Symposia
Leaders in Science and Engineering: The Women of MIT
Monday, March 28, 2011 - Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue
To view these videos with their searchable interactive transcript, visit the MIT Infinite History website.
Welcome and Introductory Remarks
- David A. Mindell PhD '96, Chair, MIT150 Steering Committee; Frances and David Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing and of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Head of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society
- Susan Hockfield, MIT President and Professor of Neuroscience
- Edmund Bertschinger, Symposium Chair; Professor and Head of the Department of Physics
Keynote: The Status of Women in Science and Engineering at MIT
- Nancy H. Hopkins, Amgen, Inc. Professor of Biology, MIT
Academic Leaders: Perspectives and Current Challenges
- Session Chair: Ian A. Waitz, Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Dean of the School of Engineering, MIT
- Speakers: Shirley Ann Jackson '68 PhD '73, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Charles M. Vest, President, National Academy of Engineering and MIT President Emeritus
Celebrating Science and Engineering Breakthroughs. Session 1.
- Session Chair: Hazel L. Sive, Professor of Biology and Associate Dean, MIT School of Science
- Speakers: Susan L. Lindquist, Professor of Biology, MIT — Using Simple Cells to Attack Complex Diseases
- JoAnne Stubbe, Novartis Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biology, MIT — Radicals: Your Life in Their Hands!
- Sangeeta N. Bhatia SM '93 PhD '97, John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT — It's a Small World: Tiny Technologies in Medicine
Celebrating Science and Engineering Breakthroughs. Session 2.
- Session Chair: Cynthia Barnhart SM '85 PhD '88, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Engineering, MIT; Ford Professor of Engineering; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and of Engineering Systems; Director, Transportation@MIT
- Speakers: Angela Belcher, W.M. Keck Professor of Energy; Department of Biological Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering — Engineering Biology to Grow Materials and Devices for Engergy and Medicine
- Christine Ortiz, Dean for Graduate Education and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT — Biological Structural Materials: Interdisciplinary Convergence of Engineering, Architecture, and Evolutionary Biology
- Sara Seager, Ellen Swallow Richards Associate Professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and Professor of Physics, MIT — Exoplanets and the Search for Habitable Worlds
- Maria T. Zuber, E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and Head of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT — Life on Mars
Panel Discussion 1: Effective Practices for Recruitment, Mentoring, and Retention
- Session Chair: Barbara Liskov, Institute Professor and Associate Provost for Faculty Equity, MIT
- Speakers: Lotte Bailyn, Professor of Management and T. Wilson 1953 Professor of Management, Emerita, MIT Sloan School of Management
- MIldred S. Dresselhaus, MIT Institute Professor, Emerita
- Cherry A. Murray '73 PhD '78, John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Professor of Physics, Harvard University
- Abigail Stewart, Sandra Schwartz Tangri Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies, University of Michigan
Celebrating Science and Engineering Breakthroughs. Session 3.
- Session Chair: Sallie W. Chisholm, Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies and Professor of Biology, MIT
- Speakers: Regina Barzilay, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT — Teaching Machines to Behave Using Natural Language
- Anette (Peko) Hosoi, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, MIT — Small Swimming Lessons: Optimizing Low Reynolds Number Locomotion
- Nergis Mavalvala PhD '97, Professor of Physics, MIT — Exploring the Warped Side of the Universe
Panel Discussion 2: Shaping Policy in Academia and Across the Nation
- Session Chair: Marc Kastner, Donner Professor of Science and Dean of the School of Science, MIT
- Speakers: Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley; Dean of the School of Science, MIT 1991-2000
- Heidi B. Hammel '82, Executive Vice President, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
- Lisa Maatz, Director of Public Policy and Government Relations, American Association of University Women
Celebrating Science and Engineering Breakthroughs. Session 4.
- Session Chair: Katrin Wehrheim, Rockwell Internationial Career Development Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, MIT
- Speakers: Sallie W. Chisholm, Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies and Professor of Biology, MIT — Tiny Cells, Global Impact: Microbes in the Sea
- Nancy Kanwisher '80 PhD '86, Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT — Functional Specialization in the Human Brain
Conclusion: Success and Challenges
- Edmund Bertschinger, Symposium Chair; Professor and Head of the Department of Physics, MIT
This symposium engaged present students and postdocs, junior and senior faculty, alumni, and friends of MIT, and was woven around the landmark 1996 and 1999 reports of the Faculty Committees on Women in Science and their subsequent impact inside and beyond MIT. The symposium had plenary sessions of talks by outstanding women faculty. In addition, there were sessions giving a historical and current assessment of women in science and engineering, including the impact of the 1999 report. Two panel discussions addressed effective practices for promoting gender equity and challenges ahead.
Actress and MIT alumna Gioia De Cari SM '88 gave an evening performance on campus of her play, Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp through MIT’s Math Maze. A publication updating the Women in Science and Engineering reports was released in advance of the symposium. The symposium closed with a reception hosted by MIT's Society of Women Engineers (SWE), an undergraduate student group.
The 1996 and 1999 reports on women faculty in science brought attention to subtle and pervasive gender discrimination not only in the MIT School of Science, but more widely in academic science. The reports led to an immediate recognition that significant efforts were needed at MIT and elsewhere to correct inequities. Within MIT, this led to introspection by all five schools with reports published in 2002 and to the introduction of many changes to improve the climate for and status of women faculty. The impact extended across the nation as many universities have emulated MIT’s approach. The accomplishments of our women faculty members as well as our institutional recognition of gender bias and implementation of measures to correct it are highlights of MIT’s history during the last several decades.
