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NJIT's YWCC has hosted talks for our students, staff and faculty with leading experts in diversity, equity and inclusion.
March 2023 - Jennifer D'Angelo
March 2023 - Jennifer D'Angelo
Event Name: Women at the Forefront of Tech Leadership
Location: GITC 3600
Date and Time: March 23rd 2023, 3:00pm -4:00pm
Speaker: Jennifer D'Angelo -Senior Vice President and General Manager Healthcare Division NJII
The event started with Prerna(Treasurer of GWICS NJIT) introducing the speaker.
Jennifer underlined the significance of women in IT innovation during the talk and the demand for more inclusive and diverse workplaces. She shared significant insights regarding how women may overcome barriers and biases to ascend to positions of prominence, and she encouraged attendees to make a difference in their own careers and in the industry as a whole.
All things considered, Jennifer's presentation was essential viewing for anybody interested in the advancement of women in technology leadership, healthcare innovation, and diversity and inclusion in the tech sector. As a participant, I left feeling motivated and inspired to help with the vital task of fostering innovation and advancing inclusion and diversity in the tech sector.
About the speaker:
Jennifer D’Angelo, an innovative leader, is the SVP and General Manager of New Jersey Innovation Institute’s Healthcare Division which manages federal and state grant programs focused on improving healthcare delivery. The Healthcare Division, under Jennifer’s leadership, is the state designated entity responsible for operating and managing the New Jersey Health Information Network (NJHIN) on behalf of the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH).Jennifer has more than two decades of HealthIT experience and is one of the few women in leadership in the healthcare industry. Having worked as a Chief Information Officer and Security officer on the provider side of healthcare, Jennifer implemented and supported EHR and revenue initiatives; led cybersecurity, HIPPA and privacy, Information Services, Clinical Informatics and Telecommunications on a state-wide scale; and continues to provide a cutting-edge vision to the healthcare field and revolution.
Published by Shreya Maqtedar
February 2023 - SHELL BOBEV
February 2023 - SHELL BOBEV
NOVEMBER 2022 - SHIKHA SHAH AND JINISHA NORWOOD
NOVEMBER 2022 - SHIKHA SHAH AND JINISHA NORWOOD
About Shikha Shah:
She is currently working remotely for Amazon as a Product Manager for Amazon Games (AG). At AG, Shika is helping to scale the web platform and detail page experience for purchasing games and creating a new design system called Gotham to improve speed to market for each new game launch!
Previously, she worked at JPMorgan Chase as a Sr. PM on their Wealth Management team where She helped launch a product that allows 86+ million Chase customers to 1) get a holistic picture of their financial situation; 2) plan for their short-term and long-term financial goals, with easy access to advisors when needed; and 3) get insights on their financial situation and goals.
Event name: Breaking the bias - Discussion on the disparity in STEM
Location: Campus Center 235
Date and Time: November 16th, 11:00 AM - 1:00PM
The event started with Shreya(President of GWICS NJIT) introducing the speakers. The first Speaker was Shikha Shah, she talked about her experience as Women in STEM. How the companies she worked with had different policies regarding Women in STEM. Shikha spoke about many different experiences that she faced in her work environment and was one of the few female students in her Undergraduate Studies.
Then the talk was continued by Jinisha Norwood. She talked about her work and how she struggled to start the Women in Computing Society at NJIT. She discussed her experience when building the organization. She discussed how her workplace also plays an important role in achieving her views on Women in STEM. Dr. James Geller also talked about his experience, while working with Jinisha as a Mentor/Guide for Women in Computing Organisations.
The event concluded with a Q&A session with the audience and a token of appreciation was given to the speakers.
About Jinisha Norwood:
Jinisha Norwood is a Vice President and Cyber Security Engineer within Bank of America's Global Information Security Innovation and Strategy organization where she conducts market research and evaluates market-leading security products. She enjoys bringing people, processes, and technology together using her app development, infrastructure management, and information security background. She is also an avid supporter of encouraging young women in the field of technology. Her passion for technology, social work, and changing the gender disparity in tech inspired her to give back and speak at the United Nations, TEDxNJIT, and other platforms. She currently resides in Charlotte NC with her husband and 3 fur babies.
