. This comes hand-in-hand with the behavior observed among many students and the phenomenon of performative masking.
It’s funny that Illinois Tech is doing so much to say they are pro-masking mandates, whether it’s through their repeated emails thanking their students for their efforts or the flyers in classrooms about capacity.
However, as we all know, actions prove louder than words, and Illinois Tech has proven over and over in the span of the 9 weeks that we’ve been back on campus, that they are performative in their actions to reduce COVID-19.
I’ve sat in a class where the recommended guidelines poster for capacity states that the room is meant for a maximum of 7 people, but the classroom is packed full, teeming with students who are sitting shoulder to shoulder.
Now when I say Illinois Tech, of course, I don’t mean the buildings that reside in Bronzeville. The buildings may be old and drafty, but they are not to blame.
I am not afforded the luxury of being able to quarantine and live by myself, nor do I think other members of Illinois Tech are either.
When I say Illinois Tech I mean the professors who wear masks that don’t fit onto their faces properly for easier breathing (as if that does not defeat the purpose of a mask overall), the students who insist on walking around indoor settings with their masks below their nose, and the staff members who are actively walking around completely maskless in indoor settings for no reason.
Masking Issue
When this semester first started, a lot of people were taking the masking mandate seriously, but by the 3rd week of classes I could already count more than 5 people in each of my courses who weren’t wearing their masks properly anymore.
Another aspect that frustrates me is the type of ‘masks’ some choose to wear. There are students on campus who only wear bandanas and gaiters instead of an actual mask, and the reasoning for that is unclear. It’s been proven repeatedly that neck gaiters do not shield the wearer from emitting viral particles.
I’ve sat in a class where the professor was explaining this very same concept and there were at least 2 students wearing neck gaiters who were unfazed by the scientific explanations being presented. I have a theory that if you go up to someone on campus who wears a gaiter for a mask and ask for their reasoning, they will say because it’s easier to breathe in. Newsflash, it’s easier to breathe in because it doesn’t protect you or anyone around you.
I’ve been forced to sit next to students in my courses where they have their masks below their nose the entire time and I sit there knowing that I have to go home to my parents that night after possibly having been exposed to COVID-19. I am not afforded the luxury of being able to quarantine and live by myself, nor do I think other members of Illinois Tech are either.
Examples
To clarify what I mean by performative masking, here’s a few examples off the top of my head of the things I’ve witnessed on campus:
A student pulled down their mask to rub their nose and cough into their hands and then pulled their mask back up, where no hand sanitizer was used afterward.
In a meeting taking place in a relatively small room, where there was no previously checked guarantee of anyone testing negative for COVID-19, more than ⅔ of the attendees took off their masks to eat and talk.
After a lunch meeting, a faculty member told everyone in the room to put their masks back on for a picture to post on social media because otherwise ‘there would be comments made about the event’, but no mask-regulations continued after the picture was taken.
I’ve repeatedly seen several specific faculty members walk around in an indoor setting without a mask.
A student took off their mask to eat and drink during class and then only puts it back on after the professor requests them to, but keeps it under their nose.
Students pull down their masks to talk to one another in indoor settings because they get frustrated at the sound barrier between them.
And the biggest one of all, which is displayed mainly with students only:
Students wear their masks below their noses and keep them on like that the entire time, even if they start talking to another party.
Vaccinations Update
From the email about the reopening policies that was sent out a week before the fall semester started, we were all informed that the university is requiring all students, faculty, and staff to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. Due to the time constraint of the email, I understood there were people on campus who indeed had not gotten the vaccine yet at the start of the semester. But it has been 9 weeks since we’ve resumed in-person operations, and it’s been brought to my attention that many students and faculty members have not been vaccinated. This information is not hearsay either, where there are members of the community who are openly vocal about their decision to not getting vaccinated, and the unfortunate issue is that the group I’m discussing isn’t completely removed from the group of people who do not abide by the indoor masking policies.
