The Fourth International Symposium Global Women of Light at the Frontiers in Optics 2019 conference

WiSTEE Connect (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Entrepreneurship) is collaborating with the OSA Foundation to organize the 4th international symposium “Global Women of Light” (GWL) at the 2019 Frontiers in Optics on 15 September 2019 in Washington DC, US. The program will be hosted at the OSA Headquarters, The Optical Society from 9:00-16:30.
The goal of the GWL Symposium is to continue building a strong network among women across academia, industry, and government and collaboratively establish strategies to advance women’s leadership across career ranks. Panel and round-table open discussions on “Career Strategies and Intersecting Science and Entrepreneurship” will be hosted at this event. We have invited internationally renowned women leaders from both STEM and entrepreneurial backgrounds to provide their strategies and best practices on advancing women leaders in these fields. A networking session will close out the day’s program and provide an opportunity for informal discussion. A community of women across career ranks and disciplines in STEM and Entrepreneurship will continue to be built, creating cross pollinated best practices and strategies across sectors. Career growth, mobility, mentorship, and leadership will be collectively developed by this community.

The program is as follows:

8:00 – 9:00 Check-In, Breakfast and Networking

9:00 – 9:15 Opening Speech: Advancing Women in Optics, by Elizabeth Rogan, CEO OSA, The Optical Society

9:15 – 9:45 Welcome Remarks: WiSTEE Connect Introduction, by Jie Qiao, Chair and President WiSTEE Connect

9:45– 11:30 Panel Discussion: Career Strategies for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Entrepreneurship, with panelists:

• Gisele Bennett, Senior Vice President for Research and Professor Florida Tech
• Linda Braun, Vice President CACI International
• Deborah Jackson, Program Director, the US National Science Foundation Enginnering Research Center
• Amy Newbury, Director and Aerospace Fellow Maxar Technologies
• Cynthia Simmons, Chief of the Instrument Systems & Technology Division NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

11:30 – 11:45 Group Photo

11:45 – 12:45 Lunch

12:45 – 13:00 OSA Foundation Introduction, by Chad Stark Executive Director of the OSA Foundation

13:00 – 15:15 Career Strategy Round-Table Discussion

15:15 – 15:30 Closing Remarks, by Jie Qiao, Chair and President WiSTEE Connect

15:30 –17:30 Networking Session (6th floor)

The panelists and speakers include:

	Jie Qiao Associate Professor of Optics at the Carlson Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Founder and Chair WiSTEE Connect		Elizabeth Rogan Chief Executive Officer of the Optical Society		Gisele Bennett Senior Vice President for Research and Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and  Adjunct Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Florida Tech
	Linda Braun Vice President of Photonics Solutions for the National Security and Innovative Solutions sector of CACI International		Deborah Jackson Program Director for the NSF Engineering Research Center’s Program Office		Amy Newbury Director and Aerospace Fellow at Maxar Technologies
	Cynthia Simmons Chief of the Instrument Systems & Technology Division in the Engineering and Technology Directorate at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland		Stefi Baum Dean of the Faculty of Science and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manitoba (Canada)		Julianne Clouthier Industry Engagement Manager for FuzeHub, Manager of Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund
	Katherine Eisenberg Board-certified family physician, epidemiologist, and entrepreneur in Rochester, NY		Tara Fortier  Project leader at the National Institute ofTechnology, Boulder		Elizabeth Goldschmidt Assistant Professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
	Ruyan Guo Program Director for Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems of Engineering Directorate at the National Science Foundation		Victoria Hill Principal & Research Scientist at Numeritics		Karlene Karrfalt Research Engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory Sensors Directorate
	Tracy Kuntz President of Towneley Capital Management, Inc		Odile Liboiron-Ladouceur Canadian Research Chair in Photonic Integration Towards Emerging Applications and Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University		Carmen Menoni Colorado State University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
	Valerie Newman Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester, Medical Site Director at the Center for Primary Care and serving on Primary Care Advisory Board of Accountable Health Partners		Kandice Tanner Stadtman Investigator at the National Cancer Institute		Elisavet Troupaki Associate Head of the Laser and Electro-Optics Branch at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
	Kristina Uhlendorf Senior Principal Design Engineer for Optical Design at Jabil Optics Germany GmbH

Third Women Of Light Symposium at the Frontier in Optics conference on September 16th 2018!

WiSTEE Connect (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Entrepreneurship) is collaborating with the OSA Foundation to organize the 3rd international symposium “Global Women of Light” (GWL) at the 2018 Frontiers in Optics on Sunday, 16 September 2018 in Washington DC, US. The program will be hosted at the OSA Headquarters, The Optical Society from 8:00-16:00.

This GWL symposium will focus on Career Strategies for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Entrepreneurship. A full description of the program and biographies of the panelists is available by clicking here.