Author: Shreya Maqtedar
October 2022 - Dr. Kaathy NAASZ
October 2022 - Dr. Kaathy NAASZ
About the speaker:
Dr. Kathy Naasz has held titles of Vice President of Innovation, AT&T Global Executive Director, Dean, and Professor and has broad experience in educational leadership, strategy, and technology innovation. She currently serves as the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at NJII. Prior to that, she was the STEM Dean at County College of Morris spearheading 18 programs, serving 3,500 students, and secured funding of $5M for an Entrepreneurship Center, and establishing a partnership with Intel for Artificial Intelligence.
Event name: Faith Moves Mountains a discussion by Dr. Kaathy Naasz
Location: GITC Room 4402
Date and Time: October 27, 2022, 4-5 pm
Leadership, innovation, and being #steminist were the subjects of discussion. Dr. Naasz was welcomed to the audience by Veena Chaudhari, vice president of the Graduate Women in Computing Society(GWICS). The song "What's Going On 4 Non Blondes [Lyrics On Screen] - YouTube" was played for everyone for two minutes as Dr. Naasz introduced the topic. She then discussed what a leader is and what qualifies one as such. Her personal experience provided insight into what a leader can and should be. When she was discussing innovation, she gave us all an exercise to do. We were instructed to vote in silence on an issue, and then we had group discussions to defend our votes. It's interesting few people changed their minds following the debate. I learned from this practice that we can define innovation for ourselves. Dr. Naasz put it thus: "what is new? Does "new" refer to what is new in the world or to the organization? ". She was correct when she said that "collaboration is the key to innovation". She answered a few audience questions following the discussion on leadership and innovation before moving on to the final topic: being a #Steminist. I was unsure of what a "#Steminist" was until Dr. Naasz explained that it is a supporter of women in STEM fields. The Talk as a whole was excellent and interesting. A few attendees received gift cards from GWICS before we departed, and Dr. Naasz received a token of appreciation from GWICS.
Author: Shreya Maqtedar
APRIL 2022 - DAYRENE MARTINEZ
APRIL 2022 - DAYRENE MARTINEZ
Topic: NJIT Alum and Systems Engineer's STEM journey
NJIT Alum and Systems Engineer for Raytheon, Dayrene Martinez, shared her STEM journey with NJIT students on April 6, 2022. Dayrene Martinez is a Systems Engineer in the Defense Industry where she develops neural networks embedded in real-time software to aid in decision making for aerospace vehicles. She received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from NJIT. Dayrene is passionate about STEM education and volunteers her free time to inspire the next generation of engineers. She is an active supporter and keynote speaker for the non-profit organization Latinas in STEM. She teaches middle and high school students circuitry, robotics design and software engineering.
Dayrene Martinez
april 2022 - dr. james geller
april 2022 - dr. james geller
Dr. James Geller
Topic: Improve the Circumstances of Women in Computing
The Community College Computer Consortium of New Jersey (4C) in collaboration with the NJIT Computer Science Department, hosted Dr. James Geller, professor and former Chair of the Computer Science Department at NJIT, a founding participant of the BRAID Consortium of Harvey Mudd College, and is actively involved in bringing women and minorities into the computing field, as a guest speaker via video conference on April 1, 2022.
Dr. Geller presented to the 4C members how to create a sense of cultural and social belonging in students, a key factor for achieving persistence (retention). He also highlighted some of the significant steps that were taken and helped to encourage female CS students to get more involved in activities that are provided to them such as WiCS, G-WiCS (for graduate students), ACM-W Chapter, trips to Grace Hopper, and many others. In addition, Dr. Geller discussed future plans to get more female CS students make use of the help that is available to them; including a Mentoring Program for Freshwomen “generic mentoring” related to problems of women in Computing and a “Sisters Helping Sisters” Program related to programming issues.
NOVEMBER 2021 - Evan Koblentz
NOVEMBER 2021 - Evan Koblentz
Topic: Nevertheless, She Persisted: Important Women in the History of Computing
NJIT's Women in Computing Society (WiCS), Graduate Women in Computing Society (GWiCS), and Association for Computing Machinery - Chapter for Women Students (ACM-W), hosted Evan Koblentz, Science Writer and Technology Historian, as an on-campus speaker on November 17, 2021.
In addition to writing about the Ying Wu College of Computing for NJIT's Office of Strategic Communications, Evan founded Vintage Computer Federation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that spreads awareness about the history of computing.