I hope this is something the university intends to address, as it doesn’t come across as genuine when I have to hear about it through other students.
Contact Tracing Issues
Another issue I want to bring up that’s been prevalent is Illinois Tech’s method of contact tracing for those who do test positive for COVID-19. I’ve heard firsthand from students about the university's clunky and unprofessional way of performing contact tracing.
A student was notified that someone from their class tested positive for COVID-19, but the student who tested positive did not even go to class that week and the row of students sitting closest to them weren’t notified at all, while everyone else in the class was. And in the same email, that student was informed that their roommate, who they see everyday maskless in their dorm, is not considered to have been possibly exposed to COVID-19.
The way the entire situation was handled is scary and hectic, to say the least, but to be told afterward that they just got the situation mixed up is concerning for how serious Illinois Tech is handling positive cases.
Random Testing Update
One last issue I want to bring up is that Illinois Tech no longer provides COVID-19 tests to their students and they also dismantled the random sampling testing they were doing for the last two semesters. There’s the argument that it’s no longer Illinois Tech’s responsibility to be providing such resources anymore, but Illinois Tech made it their responsibility when they decided to make in-person classes mandatory and require for students to come back in person and dorm again.
Using the COVID-19 Dashboard that gets sent out weekly, I noticed that there is, on average, only 1 positive case tested daily. However, without the random testing in place and no COVID-19 testing available on campus, are we supposed to blindly trust these numbers simply because we are not testing for COVID-19 as rigorously anymore?
I want to know why Illinois Tech is advocating so hard on how well they are doing with their COVID-19 precautionary measures, but their actions are quite literally as if we are all back in person without COVID-19 and its Delta variant in place.
This experience with practicing hygiene and staying healthy for the sake of yourself and everyone around you is proving to be very telling. The decreasing effort IIT students and faculty are putting into keeping this community safe is disheartening, because I see so many on the opposite end of this spectrum doing double, and even triple, the amount of effort just to try and make up for it.
On the flip side of all the unsafe practices I’ve been witnessing, I have also seen the following:
Students wipe down surfaces and chairs repeatedly before placing any of their items on them.
Students double masking in a class or event when they know there are more people attending.
A professor actively advocating for their students to do their best to keep the COVID-19 pandemic relevant in their minds.
Seeing the janitors and cleaning staff clean the bathroom facilities up to 3 times in the span of a few hours.
Students repeatedly pinching and adjusting the bridge of their masks to make sure it stays on and fits their face the way it’s supposed to.
As a sentiment of thankfulness, I want to say that I appreciate and emphasize all the effort everyone in the community has been putting into making sure that the pandemic stays under control and preventing the spread of COVID-19.
And all I can say is that if after reading this piece you felt offended or targeted by the criticism brought up here, maybe you have some reflection to do about how safe you’re being on campus.
And as for Illinois Tech, do better.
An example of what is not considered an adequate face covering item: bandanas
An example of what is considered an adequate face covering item: medical masks
Update On The Previous Editorial: The Detrimental Rise Of IIT Gossip Pages
Update On The Previous Editorial: The Detrimental Rise Of IIT Gossip Pages
By Barien Gad, President
Since releasing the previous editorial on IIT Gossip pages, not much has changed.
@IllinoisTechmemes posts regular memes about student life on campus, job hunting challenges, and the infamous paintball shooting incidents.
@IIT.reveaveled made a post announcing they would put more effort into hiding identifying factors mentioning individuals in their post, dismissing the initial request to have them completely take the Instagram accounts down.
@iit.confesions has not made a post since August 12th and has remained inactive. While their lack of posting is a relief, their account still remains public and still contains harmful content from the past.
I stressed the importance of deactivating these accounts in the past and will continue to stress it every day going forward. Harmful gossip pages are not proactive in addressing on-campus issues, instead, they incite fear, spread misinformation, and publicly share the stories of victims without permission.
