On Friday, October 16, 2020, several partners within the STEM Core national network hosted a collaborative “Women in STEM Guest Speaker Panel.” Participants included Santa Ana College, San Diego Mesa, Ohlone College, and Palomar College. Over 50 STEM Core students logged on to join the interactive session.
Featured panelists:
Ruchi Upadhyay is an Electrical Engineering graduate from San Jose State University who transferred from Ohlone College. Ruchi was recently elected president of the Society of Women Engineers, Mt. Diablo Section. She is currently Product Manager for autonomous vehicles at On Semiconductor, focused on self-driving cars.
Nitya Bhaskaran holds a Bachelor's degree in Advanced Science from the University of Sydney and a Master's Degree in Microbiology from San Diego State University. She currently manages the Community Teaching Lab at Scripps Research, Cancer Biology.
Silvia Figueira is a Computer Science Engineer with a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She also holds a Ph.D in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego. She is currently the Dianne McKenna Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Santa Clara University.
The Women in STEM panel was run by STEM Core student moderators from the collaborating colleges, who underwent training, shared resources, and worked with their Student Support Specialist to prepare for the event. With the success of the Women in STEM panel, STEM Core partners intend to plan more collaborative events across the network.