The goal of the third GWL Symposium is to continue building a strong network of women across academia, industry, government and to collaboratively establish strategies to advance women’s leadership across career ranks. Panel and round-table open discussions on “Collectively Advancing Women Leadership” will be hosted at this event. We have invited internationally renowned women leaders from both STEM and entrepreneurial backgrounds to share their strategies and best practices on advancing women leaders in these fields. A networking session will close out the program and provide an opportunity for informal discussion. A community of women across career ranks and disciplines in STEM and Entrepreneurship will continue to be built, creating cross-pollinated best practices and strategies across sectors. Career growth, mobility, mentorship, and leadership will be collectively developed by this community.

The program is as follows:

The panelists and speakers include:

	Jie Qiao Associate Professor of Optics at the Carlson Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Founder and Chair WiSTEE Connect		Elizabeth Rogan Chief Executive Officer of the Optical Society		Christie Canaria Program Director in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Development Center at the National Cancer Institute (NCI)
	Ursula Gibson Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and President Elect of the Optical Society		Ulrike Fuchs Vice President Strategy and Innovation at Asphericon GmbH, Germany		Deborah Goodings Director of the National Science Foundation, Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) of the Directorate for Engineering
	Cathy Long Associate Chief for the Instrument Systems and Technology Division at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center		Jessie DeAro Lead program officer for the ADVANCE program of the National Science Foundation		Mary L. Burkhardt CEO of Lead Peak Performance, LLC
	Dominique Dagenais Program Director at the National Science Foundation		Inka Manek-Hönninger Associate Professor of Physics at the Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications at the University of Bordeaux		Tracy Kuntz President of Towneley Capital Management, Inc.
	Carmiña Londoño Deputy Director for the Division of Electrical, Communications & Cyber Systems at the National Science Foundation		Yi-Hsin Lin Professor of Photonics at National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan		Michelle Sander Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boston University
	Yasaman Soudagar Founder and CEO of Neurescence Inc.		Tish Shute Director in Corporate Strategy & Technology Planning, AR/VR/MR, Huawei USA		Ling-An Wu Professor emerita at the Inst. of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
	Brigid Mullany Program Director at the National Science Foundation in the Advanced Manufacturing Program within the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation		Cristina Canavesi Co-Founder and President of LighTopTech Corp., Secretary of Wistee Connect

Global Women of Light Symposium at the 2017 Frontiers in Optics Conference (Washington DC)

The goal of the 2nd GWL Symposium is to continue building a strong network among women across academia, industry and government, and to cooperatively establish strategies to advance women’s leadership across career ranks. Panel discussion and round-table open discussions on “Collectively Advancing Women Leadership” will be hosted at this event. We are inviting internationally renowned women leaders from both STEM and entrepreneurial backgrounds to provide their strategies and best practices on advancing women leaders in these fields. A networking session will be held at the end of the event. A community of women across career ranks and disciplines in STEM and Entrepreneurship will continue to be built, from which career growth, mobility, mentorship, and leadership can be collectively developed.

The program is as follows:

The panelists and speakers include:

	Aleksandra Boskovic Research Director for Optics, Surfaces and Integration Technologies Director at Corning Incorporated		Dominique Dagenais Program Director at the National Science Foundation, in the Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems Division of the Engineering Directorate		Frederica Darema Director of Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)
	Ursula Keller Professor of physics and founding president of the ETH Women Professors Forum at ETH Zurich		Susan O’Keefe Executive Vice-President of Operations at Edmund Optics		Elizabeth Rogan Chief Executive Officer of OSA, The Optical Society
	Jie Qiao Associate Professor of Optics at the Carlson Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Founder and Chair WiSTEE Connect		Gisele Bennett Associate Vice President for Research, Faculty Integration, Glenn Robinson Chair in Electro-Optics, and professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology		Anoopoma Bhowmik Imaging Business Unit Project Manager and the Engineering Leadership Program (ELP) Supervisor at Edmund Optics
	Andrea Armani Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Southern California, and Director of the Northrop Grumman-Institute of Optical Nanomaterials and Nanophotonics		Jessie DeAro Lead program director for the ADVANCE program at NSF		Ursula Gibson Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology
	Meredith Hutchinson Research scientist in the Optical Sciences Division at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)		Tracy Kuntz President of Towneley Capital Management, Inc.		Carmiña Londoño Program Director for the NSF Engineering Research Centers Program
	Jannick Rolland Professor of Optical Engineering at the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester and the Director of the NSF Center for Freeform Optics (CeFO)		Stefanie Tompkins Acting Deputy Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)		Abbie Watnik Research Physicist and Section Head in the Optical Sciences Division at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
	Deborah Rib Clinical Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Rochester Medical Center Women's Health Practice		Susana Marcos Professor at the Institute of Optics at CSIC, Spain, co-founder of Plenoptika Inc. and 2EyesVision Inc.