The university has the means to request these accounts be taken down and reach out to social media platforms pointing out the harm they cause. But the university continues to turn a blind eye because these accounts are not directly impacting their money-centered agenda.
All I can hope for is the individuals who own these accounts grow up, stop playing these petty games, and finally, take the accounts down.
Our Story
Our Story
"Our Stories" serve to provide insight into true experiences on campus - certain details have been manipulated to protect the individual's identity.
36 - 5.
36 boys, 5 girls to make up an entire MMAE class.
Intimidating? Not the slightest. Unwelcoming? Not the case? Uncomfortable? Well…Well not at first.
Disproportionate classes have been the norm for me ever since stepping foot on campus. To me it never really mattered, my peers whether female or male are all the same to me. We all are confused about our homework, we all need a chance to vent about our professors, and we all want someone to bounce ideas off of. I’ve never identified myself as different or part of the disproportionate.
All it takes is one comment or in this case a whole list, to reinstate to you that you are part of that disproportionate minority, and no matter how much gender shouldn’t factor into peer relationships, it does.
“Hey honey”
Is just the first of several comments from a peer of mine. A wave of heat rose to my checks, as my fellow male peer then continued to ask me questions about our homework. Automatically I forced a light laugh to ease the extreme awkwardness I felt. Feelings of guilt and confusion swarmed my head as I began to wonder: Did I do something wrong? Did I do something to make him feel that this was the type of relationship that we had? The one thought that lingered the most however, was that I was different, I wasn’t just seen as another student to my peers. Embarrassed by being singled out, I swiftly answered any questions he had and excused myself out.
“Hey cutie”
Again, but this time a year later, another wave of confusion and this time frustration arose within me. As the text popped up promptly on my phone, I couldn’t help but stare at the words and what they symbolized to me.
It was a clear instance that I could never have the complete ease of communicating with my peers without worrying about being subjected to behavior they thought was acceptable just because I am a girl. My previous conversations with this person had been sparse and concise, at least this time I knew that it couldn’t have been my fault for contriving a situation where this comment could come up. This time the question was: Is it ok that it still happened though?
“Dear Suzie, when is the hw due?”
As I stared down at the latest text, I began to recognize the emotional numbness that I felt towards the comment. Despite having little to no conversations with this peer of mine, I no longer felt the automatic need to question and internalize the comment. Instead I replied with merely the date and nothing more. It wasn’t until he then followed up with asking me whether “I considered us friends or colleagues” because he had “been accused of sexual harassment” for using the term dear, that my questions and numbness had finally turned into exasperation. Exasperation for being made to feel that it may have ever been my fault, these comments happened, exasperation for having to question if what he was saying was ok, and most of all feelings of exasperation that this is a predicament that women in STEM have to necessarily face from their peers, occasionally.
All it takes is one comment to reinstate to you that you are part of that disproportionate minority. No matter how much gender shouldn’t factor into peer relationships, it does.
Featured woman in STEM: Sarah Kay Stephens
Featured woman in STEM: Sarah Kay Stephens
By Angela Petrone, Digital Media Officer
Sarah Kay Stephens is a 4th-year Architecture major at Illinois Tech. She is an RA (Resident Advisor), a Leadership Academy Scholar, the Vice President of AIAS (American Institute of Architecture Students), and she’s been part of the Freedom by Design project from 2018 to 2020.
Originally from Texas, she moved to Chicago to start her journey at IIT back in 2018. Since then she’s taken part in almost every aspect of campus life, and she is a valuable member of The Illinois Tech community.
This is Sarah’s third year being RA, her fourth year in Leadership Academy, and she has spent the past two years in different positions within AIAS.
Talking about her greatest accomplishment so far, Sarah mentioned that being an RA has taught her how to deal with difficult situations and put on different hats. "Especially roommate conflicts demand you to look at things from different perspectives, and also help you see both the good and bad in people."
The Encounter That Changed Everything
During her first week at IIT Sarah was already taking a decision that would have shaped the entirety of her academic journey.
