Annual Spring Keynote
The GWISE Spring Keynote is our annual flagship event! Every year we invite an accomplished speaker to share her experiences as a scientist, executive, and entrepreneur!
Spring Keynote 2024 featuring Dr. Susan Vaughn
Susan Vaughn, a seasoned professional with over three decades of consulting and training experience, founded her Project Management Consulting and Training company in 2000 after dedicating a decade to a prominent consulting firm. Passionate about project management, she balances her career with family aspirations, catalyzed by her involvement in the Women & Hi Tech organization since its inception in 2000, where she served as president from 2008 onwards. Susan is a fervent advocate for inclusivity and opportunity in the Indianapolis STEM community. Her current focus lies in project management offices, training, and mentorship, tailoring programs to clients’ needs and advancing the field’s maturity. She is an instructor for Purdue University and an Authorized Training Partner Instructor with the Project Management Institute, boasting a BS in Business and certifications as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Baseline PMO Consultant (CB-PMO).
Spring Keynote 2023 featuring Dr. Kerry Love
Dr. Kerry Love is the Founder, CEO, and President of Sunflower Therapeutics, a women-owned and led biotechnology company that delivers next-generation easy-to-use protein manufacturing solutions designed to empower innovators to keep pace with the innovative market. Dr. Love completed her PhD in MIT in Organic Chemistry, then served as a Director of R&D in Enumeral Biomedical. For several years, Dr. Love was the Technical Program Manager of the Love Lab in the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT.
Spring Keynote 2022 featuring Dr. Angeline Dukes
Dr. Angeline Dukes is the founder and current President of Black In Neuro. She earned her Bachelor’s degree (2017) from the Historically Black College/University, Fisk University, and her Masters and PhD degrees from the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on assessing the long-term behavioral and cognitive exposure of nicotine and cannabinoids. As a current addiction neuroscientist, she is acutely aware of the general lack of representation and support for Black scholars in the field. She founded Black In Neuro with the hope of amplifying and creating a community for Black academics, clinicians, science communicators, and other scholars doing neuroscience-related work all around the world. Aside from research, she is passionate about the support and mentorship of historically marginalized students in the sciences.
Spring Keynote 2021 featuring Dr. Ellise LaMotte
Ellise LaMotte leads the Center for STEM Diversity at Tufts University, as it supports underrepresented populations in STEM fields through academic and social programming coupled with research opportunities. Prior to Tufts Ellise received her Ph.D. in Education from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, focusing her dissertation on the experiences of African American women in engineering as they successfully persist to degree completion.
Before Tufts, Ellise impacted Olin College as the Director of Academic Affairs where she assisted and advised the Provost, served as the Academic Affairs Budget Officer and was an active member of the Diversity and Inclusion committee. Her first stint into academia was her position as Babson College’s Director of Operations for Graduate Admissions. She also contributed as the Director of the Women of Ethnic Diversity Initiative for the Commonwealth Institute, where she managed recruitment efforts, program development and implementation, as well as fundraising initiatives to assist women of ethnic diversity as they grew their businesses.
Spring Keynote 2019 featuring Kimberly Churches
Please join us for GWISE’s Annual Spring Luncheon, featuring Kimberly Churches. Kim Churches is the CEO of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), a leading voice in advancing equity for women and girls through research, advocacy and education. Prior to joining AAUW, Kim served as the managing director of the Brookings Institution, an internationally recognized public policy think tank. In that capacity she strategically guided Brookings, providing vision and problem-solving skills while focusing on expansive partnerships, external relations, and advancement. She has also served as an associate vice chancellor at the University of Denver, a director of development at the University of North Florida, and a division director at the American Heart Association. She has extensive experience working collaboratively on education (K–12 and higher education) as well as on capacity building among grassroots groups and national and international nonprofits. In addition to her work at AAUW, Kimberly currently serves as the chair of the BUILD Metro DC board, which focuses on the power of experiential learning through entrepreneurship for under-resourced communities, and is on the board of the Virginia Center for the Literary Arts. She is also a member of the International Women’s Forum of Washington, D.C., an organization that represents women leaders in diverse fields and whose mission is to further dynamic leadership and leverage global access to and maximize opportunities for women in 33 countries on 6 continents. We are so excited to have her share her experiences as a leader, educator, and advocate at the helm of AAUW. This event will be a great opportunity to network and discuss issues related to women in STEM.
Spring Keynote 2018 featuring Deborah Re
Please join us for GWISE’s Annual Spring Luncheon, featuring Deborah Re. Ms. Re is the President and CEO of the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston and has more than 20 years of management, entrepreneurial, and organizational development experience. Before joining Big Sister in 2006, Ms. Re worked for City Year Boston where she served as Executive Director. Prior to her management of City Year, Ms. Re was President and Founder of Bridges to Business, a company that specialized in training and placing young adults with non-traditional backgrounds in the workforce. In addition, she has 16 years of experience in the private sector as Vice President of Administration for Keyport Life Insurance Company. As a testament to her commitment to the community, she received the 2001 LeadBoston Community award, the Heroes Among Us award from the Boston Celtics, the 2011 Changing People’s Lives award from Grand Circle Corporation, and the 2015 Pinnacle Award from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Women’s Network. In addition, New England Minority Enterprise Development recognized her for helping companies develop a more inclusive workforce in the Greater Boston area. Currently, Ms. Re serves on the Advisory Board for the West End House Boys and Girls Club, the Selection Advisory Council of the Greenlight Fund, and is co-chair of Mass Mentoring Partnership’s Leadership Council. Deborah will share her experiences as a leader and communicator at the helm of Big Sister Association of Greater Boston. This event will be a great opportunity to network and discuss greater engagement with our community.