Global Women of Light Symposium at the 2016 Frontiers in Optics Conference (Rochester, NY)

To celebrate the OSA’s 100th anniversary, WiSTEE Connect has collaborated with the OSA Foundation to organize an international symposium 'Global Women of Light' at the 2016 Frontiers in Optics meeting on October 17th 2016 in Rochester, NY. Over 100 participants from 25 countries and 80 institutions attended!

The program was as follows:

The panelists included:

	Amy Eskilson President and CEO of Inrad Optics Inc.		Susana Marcos Professor at the Institute of Optics at CSIC, Spain, co-founder of Plenoptika Inc. and 2EyesVision Inc., and fellow of OSA, EOS and ARVO		Christine Whitman Chairman and CEO of Complemar Partners Inc. and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Rochester Institute of Technology
	Jannick Rolland Brian J. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering at the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester, co-founder of LighTopTech Corp, and fellow of OSA and SPIE		Dominique Dagenais Program Director at the National Science Foundation, in the Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems Division of the Engineering Directorate		Carmiña Londoño Program Director for the NSF Engineering Research Centers Program and fellow of SPIE
	Elizabeth Rogan Chief Executive Officer of OSA, The Optical Society		Janet S. Fender Chief Scientist and Scientific Advisor to the Commander, Air Combat Command USAF.  Past President of OSA, The Optical Society		Lynda Busse Research Physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory
	Shouleh Nikzad Senior Research Scientist and Principal Engineer at NASA JPL		Clara Asmail Senior Technical Advisor, NIST MEP		Jessica DeGroote Nelson Director of Engineering at Optimax Systems Inc.
	Arti Agrawal Senior lecturer at City University London		Stefi Baum Dean of the Faculty of Science and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manitoba (Canada)		Gisele Benett Associate Vice President for Research, Faculty Interaction and Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech., and fellow of OSA and SPIE
	Ursula Gibson Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology		Michal Lipson Professor at Columbia University and fellow of OSA and IEEE		Nozomi Nishimura Assistant Professor at the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University
	Carle Pieters Professor at Brown University		Kathleen Richardson Professor at CREOL/College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central FL and fellow of OSA, SPIE, ACerS and the Society of Glass Technology		Jie Qiao Associate Professor of Optics at the Carlson Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Founder and Chair WiSTEE Connect
	Susan Houde-Walter Co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of LaserMax, Inc., Past President of OSA, The Optical Society

The symposium schedule and panelists information can be found here.

December 2015: Managing Stress and Leading a Balanced Life

Our event on Managing and Reducing Stress and Leading a Balanced Life has been held at RIT on December 2nd, 2015. Our guest speaker was Dr. Valerie Newman, Internist at Artemis/Lifetime Health.

April 2014: first regional event “Lean In together with WiSTEE Connect”

WiSTEE Connect launched the first regional event “LEAN IN together with WiSTEE Connect” at Rochester Institute of Technology on April 28th.  A lively blend of 61 women and 6 men actively participated in the opening presentation, the round table discussions and networking activities.  WiSTEE networks/committee  include representatives from Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Rochester, Nazareth College, Monroe Community College, Roberts Wesleyan College, Xerox Corporation, Optimax Systems Inc., Care Stream Health, Lifetime Health, IPLogic… WiSTEE was on Rochester TV news (click here to watch the video on Youtube).  

August 2013: “WiSTEE Going Global”

Dr. Jie Qiao introduced WiSTEE Connect’s vision and its activities in Rochester, NY to over 80 international attendees at the 2013 OSA-CIOMP International Summer Session. WiSTEE Connect horizontally or locally connects regional WiSTEE groups across universities and industries. It also vertically or globally connects with different professional societies to identify and provide opportunities for WiSTEE members.

All the female attendees at the OSA-CIOMP Summer Session took a photo together to celebrate the successful WiSTEE session.

Xiang Liu (on the right), the first WiSTEE-Boni travel grant recipient presented to Dr. Greg Forbes on “Design Optimization for a Meter-Scale Deformable Optics” at the 2013 OSA-CIOMP International Summer Session.

May 2013: “Path to Entrepreneurship”

The May event for the Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Entrepreneurship (WiSTEE) group that took place on May 3rd, 2013 saw 39 attendees from more than 20 academic units across campus and industry – 32 of which were women – come together.  The attendees’ career stage again spans from faculties, researchers, business executive, entrepreneurs, graduate and undergraduate students. We are pleased to see that this “Path to Entrepreneurship “event has stimulated entrepreneurial thinking in the academic world, and has provided a framework for its members to add entrepreneurial thinking, strategy, and practice into their professional lives. This event also generated many cross-disciplinary interactions among students, scholars, and business people. Click here to read the May Event Newsletter and here for the presentation.

The 39 attendees were split almost equally among the four categories: faculties/researchers, graduate/undergraduate students, entrepreneurs/businesswomen, and staff.

WiSTEE members enjoyed active interactions with the invited entrepreneurs and among themselves during the networking and presentation sessions.

“Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, reasoning, and acting for the purpose of value creation and capture” “Entrepreneurial process is a balance of Opportunity, Resources,  and Team, by the Founder” "Entrepreneurial strategy and process can be directly applied to research environment and can greatly empower women’s career”

We gratefully thank the sponsorship from Susan B. Anthony Center for Women Leadership. We thank the sponsorship from Eugene Kowaluk Photography for capturing the moments of sharing entrepreneurial aspiration and experience.

April 2013

WiSTEE member sharing the shaping moments of their career, April 5, 2013!

Thirty four attendees from 21 academic units across campus and industry, 30 of which were women, came together again for a successful event taken place at the Faculty Club on April 5th, 2013.  Dr. Jie Qiao, the group's founder and chair, a scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, shared a vision of growing WiSTEE into WiSTEE Connect to gain regional connections and global impact.  WiSTEE Connect aims to overcome the critical mass issue at a typical STEE department of each regional university and provide concrete support to its members. The attendees’ career stage again spans from faculties, scientists, industry engineers, graduate and undergraduate students. They shared a candor and enlightening discussion on the shaping moments of their career.  

Three excited news were shared among the group:

(1)                WiSTEE-Boni Travel Grant established, thanks to the generosity of Mr. Robert Boni and Ms. Diane Boni, with the former being a research engineer at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics and the latter being a K12 school district administrator and a PhD student at the Warner School, University of Rochester. The goal of this grant is to provide WiSTEE members with international exposure and perspectives, and enhance their academic and research experience. First recipient is Xiang Liu, junior, majoring in Optical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Business and Mathematics. She will use the fund to attend and present a poster at the international CIOMP-OSA Summer Session on Optical Engineering, Design, and Manufacturing in Changchun, China.

(2) WiSTEE has established partnership with Minorities and Women in Optical Society of America (MWOSA). WiSTEE Chair Dr. Jie Qiao envisions this partnership will provide complementing global and local aspects, bringing WiSTEE’s local voice to global stage and providing global vision and opportunities to back to WiSTEE members. The two organizations plan to cross broadcasting educational and event contents. MWOSA potentially will provide sponsorship for building WiSTEE infrastructure and organizing local events.

(3) WiSTEE Chairperson Dr. Jie Qiao attended the 2013 Annual Diversity Conference at University of Rochester and presented WiSTEE Connect at the poster session. A number of enthusiastic visitors with backgrounds spanning from IT, Education, Physics, Communication, Chemistry, etc., visited the WiSTEE poster. They were all quite excited about WiSTEE vision and wanted to be part of it. Notably, UR Board of Trustees members Mr. Launcelot F. Drummond and Mr. Francis L. Price have shown a sincere interest in WISTEE vision and activities. Dr. Qiao provided them a full presentation on the vision, development, and future plans for WiSTEE Connect.

We gratefully thank the sponsorship from Eugene Kowaluk Photography for capturing the moments of touching lives and the glowing flow of positive energy. We thank the sponsorship from Stanley Byrd, Human Resources-Organizational Development and Staff Diversity, the support from the Susan B. Anthony Center for Women Leadership, and Mr. Robert Boni and Mrs. Diane Boni for their generosity to establish the international travel grant for WiSTEE members.

March 2013

The WiSTEE opening event successfully took place on March 1st, 2013. Thirty six women at all career stages from 20 academic units across campus came together and discussed their expectations for the group. WiSTEE Founder, Chair Dr. Jie Qiao, scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, called for a stronger women leadership and role-model building in STEE for the next generation. She shared the vision of establishing WiSTEE to provide a comforting socializing environment to increase cross-disciplinary connectivity, forge informal mentorship and collective advancement, and intersect science and entrepreneurship. During the view-point sharing session, the participants shared their experiences, resonated with the concern for women leadership, and expressed across-the-board desires to connect with others. The experience sharing from the participants was enjoyed by everyone, especially the junior faculties and students. Please click here for the presentation, and here for the launch event newsletter.

We are grateful for the sponsorship from Stanley Byrd, Human Resources-Organizational Development and Staff Diversity, the support from Catherine Cerulli, Susan B Anthony Women Leadership Center, and Mr. Eugene Kowaluk for photographing the wonderful moments shared by WiSTEE members at the opening event.

A group of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Entrepreneurship came together at the
WiSTEE opening event @ the Faculty Club of U of R, everybody was smiling!