Evan Koblentz
OCTOBER 2021 - Kamalika Sandell
OCTOBER 2021 - Kamalika Sandell
Kamalika Sandell
Topic: How to Succeed as a Women in High-Tech
NJIT's Graduate Women in Computing Society (GWiCS) in collaboration with WiCS and ACM-W, hosted Kamalika Sandell, Vice Provost and Chief Information Officer at NJIT, as a guest speaker on campus on October 20, 2021.
The tech world has a unique blend of innovation, ambition, talent, energy, and money. Tech talent is in demand today more than ever, and the demand only continues to increase as you look into the future years. It is a fantastic career proposition for everyone, especially women, because among other aspects it enables a large degree of freedom to choose where you work from and when you work from. However, women, over the years have also highlighted that the pace and culture is not conducive to progressing through the ranks. Most Boards and senior leadership teams in corporations still suffer from fewer women than men. Vice Provost Sandell's talk highlighted some challenges as well as strategies to successfully progress as a women executive in tech.
February 2021 - Dr. Stephanie Rodriguez
February 2021 - Dr. Stephanie Rodriguez
Topic: Advancing Women in Tech: Grace Hopper Celebration and Beyond
Dr. Stephanie Rodriguez, formerly VP Policy and Programs at AnitaB.org, shared with NJIT students how the organization is working to advance women in technology, and how students can get involved in the AnitaB.org community.
Dr. Stephanie Rodriguez
November 2020 - Jaime Payton
November 2020 - Jaime Payton
Jamie Payton
Topic: Giving Back: Strategies for Integrating Equity and Inclusion into Your Career
NJIT's Graduate Women in Computing Society (GWiCS) in collaboration with WiCS, ACM-W, and the NJIT Computer Science Department hosted Jamie Payton, Chair of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at Temple University and Director of the STARS Computing Corps, as a guest speaker via video conference on November 4, 2020.
Jamie Payton described the STARS Computing Corps approach to providing training, resources, and support for college students and faculty to act as change agents who take action for diversity, equity, and inclusion in computing. Through STARS, faculty support college student cohorts in leading service-learning activities designed to broaden participation in computing. Exemplary STARS projects include peer mentoring, peer tutoring, socially relevant research opportunities, and working with K12 educators to support CS for All efforts. Not only are students in STARS giving back, but they are also moving forward in their own career path; STARS students show increased self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and computing identity, with disproportionately positive effects for Black and Hispanic students.
Jamie Payton also shared resources that lower the barriers for students to engage in outreach and research for broadening participation in computing and discussed strategies for integrating actions for broadening participation that leverage local resources and opportunities, promote personal professional development, and contribute to institutional improvement.
October 2020 - Colleen Lewis
October 2020 - Colleen Lewis
Topic: Recognizing and Responding to Bias and Microaggressions
NJIT's Graduate Women in Computing Society (GWiCS) in collaboration with WiCS, ACM-W, and the NJIT Computer Science Department, welcomed Colleen Lewis, a top researcher in computer science education for women and minorities, and Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Colleen Lewis led NJIT students and staff through a research-based exercise to practice recognizing and responding to bias.
Colleen Lewis
August 2020 - JUDITH SPITZ
August 2020 - JUDITH SPITZ
Judith Spitz
Topic: Implicit Bias and Growth Mindset Training for Instructors
Judith Spitz, founder of Break Through Tech, former CIO at Verizon, and a well-known expert in the field of diversity, presented to all PhD Teaching Assistants within NJITs Computer Science Department in August 2020. Her talk covered issues such as implicit bias and growth mindset in an interactive manner, with a mixture of lecture and Zoom polls.
Judith Spitz's work informed a second training session later that summer, led by Dr. James Geller. His session for CS 100 Class Assistants focused on implicit bias and other issues interfering with successful and fair teaching.
Judith Spitz has a long and accomplished history in technology and as an advocate for diversity in computing. Her passion is driving programs that will address the urgent need for more women in technology and topics related to the leadership skills required in the digital economy.
Judith Spitz, Ph.D. is currently the Founding Program Director of the Initiative for Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York (WiTNY) at Cornell Tech; a partnership between Cornell Tech, the City University of New York and a growing list of corporate partners with a mission to facilitate, encourage and enable a significant increase in the participation of women in both higher education and entrepreneurship in fields related to technology in the New York market. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of ASAPP, an Artificial Intelligent company that drives digital transformation in customer care.
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