Spring Keynote 2017 featuring Dr. Catherine Dulac
Dr. Catherine Dulac is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, and Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. Her work explores neural circuits underlying instinctive social behaviors in mice, and the nature and function of genomic imprinting in the brain. She grew up in Montpellier, France, graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, and received her PhD from the University of Paris VI. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University and joined the faculty of Harvard in 1996 as a junior faculty, before becoming full professor in 2001, and Chair of Harvard’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology from 2007 until 2013. She is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, and of the French Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a recipient of the Liliane Bettencourt Prize, the Richard Lounsbery Award, the National Academy’s Pradel Research Award, and the Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience.
Spring Keynote 2016 featuring Dr. Elena Bertozzi
Please join us for GWISE’s 6th Annual Spring Keynote, featuring Dr. Elena Bertozzi, Associate Professor in Game Design and Development. Over the past 18 years, Dr. Bertozzi and her team have worked with scientists, artists and healthcare professionals on a variety of games that incentivize players to seek and achieve positive behavioral change. Dr. Bertozzi has written extensively on gender, sexuality and technological self-efficacy. Motivated by her experiences in using games to address previously intractable problems, she studies ways in which interactive technologies can guide players towards better decision making based on accurate knowledge. The Bertozzi group at Quinnipiac University specializes in leveraging current technologies to produce low-cost 2D games that can be delivered over the most accessible device for the target audience. Her talk will discuss technology as a path to empowerment for women and her own experiences in the field. (http://ardeaarts.org/vita.html)
Spring Keynote 2015 featuring Dr. Laurie Leshin
Please join us for GWISE’s 5th Annual Spring Keynote and Luncheon, featuring Dr. Laurie Leshin, President of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Throughout her career, Dr. Leshin has made profound contributions to minimizing the gender gap in STEM fields, and we are excited to award her the 2nd Annual GWISE Advocate of the Year award and learn from her career stories. This event will be a great opportunity to network and discuss issues related to women in STEM over a delicious 3-course luncheon. Dr. Laurie Leshin is the 16th President of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and is the first female president in the Institution’s 150-year history. Dr. Leshin previously served as Dean of the School of Science and Professor of Earth & Environmental Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she led the scientific academic and research enterprise. Prior to joining Rensselaer, Leshin served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate where she played a leading role in NASA’s future human spaceflight endeavors.
Spring Keynote 2014 featuring Dr. Rosina Bierbaum
Dr. Rosina Bierbaum is an amazing interdisciplinary scientist working at the interface of science and policy on a global stage. She is one of only 20 distinguished scientists on President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), is an Adaptation Fellow at the World Bank, and leads the Adaptation Chapter for the U.S. National Climate assessment. In addition to her work in policy, Rosina was Dean of SNRE at the University of Michigan from 2001-2011, during which time she facilitated the creation of a new undergraduate program, five new dual Master’s degrees across campus, and tripled interdisciplinary research in the School.
Spring Keynote 2013 featuring Dr. Connie Chow
“Be WISE and Do Good: Claiming a seat at the table via Science, Technology, and Engineering”
Dr. Connie Chow, first Executive Director of the Science Club for Girls, and co-founder of the Boston Area Girls STEM Collaborative, will be our guest speaker for this event. During her talk, Dr. Chow will share with us her experiences and insights on using a background in the STEM disciplines to make a real difference in the community and in the world. The talk will be followed by a reception where we will have the opportunity to discuss Dr. Chow’s insights and network with each other in a relaxed and informal atmosphere! Refreshments will be served.
Spring Keynote 2012 featuring Dr. Maria Klawe
A renowned computer scientist and scholar, Dr. Maria Klawe is the first woman President to lead Harvey Mudd College since its founding in 1955. Prior to joining HMC, she served as dean of engineering and professor of computer science at Princeton University.
Klawe has made significant research contributions in several areas of mathematics and computer science, including functional analysis, discrete mathematics, theoretical computer science, human-computer interaction, gender issues in information technology and interactive-multimedia for mathematics education. Her current research focuses on discrete mathematics. Klawe is one of the ten members of the board of Microsoft Corporation, a board member of Broadcom Corporation and the nonprofit Math for America, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a trustee for the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley and a member of both the Stanford Engineering Advisory Council and the Advisory Council for the Computer Science Teachers Association. She is a past president of the Association of Computing Machinery in New York, past chair of the board of trustees of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology in Palo Alto, and a past trustee of the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics in Los Angeles. Klawe has held leadership positions with the American Mathematical Society, the Computing Research Association, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and the Canadian Mathematical Society.