Our symposium sought to recognize both individual and institutional leadership in the success of women in science and engineering. MIT has many outstanding women faculty whose success should encourage more women to enter the pipeline for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. Our program featured some of these star speakers presenting their exciting research and giving personal perspectives. In addition, we showcased the leadership of key MIT participants in bringing to light and beginning to correct the inequities for women faculty.
Faculty leads
- Cynthia Barnhart, SM '85 PhD '88, Ford Professor of Engineering; Interim Dean, MIT School of Engineering; Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, MIT
- Edmund Bertschinger, Professor and Head of the MIT Department of Physics
- Sallie Chisholm, Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies, MIT
- Barbara Liskov, MIT Institute Professor and Associate Provost for Faculty Equity
- Hazel L. Sive, Professor of Biology and Associate Dean, MIT School of Science
- Ian Waitz, Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor and Dean of the School of Engineering, MIT
- Katrin Wehrheim, Rockwell International Career Development Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, MIT
Read more about this symposium in the news:
March 28, 2011
Program Day 1
Continental breakfast and registration
7:45-8:45 am
Welcome and Introductory Remarks
8:45 am
- David A. Mindell PhD '96, Chair, MIT150 Steering Committee and Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing and of Aeronautics and Astronautics
- Susan Hockfield, MIT President
- Edmund Bertschinger, Symposium Chair; Professor and Department Head of Physics, MIT
Keynote
The Status of Women in Science and Engineering at MIT
9 am
- Nancy H. Hopkins, Amgen, Inc. Professor of Biology, MIT
Break
10 am
Academic Leaders: Perspectives and Current Challenges
10:30am
Session Chair: Ian Waitz, Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor and Dean of the School of Engineering, MIT
- Shirley Ann Jackson '68 PhD '73, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Charles M. Vest, President, National Academy of Engineering and MIT President Emeritus
Lunch
12 pm
Boxed lunches in the Sala de Puerto Rico, MIT Student Center
Celebrating Science and Engineering Breakthroughs I
1:30 pm
Session Chair: Hazel L. Sive, Professor of Biology and Associate Dean, MIT School of Science
- Susan Lindquist, Professor of Biology, MIT: Using Simple Cells to Attack Complex Diseases
- JoAnne Stubbe, Novartis Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biology, MIT: Radicals: Your Life in Their Hands!
- Sangeeta Bhatia SM '93 PhD '97, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT: It's a Small World: Tiny Technologies in Medicine
Break
3 pm
Celebrating Science and Engineering Breakthroughs II
3:30 pm
Session Chair: Cynthia Barnhart, SM '85 PhD '88, Ford Professor of Engineering and Associate Dean of Engineering for Academic Affairs, MIT
- Angela Belcher, W.M. Keck Professor of Energy, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Biological Engineering, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, MIT: Engineering Biology to Grow Materials and Devices for Energy and Medicine
- Christine Ortiz, Dean for Graduate Education and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT: Biological Structural Materials; Interdisciplinary Convergence of Engineering, Architecture, and Evolutionary Biology
- Sara Seager, Professor of Physics and Ellen Swallow Richards Professor of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, MIT: Exoplanets and the Search for Habitable Worlds
- Maria Zuber, E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and Head of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, MIT: Searching for Life on Mars
5:30 pm Session ends
Performance
Truth Values: One Girl's Romp Through MIT's Male Math Maze
7:30 pm
Media Lab Complex on the MIT Campus
Building E14, 6th floor
75 Amherst St, Cambridge
Gioia De Cari SM '88
March 29, 2011
Program Day 2
Continental breakfast and registration
7:30-8:30 am
Panel Discussion I: Effective Practices for Recruitment, Mentoring, and Retention
8:30 am
Session Chair: Barbara Liskov, Institute Professor and Associate Provost for Faculty Equity, MIT
- Lotte Bailyn, T Wilson (1953) Professor of Management Emerita, MIT Sloan School of Management
- Mildred Dresselhaus, MIT Institute Professor Emerita
- Cherry A. Murray '73 PhD '78, John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Professor of Physics, Harvard University
- Abigail Stewart, Sandra Schwartz Tangri Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies, University of Michigan
Break
10 am
Celebrating Science and Engineering Breakthroughs III
10:30 am
Session Chair: Sallie Chisholm, Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies and Professor of Biology, MIT
- Regina Barzilay, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT: Teaching Machines to Behave Using Natural Language
- Anette Hosoi, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, MIT: Small Swimming Lessons: Optimizing Low Reynolds Number Locomotion
- Nergis Mavalvala PhD '97, Professor of Physics, MIT: Exploring the Warped Side of the Universe
Lunch
12 pm
Boxed lunches in Sala de Puerto Rico and Mezzanine Lounge, MIT Student Center
Panel Discussion II: Shaping Policy in Academia and Across the Nation
1:30 pm
Session Chair: Marc Kastner, Donner Professor of Science and Dean of the School of Science, MIT
- Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley; Dean of the School of Science, MIT 1991-2000
- Heidi B. Hammel '82, Executive Vice President, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
- Lisa Maatz, Director of Public Policy and Government Relations, American Association of University Women
Break
3 pm
Celebrating Science and Engineering Breakthroughs IV
3:30 pm
Session Chair: Katrin Wehrheim, Rockwell International Career Development Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, MIT
- Sallie Chisholm, Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies and Professor of Biology, MIT: Tiny Cells, Global Impact: Microbes in the Sea
- Nancy Kanwisher '80 PhD '86, Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT: Functional Specialization in the Human Brain
Conclusion: Successes and Challenges
4:30 pm
- Edmund Bertschinger, Symposium chair, Professor and Head of the Department of Physics, MIT
Closing Reception
Hosted by MIT's Society of Women Engineers
The Sala de Puerto Rico
5 pm