During welcome week Sarah met a group of 4th-year Architecture students. One was her RA, he showed her around Crown, and told her all about the things he had the chance to do within his major.
Sarah had started out as an Architectural Engineering major, but those upperclassmen’ experiences convinced her to switch her major to Architecture just one week into college. Sarah still considers this one of the most meaningful experiences at IIT, and wouldn’t go back on that decision in hindsight.
"I have chosen to pursue architecture because I want to help people feel safe in their homes, and I believe that this can be accomplished through well-designed and built spaces."
Sarah loved buildings ever since she was a little kid, she knew she wanted to pursue and Architecture-related major.
She chose IIT because it was one of 18 colleges in the USA offering Architectural Engineering. After spending months compiling essays about why she wanted to pursue Architectural Engineering, and why she loved the math-side of this degree too, switching to Architecture wasn’t a lighthearted choice, but it was a choice perfectly aligned with her values.
Sarah says about herself: "I love being surrounded by beautiful buildings. I want to Create meaningful spaces for people to interact. Help people solve problems through interacting with space."
Sarah’s heart lies more in human interaction rather than the interaction of forces within spaces. She defines herself as an experience-driven person, whose natural instinct is to look for the little things that will ruin a seamless interaction between humans and physical spaces.
Mentorship
Sarah was in touch with those upperclassmen she met her first week for a while.
She believes they were indeed mentors to her, but with time she was able to find many other such figures at IIt.
Sarah joined AIAS during her first year. Here she met many other upperclassmen who mentored her and introduced her to their own experiences.She then proceeded to take on various leadership roles within AIAS.
At this time she’s working for one of her previous studio professors, and she feels that most of her studio professors have served as mentors throughout her time at IIT. Each professor was able to present her with different questions, allowing Sarah to look at her work from several different perspectives and engage in an ongoing process of learning.
Sarah’s heart lies more in human interaction rather than the interaction of forces within spaces. She defines herself as an experience-driven person whose natural instinct is to look for the little things that will ruin a seamless interaction between humans and physical spaces.
When I asked her if she feels like a mentor, now being an upperclassman herself and interacting with younger students on a daily basis, Sarah says: "mentorship doesn’t really work in a clear way where there’s a mentor and a mentee, because it’s a learning experience on both sides. I would say I’ve had about 90 residents over the last 3 years. People I’ve talked to and learned from.This is the best thing I’ve gotten to do in college. I really love people and this gives me the opportunity to create experiences for them."
Coming to IIT and Chicago
Sarah was born and raised in Austin TX. She chose to move to an entirely different state because she wanted to experience a different spatial layout than usual. Sarah believes she is going to move back to Texas eventually, but she enjoys the way Chicago makes her feel out of her comfort zone.
Her favorite thing about Chicago is the city’s grid-system, which makes it almost impossible to get lost. Sarah values the honesty within this city’s structure and the way it is logically laid out.
Despite the challenges of moving to an entirely different city, Sarah feels lucky to have been raised in an environment that never restricted her choices or made her feel like she wasn’t supposed to be in a STEM field. Both her parents hold PhDs. Sarah’s father holds a PhD in Material Science while her mother has a PhD in Communication Studies but was a Biochemistry undergraduate student. This diverse background inspired her to choose a field where “you get exposed to everything, this is how she feels about Architecture.”
About her upbringing, Sarah says: "I grew up without feeling like I had to commit to something rather than something else, and I feel so lucky for that."
Extra-curricular Involvement
Extracurricular involvement represents a huge part of Sarah’s identity and how she nurtures that here at IIT. One of the experiences she values most is her time spent within AIAS. Being involved helped her learn about the inner workings of an organization. She says taking on different roles within AIAS was challenging, as she acknowledged she was not always making the best choices, but even those helped her grow.
One of the most challenging times for Sarah was 2020. She was the Vice President of AIAS during the pandemic year, and she often asked herself: if the world is shutting down, why do we have to keep going?
