"Girl Power in Stem: Each for Equal!" Saturday, 3/7, at SBU

March 4, 2020

Stony Brook University’s (SBU) Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program, SBU’s Graduate Women in Science (GWIS), and Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Brookhaven Women in Science (BWIS) will present the symposium “Girl Power in Stem: Each for Equal!” on Saturday, March 7, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in SBU’s Tabler Center for Arts, Culture, and Humanity. The event will bring together girls and women of all ages from academia, government, and the private sector to celebrate the accomplishments of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

“This year we join the International Women’s Day (IWD 2020) community in creating a gender-equal world,” said Vivian Stojanoff, Brookhaven Lab physicist and BWIS colloquia chair. “Through the symposium discussions, we will continue to challenge stereotypes, broaden perceptions, and be agents of change in our local community to continue to promote and sustain women in STEM fields.”

The itinerary includes lectures and panel discussions on the impact of women in STEM careers, the work environment, and the economy, as well as how society can improve women's participation in STEM fields. The event will also help young professionals learn about women’s experiences in STEM fields. Q&A sessions will be part of each panel discussion and networking session.

Among the speakers will be several with connections to Brookhaven Lab, including Karen Chen-Wiegert, an assistant professor at SBU who holds a joint appointment in the imaging and microscopy program at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), where she investigates an emerging dealloying process using advanced x-ray techniques. Also speaking is Silvia Centeno, a member of the department of scientific research at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art who used the Submicron Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy (SRX) and Full Field X-ray Imaging (XFI) beamlines at NSLS-II to analyze a microscopic sample of a 15th-century oil painting to better understand its degradation processes.

“The organization of these events is only possible through teamwork,” Stojanoff said. “That includes Shruti Sharma, program manager for the Clean Energy Business Incubator Program (CEBIP) at SBU, who also researches graphene oxide structures at Brookhaven’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), and Kristine Horvat, assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of New Haven, a sustainable energy researcher and former WISE advisor.”

The Symposium is being held in celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, proclaimed by the United Nations as a day for celebrating and promoting women’s rights.

Click here for a detailed schedule and list of speakers.

To register for the event, click here. Registration is free.

For questions, please contact the Organizing Committee: Shruti Sharma, Kristine Horvat and Vivian Stojanoff (iwdbwis@gmail.com)

NSLS-II and CFN are DOE Office of Science user facilities.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://www.energy.gov/science/

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2020-17103  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom