conference schedule


Welcome to weSTEM 2024!


Friday, February 2

time

event

location

6:30 - 6:45 pm
Arrival, Networking, & Dinner
Pizza, Salads
Papa Del’s
6:40 - 6:45 pm
Welcoming Remarks
Laura Gray
6:45 - 7:15 pm
Sponsor Remarks
MathWorks
7:20 - 8:15 pm
Networking Keynote
Cecilia Aragon
8:15-8:30 pm
Networking & Wrap-Up


Saturday, February 3

time

event

location

9:00 - 9:50 am
Registration & Sponsor Networking
Coffee, Tea, Pastries
Lobby


9:45 - 10:10 am

Opening Remarks
Ellen Wang Althaus

Illinois Ballroom

10:10 - 11:00 am

Opening Keynote:
Bringing Your Full Self into STEM: How Trans Inclusion Advances Science
Anna Marie LaChance

Illinois Ballroom

11:00 - 11:15 am

Speaker Photo with Organizing Committee / Networking / Break

Lobby

11:15 am - 12:00 pm

Session One: Identity & Your Career

Harassment, Discrimination, & Self-Advocacy
Jennifer VanAntwerp
Innovation Room
Returning the Humanity to Engineering: Place-Based Knowledge & Engineering Identity
Ann-Perry Witmer
Excellence Room

They Don’t Exist? Tales of Aliens, Unicorns and Women in STEM
Greses Pérez
Knowledge Room

12:00 - 1:00 pm

Lunch & Networking

Illinois Ballroom


1:00 - 3:00 pm

Illinois Ballroom

3:10 - 3:55 pm

Session Two: Career Panels
Careers in Academia

Rose Cersonsky (UW-Madison)
Juliet Johnston (GA Tech)
Tolulope Fadina (UIUC)
Innovation Room
Careers in Industry

Ke Min (Corteva)
Sara Stangel (Motorola)
Maria Alvim-Gaston (Eli Lilly)
Excellence Room
Careers in Nonprofits & National Labs 

Sudeshna Mohanty (RMI)
Maria Curry-Nkansah (NREL)
Lauren Valentino (Argonne)
Knowledge Room

3:55 - 4:10 pm

Networking / Break


4:15 - 5:05 pm

Session Three: Finding Your Niche


Carving Out Your Space

Integrating Work & Advocacy
Molly Bathje

Building Community through Outreach
Juliet Johnston
Innovation Room

Community Outreach

Improving Health Research through Community Engagement
Violeta Rodriguez

Utilizing Your Voice to Grow Community
Jennifer Schultz Nelson

Excellence Room

Engineering Outside the Lines

Nonlinear Careers & the Intersection of Science and Law
Rummana Alam

Bulletproof Mindset
Bhumika Chhabra

Knowledge Room

Staying True to Yourself

Interpersonal Communication
Lexi Feutz

Navigating Transition Points
Miranda Tseng Katter

Illinois Ballroom

5:10 - 5:40 pm

Dinner

Illinois Ballroom

5:40 - 6:30 pm

Closing Keynote: 
Aim High, Embrace Uncertainty, & Achieve Impact
Nita Singh Kaushal

Illinois Ballroom

6:30 - 6:40 pm

Closing Remarks
Jiachun Shi

Illinois Ballroom