Despite the challenges Sarah really takes pride in taking on different leadership positions at IIT.
She feels like these highly contribute to her development as an individual.
"I have always found myself wanting to get leadership positions because I really enjoy thinking about what it means to be a leader, and why you should care about others. I really care about human experience, and I learned to be a leader on the back: talking with people and just showing them the road. A leader on the back will hold people’s hands while doing things together with them. Being a leader doesn’t necessarily mean directing people, but rather walking side by side with them."
"Treat every opportunity like an experience that can help your own growth. Good, bad, challenging, easy: everything you do should be contributing to your character development. Don’t shy away from things that scare you or feel like a bad idea."
Woman in STEM Spotlight: Jeanne Gang
Woman in STEM Spotlight: Jeanne Gang
By Elle Dils, Architecture Representative
What if architects could do more than design buildings —what if we could be relationship builders? Not just between people and their peers, but between humans and nature, humans and technology, and more? Architect Jeanne Gang has posed and answered this question, and continues to do so throughout her impressive career as a building and space designer.
Gang’s architectural education began close to home, right here in Illinois. She grew up in Belvidere, and would often travel with her father, an engineer, to see architectural and structural feats around the nation. Her post-secondary education began locally as well, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in 1986, then went on to study urban design in Zurich at the Swiss Institute of Technology.
After completing her studies in Zurich, Gang returned to the United States to receive her Master’s in architecture from Harvard University in 1993, where she is currently a professor of practice. After finishing her degrees, Gang briefly worked for Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), the office of another impressive architect, Rem Koolhaus —this firm designed MTCC on Illinois Tech’s campus!
However, Gang soon felt called to come home, and opened her own architectural office in Lincoln Park, Chicago in 1997. She used her impressive skill-set and knowledge to quickly grow in the architecture community. She’s won a number of awards for her designs, and in 2019, she was named as the world’s most influential architect by Time Magazine. Gang has designed buildings of all different typologies: residential high-rises, community centers, museums, and more. This refusal to specialize is entirely intentional—throughout her education, many accomplished architects told Gang she needed to specialize in a certain type of architecture or design to succeed. “But it’s not in my DNA,” she said. I, for one, am glad about this decision: it may mean more work for her and her studio, but it means that we have even more well-designed, environmentally conscious building precedents to study, emulate, and enjoy.
Since its founding, Studio Gang has become a world-wide firm, with offices across the United States and in Paris, France. That being said, Chicago has remained a hub for Gang and her innovative practices —many of her most notable designs, like Aqua Tower and St. Regis (the two tallest buildings in the world built by a woman), a number of boat houses along the Chicago river, and more, are all only a few CTA stops away from IIT students.
Nearly all of Gang’s designs throughout her career have focused on some aspect of relationship building, especially concerning building connections between humans and their environments. “This concept of ecology —the idea of building relationships between each other and our environment— that’s what really interests me,” Gang said.
Aqua Tower, considered one of Gang’s most famous buildings, is a fantastic case study of building connections between people and their environment. Located in downtown Chicago, Aqua was designed around the idea of helping to build social and community relationships between its residents. This is a relatively novel idea: tall buildings, especially one like Aqua Tower, which stands 82 stories tall, tend to be isolating. To combat this, Gang designed “community on [the building’s] facade”: the undulation of the floor plates, which extend past the skin of the building and into balconies, make it so that each plate is misaligned with the plate both above and below it.
This allows residents to see and interact with their neighbors the way they might in a house’s yard in the suburbs. This fostering of relationships is especially important in Aqua Tower, which is designed with people new to Chicago who may not have many friends yet in mind. There’s plenty of proof that this strategy of offsetting the balconies has worked, too: the residents have come together to collaborate on large projects, like a community herb garden on the roof. Additionally, the balconies work to develop a sense of pride for the resident’s new home–Chicago–by giving them views of famous landmarks in the area, developing their connection to the larger city community. Aqua Tower’s location near Millenium Park makes it so that each balcony has sight lines to many landmarks, including Cloud Gate (the Bean), Grant Park, Navy Pier, Oak Street Beach, and more.
In addition to being community-focused, Aqua Tower was designed keeping environmental and site conditions in mind. The balconies are a great example of the intersection of these design concepts: their misalignment provides connection to neighbors as well as solar shading to keep heating costs and energy use down. There are a number of other sustainable technologies used in the building: a rainwater collection system, heat-resistant glass, and fritted glass to reduce bird strikes and protect the natural environment to name a few.
Even the interiors of the units were made with sustainability in mind; for example, the units use recycled bamboo flooring. And it would be remiss to not mention the 80,000 square foot accessible green roof –one of the largest in Chicago– that serves as a park for Aqua Tower’s residents to keep them active. Green roofs help reduce the urban heat island effect, improve surrounding air quality, and improve stormwater management, among other benefits. Gang understands that there is an intrinsic relationship between humans and the environment, so one cannot exist without the other. If the environment is not protected and is lost because of human carelessness, then humans will also be forever changed. To quote Gang herself, “beauty gives you something back in return.” So, not only do Aqua Tower’s undulating facade and green systems lend it an aesthetic appeal, they also give back to the environment by not taking up too many resources in the first place.
"I'm a relationship builder...most people think architects design buildings and cities, but what we really design are relationships, because cities are about people"
One of my favorite Jeanne Gang projects is another in Chicago: the on-going green-roof project at Studio Gang’s Lincoln Park office. The 5,000 square foot rooftop is a fully-functioning prairie ecosystem, complete with a variety of plant species and even a few honeybee colonies. Placed in this rooftop prairie is a pavilion that can be used for all kinds of social gatherings, whether it’s yoga classes, workshops, or other public events. Gang intended to create a “habitat in the sky”, and hopefully use green-roofs to increase biodiversity and foster human connections throughout the city, and eventually the world. “City dwellers need nature now more than ever,” Gang said about her rooftop. She imagines that eventually all her Sky Islands can connect to one another, and create new natural corridors for flora and fauna to flourish above cities.
To ensure that her rooftop ecosystem is thriving, Gang has partnered with Applied Ecological Services to track the health and growth of the prairie. The roof is a type of “living laboratory”, where ecologists and architects alike can come together to research, compile, and share the best ways to make and maintain biodiversity of green roofs, and eventually create the network of natural corridors throughout the sky. Studio Gang even published a pocket-sized field guide to their prairie rooftop in 2018, called “Island in the Sky” —there’s over 100 species represented on this one rooftop! Their hope is to be a case study for other architecture firms, so that their green-roof movement can spread to more than just Studio Gang-designed buildings.
Throughout her career, Jeanne Gang has and continues to set the bar high for architects and city planners around the world so that we may design a more ecologically-friendly and community-oriented future. Architects have a responsibility to be aware of the impacts of their designs, and to ensure that we’re learning from and doing better than our predecessors.
Taking cues from Gang, we learn that architecture can and should facilitate relationships between nature and its occupants. Architects have a tremendous amount of sway over the built environment —the background of everyday life; Jeanne Gang says we need to focus on sustainability and community building in our designs to make our world better, and I fully agree. If we can make that background more green and conducive to human connection, we’ve succeeded. To quote Gang herself, “I’m a relationship builder…most people think architects design buildings and cities, but what we really design are relationships, because cities are about people.”
References:
Jeanne Gang believes that architecture should encourage social interactions: https://uiaa.org/2018/07/09/relationship-builder/
Buildings that Blend Both Nature and City: https://www.ted.com/talks/jeanne_gang_buildings_that_blend_nature_and_city?language=en
Our Rooftop / Studio Gang: https://studiogang.com/rooftop
Aqua Tower / Studio Gang: https://studiogang.com/project/aqua-tower
Jeanne Gang, American Architect: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeanne-Gang
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